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posted by mrpg on Saturday July 21 2018, @08:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the be-evil dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

All over the western world banks are shutting down cash machines and branches. They are trying to push you into using their digital payments and digital banking infrastructure. Just like Google wants everyone to access and navigate the broader internet via its privately controlled search portal, so financial institutions want everyone to access and navigate the broader economy through their systems.

Another aim is to cut costs in order to boost profits. Branches require staff. Replacing them with standardised self-service apps allows the senior managers of financial institutions to directly control and monitor interactions with customers.

Banks, of course, tell us a different story about why they do this. I recently got a letter from my bank telling me that they are shutting down local branches because "customers are turning to digital", and they are thus "responding to changing customer preferences". I am one of the customers they are referring to, but I never asked them to shut down the branches.

Source: The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:06PM (2 children)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday July 21 2018, @04:06PM (#710462) Journal

    TFA seems to be conflating a couple things. Yes, banks have been closing and consolidating branches for a long time. Ever since ATMs became common decades ago, bank tellers have been made almost obsolete.

    I seriously just tried thinking of the number of times I've used an actual bank teller person since the year 2000. And I think there was only once I actually needed them, when a payment was coming due and a hiccup happened with a direct deposit, and the easiest way to resolve this was literally to go to one bank and withdraw a large sum and walk it to another bank. The sum was large enough I couldn't use an ATM. I've used physical bank branches for other services a handful of times -- opening/closing accounts, weird wire issues, etc., but those inevitably were services a simple teller couldn't provide.

    Point is: I imagine the need for physical bank locations has become much lower in the past few decades. There are still good reasons to have them around, but I can completely understand the rationale for decreasing them. Hands up -- how many people around here actually use a physical bank location (and not just the ATM in that bank) on a regular basis? (I'm sure there are some, but probably the need is decreasing significantly.)

    TFA though seems to combine this long trend with the much more recent trend toward shutting down ATMs. THAT is different and clearly a push away from cash and toward digital currency.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:16PM (#710602)

    "Point is: I imagine the need for physical bank locations has become much lower in the past few decades. There are still good reasons to have them around, but I can completely understand the rationale for decreasing them. Hands up -- how many people around here actually use a physical bank location (and not just the ATM in that bank) on a regular basis? (I'm sure there are some, but probably the need is decreasing significantly.)"

    In truth, I rarely ever use the ATMS anymore. Mostly, I use an ATM to deposit a check; even that, though, can now be done with a smart phone. When I need cash I just ask for $20/$40 cash back when I use my bank debit card at the grocery store.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:18PM (#710756)

    Try getting a back cheque