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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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