Cashless society......problem for many.

[PK99]

I discovered you can pay in cheques via a post office. At least you can with HSBC.

You can pay in Cheques online using the First Direct online banking app.
Enter amount etc and take a pic.

I've not used it as no one has given me a cheque for soooo long.

 

[Dave7]

I discovered you can pay in cheques via a post office. At least you can with HSBC.

At our local Spar/post office I can pay cheques or cash into my bank account. I can also draw cash from it (don't know the limit).
I also cash pension there but that is stopping in October.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

But not at the current rate of closures

As something dies out the rate of death increases.

 

[Drago]

No because they run lean, that's management talk for understaffed, overstretched and stressed out

You forgot "streamlined" and "agile".

 

[Domus]

XYZ bank increases it's profits, GB ltd has more mouths to feed. As a reward for increasing profits the chairman of XYZ bank gets a big bonus and a knighthood. Cest la vie.

 

[Gunk]

You can pay in Cheques online using the First Direct online banking app.
Enter amount etc and take a pic.

I've not used it as no one has given me a cheque for soooo long.

Barclays also allow you to pay in cheques via the app. But there’s a catch, you can only pay in up to £1000 in one transaction, and a total of £2000 a week, plus the software is utter shite, you have to take a photo of the front and rear of the cheque which in my experience can take up to 10 attempts.

So are the branch closures to suit them or the customer? We run a small business and the closure of our local branch earlier this year has caused us serious problems as we have an older customer base who still send us cheques.

 

[Drago]

A lot of organisations still send cheques. For example, I was due a council tax rebate and expected a bank transfer, but rhey told me they don't do that and posted me a cheque. Probably allows them to hold in to the miney for as long as possible.

 

[Gunk]

I received a tax rebate last week and that arrived as a cheque, nightmare as I had to go into town to pay it in

 

[vickster]

I received a tax rebate last week and that arrived as a cheque, nightmare as I had to go into town to pay it in

First World problem?

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I’ve paid in cheques through my phone app on several occasions, never had any problems, all very easy.

 

[Drago]

Mrs D does that, has no problems.

Its a seriously big problem for me as I have no smartphone, although I guess the app will work adequately on a tablet.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

On the subject of job losses

I Used to be in IT

one of the first major system changes I worked on was a system that allowed someone on a VDU (yup THAT old - about 1983/4) to access a customer's account
Hence they could start answering customer's queries over the phone
massively complicated system - I worked on in in several different capacities for about 20 years

BUT
the previous system involve customers writing in
the letter went into a customer service centre
it would go through several groups of people to end up with someone who could access the customer records
which were in a manilla folder
in a building the size of a large B&Q
full of wooden stands full of manilla folders
and she (it was pretty much always she) would have access to a specified area and would know how to find the customers in that area
and she would find the customer's folder and check it
if it involved an order she would the - potentially - pass it onto anotehr person (also probably female) who could loo up the order on microfishe
and eventually a response would be decided upon
and she would pick up a pre printed letter with a number of blank spaces - and write in the appropriate response in each space
and then go to the 'output' area where it would be stored
and put the letter into an envelope and put it in a bin for posting
second class - to arrive in a few days


replaced with a 1-2 second response time from the main-frame

and laying of of a few hundred staff

balanced with Freemans were already doing it and 'the other' big mail order company would be doing the same



so - if you were one of our customers
would you stay with us - and have a response time of over a week
or swap to Freemans and be able to query an order ina few seconds


TBF the owner of the company took back all the directors Rolls Royce company cars when this was decided
and replaced then with basic Ford Granadas

Of cousre he had his own roller so he wasn;t affected

and the director's company cars got 'upgraded' over a small number of years
but at least it was something
(OK a very small something - in fact a very very small something)



sometimes a company has to move with the times - and preferably - in front of the times

 

[classic33]

On the subject of job losses

I Used to be in IT

one of the first major system changes I worked on was a system that allowed someone on a VDU (yup THAT old - about 1983/4) to access a customer's account
Hence they could start answering customer's queries over the phone
massively complicated system - I worked on in in several different capacities for about 20 years

BUT
the previous system involve customers writing in
the letter went into a customer service centre
it would go through several groups of people to end up with someone who could access the customer records
which were in a manilla folder
in a building the size of a large B&Q
full of wooden stands full of manilla folders
and she (it was pretty much always she) would have access to a specified area and would know how to find the customers in that area
and she would find the customer's folder and check it
if it involved an order she would the - potentially - pass it onto anotehr person (also probably female) who could loo up the order on microfishe
and eventually a response would be decided upon
and she would pick up a pre printed letter with a number of blank spaces - and write in the appropriate response in each space
and then go to the 'output' area where it would be stored
and put the letter into an envelope and put it in a bin for posting
second class - to arrive in a few days


replaced with a 1-2 second response time from the main-frame

and laying of of a few hundred staff

balanced with Freemans were already doing it and 'the other' big mail order company would be doing the same



so - if you were one of our customers
would you stay with us - and have a response time of over a week
or swap to Freemans and be able to query an order ina few seconds


TBF the owner of the company took back all the directors Rolls Royce company cars when this was decided
and replaced then with basic Ford Granadas

Of cousre he had his own roller so he wasn;t affected

and the director's company cars got 'upgraded' over a small number of years
but at least it was something
(OK a very small something - in fact a very very small something)



sometimes a company has to move with the times - and preferably - in front of the times

I used to be one of those, that searched those paper records. Sorted by account type, year, month and name(s)

 

[Brains]

In July 20 Megan Metcalf was fired from the cashless bakery she had worked in for 40+ years for taking cash from customers without cards and then paying with her personal card.
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/birds-bakery-manager-sacked-taking-4378325

 

[Andy in Germany]

So the cashier loses their job but someone else is employed in the expanded call centre.

This has a knock on effect as well, though: the service is centralised, usually in a large town, so employment moves from smaller towns to one big one, accelerating the economic issues in rural areas.

This may change of course, as the technology now exists to have call centre operatives to work from home so it may well end up being outsourced as "gig" work...