Can't you just walk into your bank?

[Maat]

I just had the weirdest experience. Hubby and I had just done most of our banking online. I operate a small, fun corporation, and I had to go into to sign some papers for an ATM card. When I got to the door, I had to go through this small, armor-plated entry (it was kind of like a small tunnel, a lane) to go in; then, to go out (after I had signed the papers), I had to go through another one.

I'm fifty (older than most of you young ones). I remember when you could use one of a couple of doors and just walk into the entry way (the foyer) and walk up to a teller, and do your business. You didn't have to sign anything, make an appointment or look at bullet-proof glass. The bank personnel appreciated the business and you being there.

I was laughing with the security guard; he asked how long it had been since I'd been sent to the bank (a long time).

[phantom power]

1. Weird. I don't have to do that at my local Chase branch.

Well, they have the bullet-proof glass. But it's walk-in.

[willing dwarf]

2. No we've never had anything like that in our banks in Philadelphia.

Sounds creepy!

[CountAllVotes]

3. the two banks where I live are not like this

and no bullet proof glass. ?

:dem:

[Warpy]

4. My banks don't even have foyers

and neither has bullet proof glass in front of the tellers.

It's odd because this is the wild west and bank robberies in this town happen with alarming frequency.

[marylanddem]

5. The only time I've seen that is in Italy

I wonder if this is a new wave...

[no_hypocrisy]

6. There's been a spate of bank robberies in New Jersey for over a year.

Banks and their insurance carriers have redesigned their interiors for security.

[Ocracoker16]

7. I just walk in to my bank

[sweetpotato]

8. Not at my credit union

Still can walk in and do business with a real live person!

[Maat]

20. Yes, I DO have a small account in a credit union,

and circumstances are rather casual there.

[JDPriestly]

9. Protecting you and your money or paranoia caused by a guilty conscience?

Could be either, maybe a little of both.

[drm604]

12. It's to prevent armed robberies. n/t

[cobalt1999]

10. I've seen it in Europe, but not here in the U.S.

I expect over time we'll be following the European example and it'll become standard practice here in the U.S. too.

[drm604]

11. At my bank in the Philly suburbs

you have to go through a sort of airlock with a metal detector. You have to enter it one person at a time. You go into it through the first door then pass through the metal detector. The inner door, into the bank, will only open once the outer door has closed and you've passed through the detector without triggering it. Going out is a similar arrangement, but there's no metal detector and more than one person can go through it at a time.

[onethatcares]

30. what happens if you buy a bunch of quarters or dimes?

like a box of them, will the metal detector go off and you get zapped? how about if you are bringing in a bag full of pennies, do they gas ya?

[drm604]

35. There's no problem if you're buying them, since there's no detector on the way out.

I don't know what happens if you carry in a bag of coins through the detector.

It doesn't seem to be very sensitive. Cell phones and keys don't seem to trigger it.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. Not in my town

Still have the regular doors, and the tellers greet me by name when I go in each Saturday to make the business deposit. Now to get into the Federal courthouse I do have to go through the metal detector and show the guard what I've got. But that's how it has been since 9/11/01 or so.

[Still Sensible]

14. Sounds like your bank has installed what is called

a "man trap." That is something that casinos and other businesses that handle a lot of cash have been using for decades. The idea of a man trap is that the doors on both ends cannot be opened simultaneously and the trap can be remotely controlled to lock both doors and keep a thief isolated.

[NNN0LHI]

16. I am claustrophobic so if that gizmo ever failed and locked me in I would go ape shit

My heart goes pitter patter when I go through revolving doors. I would use the drive through if my bank had one of those.

Don

[Maat]

21. Yikes!

I guess it would be a "woman trap" too!

;(

[NNN0LHI]

15. You can in my two banks just like always

They don't even give you a receipt unless you ask for one when making deposits. I have never asked for one. Never been asked for an ID since I moved here 20 years ago either.

Small town life I guess?

Don

[ieoeja]

17. Where I live, yes. In other parts of town, no. Depends on crime rate. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. Los Angeles, Bank robbery capital of the world, has had those armored doors for years

[Maat]

29. I really felt creeped out ...

but, then, I have a claustrophobia thing going on sometimes.

[Motown_Johnny]

19. I live on Detroit's east side, and I can just walk into any of my bank's branches

without any security precautions.


The suburban branches don't even have bulletproof glass (or any other barrier) for the tellers, but the ones in the city tend to.

[Maat]

22. Weird.

I guess it depends upon how much the local branch wants to invest in protection.

[Motown_Johnny]

37. more like the number of police in the area. Detroit cops are busy and 'burb ones aren't

[Marrah_G]

23. I have never seen a bank like that.

My bank is in my supermarket. I just walk up to a teller.

[ejpoeta]

24. we don't have that at our bank. but i could see the need for it if there have

been a lot of bank robberies or something. i am not sure. We always have a pleasant experience at the bank. my daughter thinks it's the place to go to get suckers. she wants to go there when i don't need to go there. uggh. but we don't have anything like you describe.

[SoCalDem]

25. I saw a kid FREAK OUT in one of these

He tried to go in with his mom, and the speaker told them "one at a time".. Mom sent him in first, and when the doors closed he started screaming & crying, and would not come out when the inside door opened.. a teller came to help him, and he pounded on the door hollering to his mom who was still waiting to come in..

They finally put him back in it, and sent him out to her.. they both left, without coming into the bank..'

back to the drawing board

[Maat]

28. HeeHee - that's a funny story.

Maybe the bank types should have thought of that before they spent zillions of dollars on the so-called protection. Maybe they protected themselves from having customers.

[Raine]

26. I can walk right in

and I'm in the burbs of Los Angeles County but some banks that have a high robbery rate might have that kind of thing.

[Maat]

27. Good for you, Raine! (n/t)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

31. What You're Talking About Is By Far The Exception, Not The Rule.

[Maat]

32. Not surprised.

Maybe certain bank management is more paranoid than others. We have a pretty calm, suburb here, with, generally, nothing even remotely exciting happening. It seems like a bit of an over-reaction.

We did have a grandma that lost it, and robbed one of the banks. I know because she went zinging by us in her little pickup truck. Granny wasn't so smart, as she put the loot in the back, and it blew out of her truck, and the wind carried it all over the place. Then, she parked the truck, and went running away. The whole thing was kind of comical; but, it was sad seeing one of our new retirement plans for seniors. Oh, dear.

[GreenPartyVoter]

33. My bank is in a tiny town so it's not anything like what you described. And as

you stand in line you chat with everyone about your kids, the weather, whatever interesting tidbit about town is going around. :)

[proud patriot]

34. We have to be "buzzed in' at my credit union

I Push button on the door they buzz me in by pushing another button .

[Maat]

38. Oh, that would drive me crazy ..

if I have to be buzzed in, it's time for another bank/credit-union.

[surrealAmerican]

36. At the bank I go to you can just walk right in ...

... but I've heard that they've been robbed a few times. The robberies are not usually reported in the newspapers because the banks view them as "bad publicity".

[Maat]

39. How DO they keep these things out of the paper?

Shouldn't the cops report ALL of the crime?

Just more things that I don't understand.