Went to a bank branch today to make a payment I have to make in person due to various factors.

Was waiting to be seen and overheard a conversation between a bank employee and another customer. The employee was dumbstruck by the customer not having internet access and therefore struggling to suggest next steps.

We are storing up *so* much trouble. Building systems that are failing people

@urlyman Some time ago I briefly tried out an amazon locker as an experiment.

I was surprised to discover that some amazon lockers are a faceless slab of steel with zero interfaces. I'm sure someone at amazon thought this was "slick" but if you're not willing (or unable, due to device age) to install an amazon app on your phone and let it use your bluetooth, you don't get to have your packages.

Somehow, amazon managed to discriminate against every unaugmented member of the human race.

@urlyman
Absolutely.
***UK based banking anecdote***
My dad had a direct debit fail because the company he was paying it to was bought over by another. They said it would fixed next month and to manually pay this month using the Sort Code and Bank Account number they supplied. However my 83 y/o doesn't online bank and there is no local branch.
He did speak to to company concerned and they would accept a cheque on this occasion as it was there error.
@urlyman
As an experiment, I think we should all say we do not have internet access every now and then to see what happens.

This reminds me of the time my in-laws applied for a credit card so they could book hotel rooms. Their whole lives, they paid cash and never used credit. They lived in their house while they built it.

You should hear them tell their experience of how the credit card company was left rudderless upon finding they did not have credit histories or ratings.

@urlyman Public libraries have been assisting people without internet or computer access to claim benefits, apply for jobs, deal with .gov forms etc etc for decades. Now it's almost impossible to get a GP appointment without an App, and in the meantime 100s of public libraries have closed. Where is the safe public space to go to for help now?
@urlyman This doesn't just apply to banks. Imagine you don't have #internet, are an #elderly &/or #disabled person & want a postal vote. To get one now, you either have to apply online & upload a photo of yourself or your signature to the GOV.UK website, or download a paper form, which means you still have to be online & need a printer to print the form. But you're NOT ONLINE, so you can't do either thing!
@urlyman Those with serious economic challenges are often not using banks for this reason (no internet, no smart phone, older smartphone that can't run new apps etc), along with the many penalty fees only applied to those financially precarious. It's shameful that govs allow banks to underserve low income folks
Predatory payday type lenders blossom where traditional banks refuse to see the true range of banking needs. All while trad banks are getting huge protections from the gov.
It's a racket
@urlyman @pluralistic While the city I live in has reliable cell service for most providers, I live in a rural state. Most of the state does _not_ have reliable cell service or — where it does — it may only be a single carrier.

Is that part of the reason this particular bank company has closed a lot of the more rural branches? Doubtful, but it probably doesn't help the organization's understanding of the technological problems of a rural state, with an aging and increasingly-poorer population.

@urlyman I recently tried to sell a table on Facebook Market Place. I had a person who was interested in buying it, but backed out, because he couldn't pay with Zelle or Venmo. I have neither and wanted cash. I asked if this was normal on Reddit. I got slammed for being a Luddite and got all sorts of bigoted/agest remarks.

@urlyman I think I am in the same position as people who did not want to use email several decades ago. I decided to give it a try and set up Zelle. My bank, Captial One, wouldn't let me do that unless I downloaded their app first. Other banks do not have such a requirement. I don't want a banking app on my phone so I tabled the issue for now.
@urlyman

In my town there are 3 banks left, soon to be 2.

My mum banks with one that's still open, the one I bank with is closing in Sept.

I tried to make an apt for my mum so she could discuss options for a loan as she wants to replace the conservatory and can't afford to pay it all cash.

They offered to make her an apt with some one in the branch.

Then proceeded to tell me, she needed to bring her laptop with her and install zoom for the apt.

I looked at her and said 'she doesn't have a laptop, nor does she use zoom... she's 79yrs old'

She was unable to offer an actual solution that involved... actually making an apt with a person face to face. I left, telling them exactly how stupid and pathetic it was and that the treatment of people without expensive electronic devices, or unable to use them was discriminatory.

I walked around the corner to my bank and made a face to face apt for her with them... and they're the branch that's closing... But because she's not a customer of theirs, they couldn't offer her favourable rates.

My brother in law banks with Barclays... the nearest branch for his is now 35 miles away... in a tourist town with expensive and hard to find parking.

We need legislation that forces banks to participate in banking hubs, so that people have actual access to in person banking on at least 1 or 2 days a week.

Or we continue to punish anyone who can't or won;t participate in the enshitification of everything as 'undesirables'

@Anomnomnomaly @urlyman

this happened in my in-laws' town apart from that there are no banks now. they have to go to another town around 1/2 hour away. to a branch that only allows its employees to deal with business customers (it's not even a big town. at all).

in-laws aren't so old, but fil doesn't use tech at all and needed to do something on his account. mil went with him ... he went up to the counter, and the woman said no, sorry, we can only help you if you're a business customer. (there were no other customers in there, btw) she told him to use the machine in the corner. which he couldn't do, because he does not tech. (ok probably he *could*, but he refused and that seems to be acceptable in their household and whatever, not my place as we're not that close!)

so mil set about doing it for him, but the machine kept breaking/freezing/not doing what it was meant to do. i think she managed whatever it was in the end, but.

absurdity. total absurdity.

@urlyman

And that's while we still have bank branches to visit.

Humans are being routinely removed from business processes, with physical premises replaced by websites and call centres replaced by smartphone apps.

Even the act of *finding* an actual telephone number to call or an email address that isn't a smart form on a website is becoming impossible.

Always reminds me of this: