Which is the best bank for left-handers?

worried_and_confused

Which is the best bank for left-handed people?


HSBC offer left-handed cheque books (with the stub at the other end), which are a godsend for left-handers.

Which other banks offer this service? Which don't, and why not? The Nationwide told me that they don't do them, and they also have the pens on the wrong side of the counter for left-handers! (in my local branch anyway).

Who do other left-handers bank with? Are your lefty needs catered for?

Thoughts welcome.

virgin_moneysaver

Natwest have cheque books & paying-in books for 'lefties' & the pens are situated at my local branch in between the tills so you can access them from either side

pin

I asked the very same question to Nationwide. They said they felt the costs in having to print left handed cheque books did not outweigh the benefits. They said it would cost £50,000 to print enough chequebooks to make it even economical.

BTW they used to offer them.

As the saying goes, "Nationwide, proud to be different", but now not too different.

Midas

pin wrote:

I asked the very same question to Nationwide. They said they felt the costs in having to print left handed cheque books did not outweigh the benefits. They said it would cost £50,000 to print enough chequebooks to make it even economical.

BTW they used to offer them.

As the saying goes, "Nationwide, proud to be different", but now not too different.

Good old Nationwide... I can't find a more up-to-date link, but according to this BBC report the Nationwide have over a million current account customers. So if we assume that about 10% of them are left-handed, were looking at 100,000 customers and a £50k cost, which equals about 50p each. So left handed customers are valued at less than that, presumably!

thetope

who on earth uses cheques these days anyway? i'm not a leftie but my mum is, she was a dyed in the wool chequebook user (she used to tear them out first before writing) but even she has migrated to the fabulousness that is debit cards...

Joe_Bloggs

I am not a lefty but I do have ambidextrous relatives. Writing cheques and standing in queues in banks are a thing of the past. Sending cheques through the mail and licking stamps and envelopes are ancient practices.
In saying this it is always a good idea to consider the outlook of someone who favours a different hand from you. You can get extension cables for mice for about £1.50. Left handed scissors and rules are available where I work because I buy them.
In some cultures it is not thought good manners to use the left hand in everyday transactions between people. Unfortunately I dropped a glass down my toilet today and had to fish out the pieces. I won't say which hand I used.
Flushing did not solve the problem, the tooth brushes escaped.
J_B( Is there something sinister about the left hand ?)

pin

Sorry I got the figures completely wrong, I don't even know where I got the £50k from! However have dug up the email reply re the left hand thing:

"Dear Mr XXX,

Further to your message of 17th September, I have been in contact with our
cheque production team.

Whilst in the population in general the percentage of left handed people is
around 10%, the percentage of personal cheque books issued
that are left handed is less than 2%. On this basis and the fact that over
the last 12 months the Society ordered 1.92 million FlexAccount books, the
expected volume of left handed books would probably not exceed 38,000 books
per annum.

Those Building Societies / Banks that have introduced left handed cheque
books did so to provide "service" but, in retrospect, have doubts about the
real value of so doing. The current charge for the right handed cheque book
is 23.4p. The charge for the above volume of left handed cheque books would
be 69.4p. As a mutual company we do need to be mindful of where to spend
our members money so the decision not to produce these types of books was
made.

Not only is it the charge for the printing of the books there would also be
additional set up charges as every print working would need to be amended
and new printing plates produced for the new book style - example, the
cheque counterfoil would be at the other end of the document.

I am sorry this is not the answer you had hoped for, but if I can be of any
further assistance, please contact me."

Caped_Avenger

worried_and_confused wrote:

Who do other left-handers bank with? Are your lefty needs catered for?

Thoughts welcome.

Hardly surprising that first direct offer them, since HSBC do.

I'm not a lefty myself, but i think it must be disappointing to ask your bank for one and to be told that they don't offer them. I write very, very few cheques myself (8 since i opened my account 2½ years ago), i absolutely hate them.

Joe_Bloggs wrote:

J_B( Is there something sinister about the left hand ?)

Sinister is Latin for "on the left side"!

ronnie_2

lloydstsb do them as well

worried_and_confused

pin wrote:

Sorry I got the figures completely wrong, I don't even know where I got the £50k from! However have dug up the email reply re the left hand thing:

"Dear Mr XXX,

Further to your message of 17th September, I have been in contact with our
cheque production team.

Whilst in the population in general the percentage of left handed people is
around 10%, the percentage of personal cheque books issued
that are left handed is less than 2%. On this basis and the fact that over
the last 12 months the Society ordered 1.92 million FlexAccount books, the
expected volume of left handed books would probably not exceed 38,000 books
per annum.

Those Building Societies / Banks that have introduced left handed cheque
books did so to provide "service" but, in retrospect, have doubts about the
real value of so doing. The current charge for the right handed cheque book
is 23.4p. The charge for the above volume of left handed cheque books would
be 69.4p. As a mutual company we do need to be mindful of where to spend
our members money so the decision not to produce these types of books was
made.

Not only is it the charge for the printing of the books there would also be
additional set up charges as every print working would need to be amended
and new printing plates produced for the new book style - example, the
cheque counterfoil would be at the other end of the document.

I am sorry this is not the answer you had hoped for, but if I can be of any
further assistance, please contact me."

That is very interesting pin, thanks for digging out their reply.

So only 2% of cheque books issued are left-handed ones, while the population has 10% left-handers. I think this is probably because some banks don't do them (e.g. Nationwide!), and because people don't know about them. I would think that any left-hander that knows about them would ask for one, they are so much easier!


Cost of left-handed cheque book according to Nationwide = 69.4p
Cost of right-handed cheque book according to Nationwide = 23.4p

69.4 - 23.4 = 46p hardly an extortionate amount to keep those lefty customers happy...

Midas

thetope wrote:

who on earth uses cheques these days anyway? i'm not a leftie but my mum is, she was a dyed in the wool chequebook user (she used to tear them out first before writing) but even she has migrated to the fabulousness that is debit cards...

True, but they are still useful for giving people money, sending money through the post etc... According to this the number of cheques written in Britain has 'fallen dramatically' to a mere 2.3 BILLION; so that's about 230 million written by lefties.


Also, has anyone notice the anti-leftie placement of chip 'n' pin machines. Boots for example have them stuck on the wrong side of the till!