Banks what are they preparing for?

[hitekcountry]

I went into a Citi bank yesterday and was shocked at what I saw. The tellers were isolated behind a massive bullet proof glass wall that went all the way from the wall on the left to the wall on the right about 50' and all the way to the ceiling which was about 16' tall. The glass looked to be a good inch and a half thick. At the tellers window there was the curved metal tray where you could slide papers or money under a small space under the glass.

Talked to my BIL last night and he said one of the Well Fargo banks near him had done the same thing and another WFB was not changed.

Has anyone noticed this change at any of the banks in your area?

 

[dmccarty]

At least you have a human being you can see in person.

Our credit union removed the tellers and replaced them with a MACHINE. I Kid Ye NOT!

You talk to a KIOSK that has a monitor and slots to give you money and take checks like an ATM. A teller in a central location pops up on the screen and you talk to a tube.

Right now the tellers are local. I don't go in there often but I have at least seen the tellers that used to be in the branch so they did not loose their jobs. Yet. And the jobs have not moved overseas. Yet.

I don't like passing a check to a machine that can break down. Don't like it all. Not. Not. NOT!

The credit union did this years ago for the branches that were open to the public. It makes sense from a security point of view. The branch in my building complex requires badge access to get in the building and into the complex. It is just not going to get robbed.

There certainly will be better efficiencies but the service stinks. The manager still is in the office to handle loans and other problems.

We still have accounts at the CU because of habit. All our loans are with a bank since the CU would not finance as cheaply as the bank. For our land purchase they would not give us a loan.

Eventually we will switch to a bank since they still know what service mean. Isn't SERVICE part of what CU's are supposed to do?

Later,
Dan

 

[Western]

Sign of the times. If my wife was a teller I would gladly help install the BP glass. You never know when a congressman will try to rob that bank!

 

[dmccarty]

Sign of the times. If my wife was a teller I would gladly help install the BP glass. You never know when a congressman will try to rob that bank!

If the glass would keep the CongressCritters from stealing I would seal myself in a glass capsule to try to keep the %^&* from getting my money.....

Later
Dan

 

[randy41]

just a guess but it probably has something to do with insurance...the savings in premiums must be more than the cost of the protection.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

They had to spend all that bail out money on something, They sure didn't put any of it out into the publics hands.

 

[6string]

Our Chase banks started using the 1 inch thick plexiglass-? several years ago.

 

[dgl24087]

Where I live, some banks have done this while others haven't. The ones that have installed the glass tend to be in high crime areas or areas where there have been several bank robberies. In a 2-3 block span in Roanoke, VA, I know of 4 banks which I believe have been robbed at least half a dozen times in the last year. BB & T seems to be the thieves favorite.

 

[2manyrocks]

A friend of ours used to be the branch manager of a bank in Nashville that still had bullet holes in the wall behind the tellers.


Would everyone who wants to get paid like a bank teller knowing somebody could point a gun at you please sign up here: ______________________

 

[charlz]

The branches that tend to get hit the most are the ones closest to freeway/highways... for a 'quick getaway'. I would imagine as the economy goes down bank robberies go up. If you think seeing that in a bank branch is bad, one time I was working in a not-so-nice neighborhood in Los Angeles and the Jack-in-the-Box on the corner had the same setup for the drive-up window

 

[2manyrocks]

I would guess that being a c-store clerk is about the highest robbery risk, but there's a reason all those eating places have cameras and height stickers on the exit doors.

 

[Western]

In Houston, if you want anything from a convenience store you better get it before they lock the doors, then its the little exterior tray routine. Sucks when you worked all night and need some coffee at 3am, not happening.

I guess they are getting tired of seeing themselves on Worlds Dumbest Criminals.

 

[sld]

The biggest annoyance at some of the Kansas banks is the one person only doors. You have to wait for the green light to open the first of 2 doors, step inside, and wait for the green light on the second door. At the same time you are passing thru a metal detector.

It takes my wife, me and my kid what seems like 10 minutes just to get in.

I refuse to go anymore.

 

[jinman]

Last Friday, I drove from Texas up to Norman, Ok to look at a used tractor advertised on craigslist. I wanted to have cash in hand to buy the tractor if I liked it, so I went to a local Bank of America branch in Norman. I had never been in that bank in my life. They had only two teller windows at each end of a counter, completly open, and the drive-thru tellers were in the open behind the main teller windows. A very nice gent took my check for cash and had me swipe my debit card and enter my PIN as positive ID. He asked me what denomination of bills I wanted and I told him I prefered to have small bills. He patiently counted out each bill: $2,000 dollars in 20s (4 packs of 25 bills) and $250 in 50s. I left that bank very happy to be a B of A customer as I have been for over 25 years.

Not every bank has become sterile and a bulletproof bunker. However, if a bank has a reason to do all those things with the bulletproof glass, it's still better than closing up and going somewhere else. I don't think it says so much about the banks as it does about the folks who may be walking through the front doors of banks. One bank robber takes a lot more away from a bank than the money in a bag. He takes confidence and trust.

 

[charlz]

Last Friday, I drove from Texas up to Norman, Ok to look at a used tractor advertised on craigslist. I wanted to have cash in hand to buy the tractor if I liked it, so I went to a local Bank of America branch in Norman. I had never been in that bank in my life. They had only two teller windows at each end of a counter, completly open, and the drive-thru tellers were in the open behind the main teller windows. A very nice gent took my check for cash and had me swipe my debit card and enter my PIN as positive ID. He asked me what denomination of bills I wanted and I told him I prefered to have small bills. He patiently counted out each bill: $2,000 dollars in 20s (4 packs of 25 bills) and $250 in 50s. I left that bank very happy to be a B of A customer as I have been for over 25 years.

Reminds me of when I went to buy my tractor. The price was $7500 and the guy had told me either cash or cashiers check would be acceptable but I like to deal in cash. Stopped off at the credit union and they didn't want to give it to me! Kept telling it me it was a lot of cash to carry, I'd be better off with a cashiers check blah blah blah. They actually didn't have that much cash in their drawers and had to do a 'withdrawal' from some kind of automated cash dispenser... a system I am assuming keeps the amounts down when they get robbed as it took forever to get anything out of it, required the manager etc etc. I was driving 125 miles one way, renting a trailer etc. so I didn't want to take any chances that he might change his mind on the check. Sure enough I get up there and he is all kinds of relieved that I didn't bring a check