Bank of Ireland to close branches

Why are some sectors of our economy “sacred cows” while other parts get filleted as a matter of routine and nobody bats an eyelid?

Businesses such as greengrocers largely went the way of the dodo and I don’t remember anyone kicking up a fuss.

But certain demonstrably unviable business models seem to evoke fire and brimstone.

Exhibits A, B, and C being small farms, rural pubs, and bank branches.

Nobody is for a minute suggesting “why don’t they all work for Facebook?”, but the demise of these business models has been on the horizon for a long long time.

Maybe some people would prefer if I said “Ah that’s so sad! Isn’t it terrible? Those poor people!”

But in reality, the experienced ones will be redeployed or paid off handsomely and walk into other jobs in an economy with full employment. And the inexperienced ones deserve little sympathy for the reasons previously articulated.
 

Sunny, does an adult who sticks their hand in the fire deserve sympathy? Or are they an idiot?

It is insulting and an affront to genuine hard luck cases when people bemoan events like this and heap unwarranted sympathy on the “victims”.

Someone who has joined retail banking RECENTLY and finds themselves made redundant or that it’s going nowhere is getting no more or no less than they deserve.
 
Sunny said:
But if AAM is going to go down the road with threads like this where people pass ridiculous judgement on people just trying to earn a living, then this site is just going to end up like Boards.ie
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You take your life in your hands here sometimes when making a post. Just look at the number of people who stopped contributing to AAM over the years and moved to Boards. I know of many people who have vowed never to post here again. I even remember there was a site set up with a similar name to slag off AAM.

I started working in the BOI back in 1970 then moved on to another financial institution about 15 years later. It was a great career. Great friends, social life, pay was OK. I was able to get a mortgage 3 times my salary, bought my first house aged 22 years of age. Over the years I felt, as a customer that the staff in the banks were not as well trained as the staff of old. I thought that standards began to slip. However I look back with great fondness at the good times.

Whether it would be a good career going forward I don't know. In the branches we certainly believed that those in the Head Office considered themselves better than those in the branch network. Maybe things are just changing now and the pond will still be there but somewhat smaller.
 
I'd imagine it's not just banks are going to close down. This covid has made many people shop online and it will have a knock on effect on town centers, on renting and on offices.
 

I wonder if students have largely moved to 'digital' products such as Revolut, it would be interesting to see if student sign up rates have dramatically fallen.
 
Dublinbay12 said:
it would be interesting to see if student sign up rates have dramatically fallen.
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I see four branches closing at third-level institutes.

Makes a change from my undergraduate days when AIB literally gave me £20 a month for three months just for opening a bank account with them. BoI gave out a free phone.
 
I wonder if Bank of Ireland own these properties? In a post Covid economy there might be an opportunity to retrofit these branches a shared office space for people to work remotely.
 

Your last line probably sums up your unsympathetic argument on this. Like, why did you bother posting it only to insult new workers in the banks? Maybe they had little choice, maybe they had fewer alternatives. Sure, we all accept branch closures were inevitable but it should hardly evoke a Trumpian type of glee for their plight. They will have mortgages, families etc and will at least have a temporary hiatus from paid work .... hardly a thing to relish as you seem to be doing or at least as you say "deserve little sympathy"
 

I am trying to understand this analysis.

It was in response to Sunny saying:

But if AAM is going to go down the road with threads like this where people pass ridiculous judgement on people just trying to earn a living, then this site is just going to end up like Boards.ie
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I am confused. When Gordon or I express a view which is contrary to the conventional views, people stop posting on Askaboutmoney and go to boards? So that they will have a more balanced , more moderate, discussion?



Brendan
 
For the avoidance of doubt, I take no pleasure at all in anyone’s plight (such that it is, as nothing’s happened yet).

Again, to bat away the straw men, I am only talking about recent entrants.

If someone came to you over the last, say, 5 years and asked for an opinion on whether working in a bank branch might offer a bright and long career, what would you have said?

Those new entrants are no different to entrepreneurs taking a punt on a travel agency, a Top Shop franchise, a small farm, a greengrocers, or a rural pub. It was mad to start with.
 
Bronte said:
I'd imagine it's not just banks are going to close down. This covid has made many people shop online and it will have a knock on effect on town centers, on renting and on offices.
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Shops, banks, pubs, petrol stations (as we move to electric and battery technology improves), etc. There will be fewer and fewer jobs in customer facing areas and in data processing.
Many people think of automation in the context of manufacturing but AI is utterly changing financial services across the board.
I do agree that anyone who went into retail banking in the last few years needs their head examined.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Those new entrants are no different to entrepreneurs taking a punt on a travel agency, a Top Shop franchise, a small farm, a greengrocers, or a rural pub.
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It's strange how small farms, which haven't been viable in generations, are the only ones on that list that have to be protected at all costs.
 
Purple said:
It's strange how small farms, which haven't been viable in generations, are the only ones on that list that have to be protected at all costs.
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When they’re completely unviable, have been subsidised for years, and where the next generation have been given huge lead-time to pivot to something else.
 
