In think in 10 years you will have almost no real bank tellers anymore. That's no problem for most of the people, but I don't think that the right thing to do in the broader sense. There are lots of (technology) illiterate people that needs some kind of physical service.
- Bank offices (and ATMs) disappearing. - Post offices disappearing. - Customer service disappearing (phone especially) in lieu of the always useless "check our frequently asked questions / forums" - Cashiers disappearing in lieu of self checkout.
I'm sure it's not just Belgium. The problem appears to be that there's no big enough incentive to service the long-tail (P90) once most day-to-day stuff can be done by yourself, usually digital. Service as collateral damage of efficiency.
Should we ask the government to ensure that any company providing critical services (banking, telecommunications, distributing food) offers a minimum level of service? Because without outside incentive I only see us going further down this road.
Though I must I admit I much prefer self-checkout when shopping. The queues are much faster.
There's a single queue to multiple self-checkout machines. If one is stuck, you won't notice.
For classic checkout, there are queues to cashier 1:1. If one is stuck, especially the one you are waiting in, you will definitely notice.
This, together with limiting the number of open classic checkouts, nudges you toward the self-checkout. KPIs then show, that they are popular and cheaper, so continue will rollout.
Part of me thinks it's inexcusable now for people under a certain age. If you're 70 today in a developed country, you've had the internet for 20 years and a smartphone for at least 10. That's plenty of time.
And it's not about "illiteracy" as far as I'm concerned, it's about wanting to talk to an actual human being, which is becoming harder and harder. My bank card doesn't work. No idea why. I went to the office: they told me they can't help me and to ring a number. I've rung that number a bunch of times: no one answers. I guess they're busy... I have a workaround by being able to transfer money to a friend's bank account (at the in-store kiosk, because internet banking also doesn't work) and withdrawing it from that, but pff...
And yes, I'll change banks when I can, but I'm not sure it really better anywhere else. Overall, adding more tech to these kind of things tends to make it worse once you're outside of the standard happy path. I also wasn't able to get one of those "COVID passport" thingies a few years ago: I moved back to my home country to get the vaccine, but then I wasn't registered correctly, so couldn't use the app, in spite of having the proof that I got when I got the shot. I was a teeny bit outside the "happy path" and ... sucks to be you.
There's tons of exceptional situations; someone might lose their phone and lose access to their bank account that way, and they may not have the money to buy a new phone right that minute. Simple fool-proof backup solutions are needed unless you're okay with excluding a lot of people (often people already in less-than-ideal circumstances – i.e. not the people typically posting here).
Would you pass a law to force businesses to maintain a level of service that must include people without internet? It will have to be a law I'm afraid, if left to the profit motive alone then companies will not include these people, as we are seeing happen.
Also, I wouldn't liken living without internet to being without a TV, obviously I understand why you would say that, but when it comes to living in a modern society I'd say it's more like living without pen & paper or a postal service.
I truly don't understand why a regular person would bother going in to a bank in-person. It just seems like a worse experience compared to doing your banking whenever, wherever.
I understand business banking and what not gets more complicated and it can be helpful having a team to talk to, but a normal person banking is almost always pretty dang basic.
We should never design services only for the needs of the majority. There are lots of people with all kinds of disabilities -mental and physical- that we need to cater for.
That's what makes our society a better, more loving society.
The company line is "you don't need to visit the branch ever" which is strange as they keep having to ask us to do things at the branch.
There's no counter service, no business staff, nothing except people to intermediate using the machines or using phone banking.
But all of this is of course just like my opinion man. Just a very interesting topic to think about.
