Why dont banks process things on Saturdays/Sundays?

Southend1

callum9999 wrote: »

Vast majority? I'd love to see those statistics...

Not that I see the relevance. Why should I be penalised just because someone has dictated I shouldn't be working on a weekend for no logical reason.



There is a brilliant reason for things to be open at the weekend - people want it to be. It is absurd because you are living in the modern world, not some kind of puritanical Victorian timewarp...

Though you appear to be so up yourself you believe people suffer if they aren't able to be in your presence for a continuous 48hr period, the real world is not like that.

What on earth are you doing sitting on an internet forum during sacred friends and family time though? You're nothing but a hypocrite. The only greedy and selfish person here is you - dictating that other people should mould their lives around your schedule. But then I'm just a heretic who doesn't live near family and spends most of my time socialising with friends on weekdays (shock horror!) so I'm sure my views on the matter are worthless.

Your views on the matter might carry more weight if they were expressed in a polite and respectful way.

Did I at any point say that people should be forced to spend time together? No. I said there should be days free from consumer greed, so people can spend time together should they choose to, without being forced to work. There are seven days in a week, 5 of them are more than enough to buy stuff, get a haircut, visit the bank etc.

Hominu

Southend1 wrote: »

I do think all non essential services should close for two (or one full plus two half) days a week to allow staff to have family time, yes. There's absolutely no reason for everything to be open 24/7.

There's already regulation in place for exactly what you are suggesting, it's calling the working time directive and allows people to work upto 48 hours per week, but people can opt-out at any time (employers are not allowed to force people to opt-out either or punish people for not wanting to work extra hours).

People should not be forced to have 'family time'. If they want extra money instead (to buy Christmas presents perhaps), it should be allowed.

Southend1

Hominu wrote: »

There's already regulation in place for exactly what you are suggesting, it's calling the working time directive and allows people to work upto 48 hours per week, but people can opt-out at any time (employers are not allowed to force people to opt-out either or punish people for not wanting to work extra hours).

People should not be forced to have 'family time'. If they want extra money instead (to buy Christmas presents perhaps), it should be allowed.

Nowt wrong with voluntary overtime.

However, the working time directive isn't perfect. For instance, when I worked in retail a few years ago it was normal to work 60-70 hours a week, and common to work more than that particularly at Christmas etc. A friend of mine (very briefly) had a retail job where the salary was IIRC £13,000 + bonus of £5,000 for "opting out" of the WTD - in practise working hours were 6 days a week 7am til 9pm with no break. He lasted less than 2 days.

Its very difficult to have any social or family life when working excessive hours on variable shift patterns. There's no real need for people to be working like that in the 21st century, it's purely driven by consumer greed.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Uxb wrote: »

You really have no idea at all do you - why don't you stop talking rubbish.

Yes airliners do have down time - a lot of it. There are compulsory annual stripdown inspections which take a lot of time(days). There are regular 'hours of time run' checks on various parts, there are very intense engine inspections and replacement of consumables, boroscope inspections of the engine interiors, and that is before we start the special inspections mandated when something 'odd' is found on one other aircraft of the same type somewhere in the world.
In fact for very complex aircraft like military fighter jets the amount of maintenance and inspection hours far outstrips the flying hours. So you get aircraft where, averaged out, 16 hours maintenance is required for every 1 hour of flying - and there are worse examples that this!

Oh I kind of expected a response like this when I mentioned the airliner example ! Are you an aerospace engineer ? I know that military kit can't fly most of the time due to maintenance c¤ck-ups - that's become almost traditional since Airwork bvggered up the wiring in a whole fleet of tornadoes and HMG bought a load of Chinooks that sat doing nothing because someone forgot to buy the video game stuff that went with it, but airliners are different now. Do airliners not fly on Saturdays and Sundays?

Power stations likewise, ... etc. etc.

You said it.

No idea about supermarkets and down time - I'm a chartered engineer not a retail expert.

If you are a chartered engineer you will realise that none of these things is a closed system. If you are a chartered engineer then you are not so dense as to miss my point.