I think, as you well know, the problem is with the harshness of the delivery of your and Gordon's opinion(s). I actually agree with the opinion in that those affected must have seen this coming. They could and should have taken steps to prepare for this (up-skilling, emergency fund etc.). They deserve little sympathy if they stuck heads in sand and ignored the inevitable and are now in a financial pickle or are not employable.

I say that as someone who was in a similar position a few years back i.e. I was made redundant and lost a good, well paid job close to home. The writing was on the wall for years. Fortunately I was ready and found a new (less well paid position) elsewhere. The reduction in salary was not a problem as we had not overstretched and were in a good position financially.
 
PGF2016 said:
I think, as you well know, the problem is with the harshness of the delivery of your and Gordon's opinion(s).
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Hi PGF

My question was "If you don't like the harshly expressed opinions on Askaboutmoney, what does quitting it and going to boards.ie achieve?"

Lots of people have left askaboutmoney for boards.ie because they don't like the harsh moderation. But they don't go because they find boards.ie less harsh in its opinions.

Brendan
 
I have no problem with the moderators on AAM and although he doesn't appear to know it, I am a follower of some of what Brendan Burgess says (provided it's not looking at bank employees and others with a sort of contempt). Like what somebody said earlier an expression of empathy wouldn't go amiss occasionally especially when somebody is looking at his/her job evaporate. The prospect of losing one's job is not what most want to see. I've been there and fortunately came out the other side unscathed.

On another thread I have been advising Brendan (I hope I can still call him Brendan; he can call me Lep) on the basics of Media Training where he can improve his image on radio and even level the playing field when being destroyed by Joe Duffy. He treats my advice the way he treats the bad news for bank employees (Ulster and BOI) have to hurl the fact that shortly they may have no means of income.

I'm a nice guy who learned something along the way while working as an unpaid union rep. I enjoy this forum too and posting here makes me take in the daily news and come to terms with it. So, well done AAM, I like the forum and I ain't leaving for Boards.

I'm still liberal with my good advice for Brendan:- Buy a pair of oversized red braces. connect them to your pants front and back and wear them through the back section of your work seat so that when you jump to an unfortunate conclusion, the braces will pull you back. That's the soundest advice you'll get here today.
 
I don't think one person here doesn't agree with the analysis of where banking through a branch is going. Just like numerous other ways of doing business. Nobody mentioned keeping branches open for the sake of it or for the sake of employees. Nobody mentioned holding up progress.

I like thousands of other people have benefited hugely from this site over the years and continue to enjoy it. I simply disagree with people passing judgement on other peoples career choices and using phrases like 'they deserve to be filleted'.

I also can get a sense of pure snobbery on this thread and on the ulster bank thread where someone was allowed to post that people who work in a branch have no transferable skills and that was allowed to go unchallenged. People use the phrase retail banking like it is just people sitting behind a counter. Retail banking is much more than that and includes digital banking. Who is anyone here to pass judgement that people working in branches are not capable of taking on other tasks? There are some very qualified people working in branches. Reasons why people might decide to work in a branch are numerous. Doesnt mean they don't have skills or deserve to have their roles filleted. Nobody trying to earn a living should be told that. I wouldn't mind if this thread had bank staff looking for sympathy but there isn't one. That didn't stop people unprompted comparing their jobs to Guinness workers in the 1950s and how crazy they were for choosing a job. All because someone said it a shame to see branch closures.

There is a way to make a point without disparaging people and what they do. And in this instance, I think AAM is wrong. Shows a lack of respect to some very good people.
 
One point that is being missed completely in all the bickering; is how this affects older people.

I've posted before on the horrors of navigating customer services (even when they are, relatively, well run - though two cans and some string would be more efficient than Eir).

We really have no comprehension of how enormous the changes have been for someone who was born in the early part of the last century.

One elderly relative is fond of telling a story that in the village they grew up in, only the local Dr. / Priest / Solicitor had a telephone; and when they first started work in the Big Smoke, the first time a telephone rang, they ran out the door thinking it was an air raid.

These are the folks we are asking to stop writing cheques/ going into banks and start using digital banking / Revolut / Smart phones; never mind that in some rural areas you could be half way up a tree trying to get a signal.

Edit to add: before someone tells me that their 70 year old Grandparent is so "with it" they do hip hop dance classes and are planning to hill trek in Nepal - that's not really the point.

Imagine asking some one from the mid-19th Century to drive your car - that's what "digital banking" can feel like if you haven't grown up with computerisation.
 
I agree. Going to boards would be silly. Just as sticking your head in the sand when your job is obviously in danger is silly.

Would not listening to feedback from users of the site be considered sticking your head in the sand also?

Saying that as someone who agrees with you and enjoys the site.
 
Thirsty said:
One point that is being missed completely in all the bickering; is how this affects older people.
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Thirsty

They have the post office.

They can switch to another bank.

They can use a credit union.

Bank of Ireland should not be forced to keep rarely used branches open to accommodate people who don't want to make any change at all.

Brendan
 
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