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Why are bank branches open so limited hours?

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  • 28-01-2014 5:41pm
    #1
    ScottSF
    Registered Users Posts: 380 ✭✭


    Yes today there are fewer reasons to have to go to a bank in person, but sometimes it is necessary - so why are the branch opening hours so limited?

    For example the AIB branches around Dublin 2 are open 10-4 with their "late night" day on Thursday where they are open until 5pm (hardly late!). Never a Saturday either.

    It makes it impossible to ever go to a bank before work (and arrive a bit late) or leave work early to head to the bank.

    Are bank branch employees really only working 6 hours a day? Just curious if it has always been this way or have their been cutbacks in hours to reduce staff costs? Thanks for the insight!


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    #2
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,652 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    ScottSF wrote: »
    Are bank branch employees really only working 6 hours a day? Just curious if it has always been this way or have their been cutbacks in hours to reduce staff costs? Thanks for the insight!

    Just because a office is open 10-4, does not mean that this is the working hours of the staff, they might have to get there before and stay after the opening hours, but the opening hours are largely a legacy issue, it has always been this way, and the won;t change


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    #3
    ScottSF
    Registered Users Posts: 380 ✭✭ScottSF


    Thanks for responding. I guess also due to the lack of competition there is little incentive to increase branch opening hours. You would think that if one of the big banks offered better hours they would get more customers.

    As for
    it has always been this way, and the won;t change
    , I'm a bit more optimistic.

    In the states the banks were also only open on weekday "business hours" when I was growing up. However in recent years a few smarter banks expanded and tried to be different. Some added Saturday and even Sunday hours along with a late night or two. Another, ING (which based in the Netherlands I believe) opened up cafes in city centre locations so you can get a cup of coffee while getting some banking taken care of.


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    #4
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    It wasn't always that way: I remember when they opened from 10.00 to 12.30 and from 13.30 to 15.00. They have increased their opening hours by more than 50% in my lifetime.

    In the good old days, we actually did far more of our bank business over the counter than is the norm now. There once was a world without ATMs, and many of us remember what it was like.


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    #5
    Horrocksjm
    Registered Users Posts: 163 ✭✭Horrocksjm


    PTSB has just extended its hours at the Blanch Centre brach to 7pm on a Thursday.


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    #6
    zl1whqvjs75cdy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,042 ✭✭✭zl1whqvjs75cdy


    It'd be nice to have them open longer but remember we own several of them. Longer hours=more staff wages and other overheads=more pain for us. I wouldn't be expecting any change to the banks opening hours any time in the near future.


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    #7
    sawdoubters
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,288 ✭✭✭sawdoubters


    it used to be worse shut at lunch,shut at 3.30


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    #8
    dazberry
    Registered Users Posts: 2,149 ✭✭✭dazberry


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    In the good old days, we actually did far more of our bank business over the counter than is the norm now. There once was a world without ATMs, and many of us remember what it was like.

    There was also a time when pay packets actually had pay in them ;)

    Ulster bank have a few branches that open on Saturdays 10am to 1pm. One particular branch used to open at 8 or 8.30am a couple of days a week also, but the day I went in - I was told it wasn't open, by the bored looking teller in the "physically open" branch, apparently it was open for appointments - which the website didn't of course mention.

    D.


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    #9
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #10
    unclebill98
    Registered Users Posts: 3,816 ✭✭✭unclebill98


    There is one simple reason for this "Unions".

    They are against longer opening hours. There are staff on contracts with 9am-9pm conditions in them. However the Unions are protecting their members by rigidly not allowing this to happen. The option is there for banks to simple do this.

    On the other hand tellerless transactions is the way most banks are moving and this costs a lot of money hence why some banks are further behind others in doing this.

    As pointed out opening times have increased over the last number of years and some of UB branches did the 7am-5pm but the demand simply was not there. Other banks have tried the same in the more built up financial areas like the IFSC etc and again the demand is just not there.

    Some banks have saturday opening. There are very few transactions these days that have the need to actually go into a branch and/or see a teller, however some of these transactions incur an extra fee and some folks simply do not wish to pay it hence the clog up the branches.

    There is an argument for the need for a full hour before/after opening/closing and these training mornings etc but them issues are legacy and should be tackled.


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    #11
    teddansonswig
    Registered Users Posts: 427 ✭✭teddansonswig


    and then they let most of the staff go for lunch at lunchtime.........


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    #12
    wmpdd3
    Registered Users Posts: 9,624 ✭✭✭wmpdd3


    There's probably more cash and staff in a large supermarket, but a bank has higher a counter wage bill and shorter opening hours.

    It will never change.

    I was once asked by the bank 'what kind of job will not let you pop out for an appointment'?


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    #13
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    wmpdd3 wrote: »
    ...
    I was once asked by the bank 'what kind of job will not let you pop out for an appointment'?
    You were probably asked that by an individual who works in a bank.

    In every line of work there are instances of people saying stupid or thoughtless things. They prove nothing about the businesses that they work for.


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    #14
    Yggr of Asgard
    Registered Users Posts: 5,224 ✭✭✭Yggr of Asgard


    It's not only bank branch opening hours that are stuck in the past, the same is the case for opening hours of phone banking where you can speak to a real person about a problem with for example a credit card.

    It happens once in a while that PTSB fraud monitoring declines my card on an oversees trip and than not being able to talk to anybody for hours due to the limited hours of opening (never mind Saturday afternoons or even Sundays) is a joke.

    My German bank account has a 24/7 available line with staff available to help.

    Don't get me wrong the PTSB call centre staff are great but not being able to speak to them 24/7 is a joke in the world we are in right now.


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    #15
    Elessar
    Registered Users Posts: 5,250 ✭✭✭Elessar


    I feel your frustration. However in the last few years I've only been in a branch maybe 2 or 3 times. I do everything online now.

    This was actually one of the good things about Danske closing its branch network - they outsourced branch activities to An Post and it worked out much better. My local post office is open late most evenings and all day Saturday. Danske never opened on Saturday.


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