Modern airliners constantly update engineers on the ground of the health of the onboard systems. The levels of maintenance required are amazingly low and the downtime follows a sometimes planned and sometimes random pattern but that rarely means that 24/7 routes and schedules get interrupted. Power stations are part of a a network largely protected by failsafe (national grid remains operational) redundancy. The national grid is never off.

National infrastructure systems never are. Banking is a national and international infrastructure system. We know it is never off. It's just that we mere customers are denied access. Why are you ridiculing that suggestion?

Supermarkets - well - I imagine you are a customer and realise that most are open 24/7 with only laws restricting the opening hours not the retailers themselves. Banks call themselves retailers too when it suits them.

Archi_Bald

Amazing, the kind of arguments that are being put forward now. Though still none of the proponents has actually defined what exactly the issue is.

opinions4u

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Amazing, the kind of arguments that are being put forward now.

I am a bit lost by some of the diversionary nonsense.

Though still none of the proponents has actually defined what exactly the issue is.

I think it's this:

Issue: Cheques should clear faster because it's 2014 next week.

Response: Cheques were built for a bygone era and have been surpassed by better options some of which work in an instant. Therefore there is no point whatsoever spending hundreds of millions of pounds changing a cheque clearing system that is slowly dying.

Response to the response: But they should just make them quicker because they make lots of money, and I want to spend more money over Christmas.

Response to the response to the response: Can you not read?

JSR

A friend of mine (very briefly) had a retail job where the salary was IIRC £13,000 + bonus of £5,000 for "opting out" of the WTD - in practise working hours were 6 days a week 7am til 9pm with no break.

That's why the working time opt-out should be abolished. Let 24 hour operations employ the appropriate number of staff instead of overworking a smaller number. Though, to be fair, if what you've posted is accurate then this employer is breaking the working time laws with regards to breaks and rest time (which can't be opted out of) and the minimum wage. If they're still doing it please report them. https://www.gov.uk/pay-and-work-rights-helpline

As for banking, now that we have faster payments I don't really see what the problem is. Apart from something like a standing order to a regular saver the consequences of non-processing days is always in the customer's favour.

Gromitt

Southend1 wrote: »

Its very difficult to have any social or family life when working excessive hours on variable shift patterns. There's no real need for people to be working like that in the 21st century, it's purely driven by consumer greed.

How about the people that can only just about make ends meet by working normal hours and require overtime to pay for extras such as christmas presents and the like? Is that driven by consumer greed? Even though they are simply trying to get more cash to make the best of things?

Southend1

JSR wrote: »

That's why the working time opt-out should be abolished. Let 24 hour operations employ the appropriate number of staff instead of overworking a smaller number. Though, to be fair, if what you've posted is accurate then this employer is breaking the working time laws with regards to breaks and rest time (which can't be opted out of) and the minimum wage. If they're still doing it please report them. https://www.gov.uk/pay-and-work-rights-helpline

As for banking, now that we have faster payments I don't really see what the problem is. Apart from something like a standing order to a regular saver the consequences of non-processing days is always in the customer's favour.

This kind of thing is rife in retail. My contract with a large retail chain I worked at for 5 years stated "your hours of work shall be such as are requisite for the proper discharge of your duties". As I said, 60-70 hours a week was the norm, more was common at busy periods. We did get 2 tea breaks (15 mins) and an hour for lunch daily but the store manager would patrol the staff rooms making comments like "taking another break, are we? Surprising, given that x and y still have not been done on your department".

Many people seem to believe that everyone is free to choose their own working hours and shift patterns, however my experience is that this is not true for many people. Hence there should be 2 designated days a week free from shopping, banking, hair cutting, etc etc. We'd be a lot better off for it.

The laughable thing is that when businesses extend their opening hours to get one over on the competition, they don't make any extra money because all the others do the same and people only have a certain amount to spend.

I can't imagine ever laying on my deathbed wishing I had had more time to cash cheques, though I can easily imagine wishing I had spent more time with family and friends, or even just pottering about the house and garden.

cavework

opinions4u wrote: »

Why would they process 19th century pieces of paper using 21st century technology?

Do you think a horse and cart should enter the next F1 Grand Prix?

But Barclays are happy to pay out a PPI refund by handwritten cheque. This cheque , paid into a Barclays account will take 4-5 working days to clear..
:T