The Evolving Benefits of Banking

When I went to the Bank this weekend, it was a bit shocking to see the branch closed on a Saturday. I will share that I am a retired Banker who began my career in May, 1972. That first week was the week Saturday banking made its entrance into our business psyche.

Now, there have been times during my career the Banks I worked for would close on a Saturday: Christmas, Independence Day, any other floating Federal holiday, a Bank acquisition. Short of these occurrences, no Bank I worked for was closed on Saturday.

Through the 70s and 80s, and into the 90s, Banks spent millions of dollars developing the services we enjoy today, like ATMs, Telephone and Internet Banking, and in the 2000s, Mobile banking. The concept was to become more efficient, providing real services which benefited customers and reduce the need for inefficient and unproductive activities.

The premise was to reduce branch hours and manpower while providing access to your account 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But in the late 90s, Banks like Commerce Bank, TD Bank and others decided that MORE hours actually would provide BETTER customer services, which evidence showed, it did not.

Fast forward to current day. I looked up the Bank’s web page and saw that it cut all branch hours from eight hours to five hours per day. In addition, supermarket branches are opened only for three days a week, five hours only. Any location which is opened on Saturday is only opened until Noon. Hence, the branch I went to at 2PM was already closed.

Perhaps, CV-19 has forced executive management to take a sober look at the inefficiency of long hours which clients have proven over time are not needed. We are, after all, a social being, able to adjust to any situation and actually not complain, especially since we are not being denied access to our money.

Certainly, when this is over, the current hours should be reviewed and each branch’s staffing and hours should be adjusted accordingly, based on overall activity. In addition, NO ONE should be terminated outright. Instead, through attrition, staffing levels would be adjusted to meet the needs of the branch and the specific neighborhood where the branch resides. Similar concepts should be considered for supermarket branches.

Now, I admit I am an old-time, retired Banker. But I was deeply involved in the development and advancement of many of the technologies we all enjoy today for the Banks I worked for, especially in the 80s and 90s. So, during this crisis, I can point to the reasons why people were able to stay in touch 24/7/365 with their accounts.

Finally, we have discovered in our lives that the only thing constant is change. We have seen many changes during this crisis and we have adapted accordingly. Maybe, we have learned that there are so many efficiencies across our lives that we were not aware of before. This awareness has shown us that in this fast-paced life we lived up until this quarantine, the ability to enjoy our “free time” needs to be cherished and enjoyed to live a truly fulfilling life.

And the best part is that you can still be in touch with your accounts if you need to. Thank goodness for the technologies of Banking.