Yesterday my daughter asked me to tag along whilst she went to the bank to draw money to pay casual salaries. I thought this could take an hour maybe two being Friday, but I had no idea what lay ahead.
The first branch we visited had only 1 teller and we were told she had gone out for lunch and would be back after 2 pm. There was no point waiting as it was only mid day. I think I was taken back by this as what bank has only 1 teller and has no teller when they go on a break for 2 hours?
The next branch we visited which was only 10 minute drive away and we took a number and waited in the queue. Again it looked as though they only had one teller and I joked to my daughter that guaranteed they will shut down for lunch. This is exactly what happened as 1pm hit and they said we can wait until 2pm along with 2 other clients ahead of us.
This was absurd as the money was required to pay casual wages for staff that are unbanked. The ATM could have been used but the limit on the account would have left us short. I knew banking had changed since I used to use them but this was seriously poor service as it was non existent. This is as bad as a government department as who shuts down for lunch if you have clients waiting?
Again we climbed into the car and headed off to a bigger branch which was another 10 minutes away. Granted the bigger branch was busier and we were served and sorted within 30 minutes so you do wonder what is the point of all the other branches if they are not geared to service their clients? The attitude was one of they do not care which was rather obvious when the second branch teller shut down whilst looking at the clients waiting to be served.
I personally hate banks and for one would love to see the masses move away from using their "services" by moving into crypto. The idea that one day banks become irrelevant in the future is something I really hope happens. Unfortunately we are all very reliant on them for the payment services they provide ad this will take some time to change.
Retailers and banks would like to see everyone stop using cash as it is clear when you see retailers having only 1 till that accepts cash. Cash is no longer seen as king and now it is treated as a nuisance yet there is still a high percentage of people only dealing in cash.
Reports suggest that roughly 30-35% of the countries population in South Africa are unbanked so retailers and banks turning their back on cash is very premature. You kind of get the feeling that they are doing this on purpose trying to force everyone to stop using cash making their lives easier not caring about those that only use cash.