Chase "CHANGE IN SERVICES"

[xaximus]

Well, as much as I like phones, technology and the mobile world, I would miss going into a branch and speaking to someone. If I wanted to open an account, I would rather do it in-branch. If I had an issue that required documentation, I would rather do it in-branch. I barely use checks (ever) but it's a lost art. A lot of the younger generation have no idea on how to write a check even. It's sorta sad that things have gone virtual and the consequences are the brick & mortar stores are paying the price but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

[Anonymous]

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@xaximus wrote:
Well, as much as I like phones, technology and the mobile world, I would miss going into a branch and speaking to someone. If I wanted to open an account, I would rather do it in-branch. If I had an issue that required documentation, I would rather do it in-branch. I barely use checks (ever) but it's a lost art. A lot of the younger generation have no idea on how to write a check even. It's sorta sad that things have gone virtual and the consequences are the brick & mortar stores are paying the price but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

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I'm not going to lie... I have looked up how to write a check more than once. I've written probably fewer than 10 in my whole life.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The branch near me is removing tellers altogether. The handout says that "certain teller transactions will no longer be available, including drive-up and night deposit, if applicable, but nearby full-service branches are available to help you with: cashing checks, getting or depositing coins, making certain credit card or loan payments".

This is a lose-lose in my opinion. I'd rather speak with a teller and now they're getting laid off. 

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Oh ... I have heard of that, it is called banking by Osmosis

[SkyCommander]

I do the mobile banking stuff with Chase and others on my tablet. The only time I need to see a human teller is to collect $2 bills and to dump change which comes out maybe twice a year at Chase.

[kdm31091]

The problem is that the number of times the majority of people need a teller (special situations) are obviously not frequent enough to justify keeping the branches open. It sucks to see more and more jobs lost, but as long as we all are glued to our phones constantly and using them for everything possible, companies are going to respond by eliminating things that the phone is able to replace. You can do most things online/via apps now, so why pay human tellers?

I'm not saying I support this or am happy about it, but it's just the way the world is going at this point.

[iced]

As much as I'd love to chime in on the tellers-are-obsolete (they are) and get everyone to embrace modern tech (they should), it's been pretty much covered already, so I won't and instead add to the original.

I had never been in a Chase branch until last month, mainly because they weren't in my local area until last month. There was no teller, but instead a lobby where you're greeted by someone who asks what services you're in for then offers you water, coffee, snacks, etc. You hang out in the lobby for a few minutes until the appropriate person whisks you away to a private office to discuss your needs further. For those who did come in asking for a teller, they were directed to a bank of ATMs (that's what the T means, after all).

I was ok with this, but my definition of banking differs a bit from the traditional view. Banks to me are no longer about cashing or depositing checks or getting cash - that can all be done online or via ATM. Instead, banks are for things like loan/mortgage prequalifications and investment strategy, and I'd rather have ATMs if it means the staff on-hand are all available for those services instead. In the past, it would be 5 tellers and 1-2 loan officers in a bank; now it was no tellers and 3-4 loan officers. I don't know if they had financial advisors on hand, but if they didn't that would make some sense as I don't know anyone who really walks in off the street asking to speak to a random financial advisor. 

My main concern so far is that the person I worked with has now been stapled to my hip and seems to be my one and only point of human contact for my account. That's conceptually ok, but I didn't get to pick him in the first place, and I don't know what will happen should I decide I don't want to deal with him anymore. In fairness, he has been somewhat high-touch and we've been in contact about weekly since.

[Anonymous]

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@iced wrote:

As much as I'd love to chime in on the tellers-are-obsolete (they are) and get everyone to embrace modern tech (they should), it's been pretty much covered already, so I won't and instead add to the original.

I had never been in a Chase branch until last month, mainly because they weren't in my local area until last month. There was no teller, but instead a lobby where you're greeted by someone who asks what services you're in for then offers you water, coffee, snacks, etc. You hang out in the lobby for a few minutes until the appropriate person whisks you away to a private office to discuss your needs further. For those who did come in asking for a teller, they were directed to a bank of ATMs (that's what the T means, after all).

I was ok with this, but my definition of banking differs a bit from the traditional view. Banks to me are no longer about cashing or depositing checks or getting cash - that can all be done online or via ATM. Instead, banks are for things like loan/mortgage prequalifications and investment strategy, and I'd rather have ATMs if it means the staff on-hand are all available for those services instead. In the past, it would be 5 tellers and 1-2 loan officers in a bank; now it was no tellers and 3-4 loan officers. I don't know if they had financial advisors on hand, but if they didn't that would make some sense as I don't know anyone who really walks in off the street asking to speak to a random financial advisor. 

My main concern so far is that the person I worked with has now been stapled to my hip and seems to be my one and only point of human contact for my account. That's conceptually ok, but I didn't get to pick him in the first place, and I don't know what will happen should I decide I don't want to deal with him anymore. In fairness, he has been somewhat high-touch and we've been in contact about weekly since.

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The Chase branch I visited that is making this change generally had 2 tellers and 4 bankers + the CPC banker. It's not a new thing for the big banks to have more bankers since they also have more volume in customers.