Banks Passing Their Customers On To The Post Office

Scousebird_2

Inactive wrote: »

So a High Street Bank can survive without providing a cashier service for their customers, I think not.:rolleyes:

For personal yes but for business banking absolutley not-some HSBC branches now do not have a personal counter (only a business one)-there was massive uproar in the test branches with customers when this was launched but customers adapted (and probably trotted to other banks to pay bills).

I am by no means supporting the reduction of counter services with the above comments. I encourage the reduction in work for cashiers as the job description is far outside of the remit of ''cash counting, dispensing and collection''! I still feel every branch should have at least one counter-more for the limitation of disability discrimination as some people may have dexterity or problems perventing them from using machines.

LongTermLurker

A few things in this thread confuse me; 1jim seems to have hit the nail on the head. As a consumer, I much prefer to use automated means to pay for things and while I was originally annoyed at my bank forcing people to use machines whether they wanted to or not (in those days the screens became invisible in the sunshine, albeit a rare occurrence) the machines have been improved and I've got used to the idea. However, if I am paying the bank (depositing cash or a cheque), I want someone to confirm they have received the money I have said I'm depositing. With a machine deposit, there is always chance for conflict - I key in £200, get a receipt for £200 and only £190 gets credited to my account; did I mistype? Miscount? Must I believe the technology cannot fail? (I work with technology - I know categorically it can fail!). It boils down to trust and conflict.

Getting back to shelfstacker, nothing personal, but if 4 staff are needed to service 100 customers, and 50 of those customers stop using the cashiers, then even taking into account the "other work" that cashiers do you should expect 1 of you to be made redundant. So yes, lots of people using the counter for small transactions is costing "you" (HSBC) a lot of money, but you (shelfstacker) are talking yourself out of a job - automation will never benefit the frontline staff.

Finally, back to the original point to the thread, as has been said, Post Offices are facing mass closure (apparantly less people were using them than in the past so they were "no longer financially viable"... hang on, isn't this the point in case re HSBC above???) My local post office manager/owner actively encourages bank customers to use his counter; "no need to drive into town, waste time and money parking up... you can get your money here".

I think using the post office is a great step forward and a way to resurrect the communities which are falling apart - I can get money without pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, the old folk can hobble to the end of the street rather than having to queue for a bus to town and our banks can save money by making staff redundant and using the savings to increase interest rates/offer cheaper mortgages - er, hang on, is that right? :rolleyes:

dunstonh

Back in my banking days I was in control of a small branch that is now closed. We used to get a lot of the schools pay their dinner money in. They didnt bank with us, we didnt earn from them and all they did was create queues. Indeed, on Wednesdays, one used to come in at 3.20 on purpose and then harp on about queuing. I have to admit that it was a pleasure telling her that the bank had resolved the Wednesday queue problem when they announced the branch closure.

The problem with that branch was that it was actually quite busy but it was mostly used for its cashier service and by non account holders or those from other branches. So, when it came to a costing of the branch and how much it was making from an individual point of view, the figures didnt stack up and they closed it down.

It reminds me a bit of the Beeching axe where the figures were only based on where people bought the tickets and not where they changed trains or got off the train. So, a busy station for destinations didnt get the business recorded against it and closed down. As that station closed, people didnt buy tickets to go there from the other stations and it reduced their business. That bank branch didnt get the business directly itself so closed down even though it was being used by other customers of other branches.

jonesMUFCforever

I can't fathom out Dunstonh why you simply did not refuse to accept the credits for accounts which did not bank with you?

LongTermLurker

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I can't fathom out Dunstonh why you simply did not refuse to accept the credits for accounts which did not bank with you?

I can't figure out if dunst means that the schools banked with "anotherbank" or with his bank, but another branch - at my bank you could operate your account at any branch, I was always surprised when people told me they could only operate their bank accounts at specific branches. If dunst worked for, say, Midland in Norwich and an Ipswich customer came into his branch then I don't see a problem, but understand his example of wrong identification of profitability.

But if he means the Norwich Midland branch was being used by Barclays customers simply as a convenient route to their bank, I didn't know that was possible. I always thought you had to pay money into your own bank, but could understand other banks being able to cash cheques etc.

dzug1

1jim wrote: »

, I started to use another post office a little further away, now nothing would have been too much trouble for them, they actually valued my custom. A year or two later which one is left open??

Possibly a matter of chance. Certainly round here the main criteria (90%, maybe) for surviving as a Post Office seemed to be distance from the next one and only then did amount of business done come into it, usually to substitute a mobile one if trade was very small. So your good one might well have closed if it happened to be unfortunately located, and the less good one survive if well located.

dzug1

Bernie wrote: »

Tesco's legendary management strength is clearly missing from judging by the lamentable customer service we've both witnessed. If we'd known they were this bad, we would have chosen a different provider. Hopefully the on-going service is better...

:beer:

But it's not Tesco is it? Aren't they are a front for one of the banks who provide the service for them?

Or have they gone alone and are finding it not as simple as they thought?

Mrs_Ryan

Hmmm... interesting discussion!

When I switched accounts from NatWest to A&L, NatWest threw their toys out of the pram a bit.

'You cant pay your bills over the counter there.' the man said triumphantly.

'So?' says I. 'The only bill I have is paid by DD. Doesnt make any difference.' I said. 'Yes, but you cant pay your gas, electricity, phone bill, TV licence over the counter there.' he continued. 'Thats fine, because I dont pay em - my partner pays them DD from his own current account.' said I.

He was narked off with this! And tbh, it makes absolutely no difference to me. I pay my credit card, store card and catalogues by debit card over the net every month, and my other bills are paid by DD. But I think its a rubbish idea to have to rely on machines to do things - there are some people who struggle to use machines and it isnt the answer for everyone.

YorkshireBoy

dzug1 wrote: »

But it's not Tesco is it? Aren't they are a front for one of the banks who provide the service for them?

Or have they gone alone and are finding it not as simple as they thought?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17058549#post17058549 (post #11 et seq)

dunstonh

I can't fathom out Dunstonh why you simply did not refuse to accept the credits for accounts which did not bank with you?

It was 20 years ago. Back then the banks didnt go looking for every single penny they could. You used to get a lot of non account holders paying bills which they could have paid at their own bank but the receiving company banked with you.

Plus, we had a number of large fishing firms that paid their customers by cheque and there was a cashing agreement for them. They used to come in off the boat, get the cheque, cash the cheque, give a chunk to the wife, a bit of hows your father if they were lucky and then down the pub, get totally ratted and a day or two later were back out at sea. If we were really lucky, they would come in with a few mates that had already been down the pub and were trying to scrounge more money.

Banking was actually fun in those days. It was the last days of every job having a grade and everyone knew their position. However, you didnt have sales targets and training on the job meant simple jobs like cheque book clerk, direct debit clerk etc got 3 weeks of doubled up training per person to learn the insides and out of every role. You were paid on your ability to do clerical jobs and quality service. Not how much you sold.

OMG, I am turning into a grumpy old man early.