<story><title>Robots to Cut 200k U.S. Bank Jobs in Next Decade, Study Says</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-02/robots-to-cut-200-000-u-s-bank-jobs-in-next-decade-study-says</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dawg-</author><text>A few years ago my bank had a mini-branch in my local chain grocery store. They had a counter and some tellers working behind it. I went to it really often because I was being paid in cash at the time waiting tables. The employees were super nice, they all seemed like they were friends, and I kind of became buddies with them over my time of being a regular customer. Not all bank tellers are pleasant customer service people, but this group just had a good vibe I guess.&lt;p&gt;One day I try go to the bank and the counter was ripped out and drywalled over, and in its place is a giant ATM machine. It&amp;#x27;s like an ATM machine on steroids that can do anything with your account. And if you had issues there was a screen on it that would connect you to a call center in Bangladesh or wherever.&lt;p&gt;Some corporate bank employee was posted next to the machine to explain the change to people who had questions. When I walked up a group of people were standing around listening to him talk, they looked ready to pull out the pitchforks. He assured us that all of the tellers were still employed, they were just working &amp;quot;behind the scenes&amp;quot;. I didn&amp;#x27;t buy that at all, and neither did anyone else.&lt;p&gt;I continued to use the machine to deposit my cash, but it really sucked. I mean the machine worked absolutely fine. But it sucked to imagine how those tellers felt to be replaced by it.&lt;p&gt;Now that I don&amp;#x27;t get paid in cash, I don&amp;#x27;t even go to a physical bank at all. I deposit checks on my phone in the rare occasion I need to do that.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m still not sure how to feel about this. I want to hate it but it feels a little irrational. Maybe all of those tellers went to a coding bootcamp and now make triple their salary designing the ATM machines? Seems like that&amp;#x27;s how the story is supposed to go. But probably not. Nothing I can do about it anyway.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>seibelj</author><text>People used to be paid to pump our gas, operate the elevator, hand you a towel in the bathroom. A few places still pay people to do this but it’s more of a luxury add-on. Machines made it so that anyone can pump gas, hit an elevator button, or wash and dry their own hands after using the toilet.&lt;p&gt;Technology progresses and we don’t need experts to cash our checks anymore. If we want to give make-work jobs to people I would prefer they put on puppet shows and read books to kids and the elderly rather than paperwork nonsense at a grocery store bank.&lt;p&gt;People find new jobs. Losing a job doesn’t mean they are destitute - we have a vibrant jobs market in America. If there are enough people like you who would specifically go to a bank in person because you like talking to people, a bank may do that as a competitive advantage. But it isn’t a necessary thing anymore.</text></comment>
<story><title>Robots to Cut 200k U.S. Bank Jobs in Next Decade, Study Says</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-02/robots-to-cut-200-000-u-s-bank-jobs-in-next-decade-study-says</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dawg-</author><text>A few years ago my bank had a mini-branch in my local chain grocery store. They had a counter and some tellers working behind it. I went to it really often because I was being paid in cash at the time waiting tables. The employees were super nice, they all seemed like they were friends, and I kind of became buddies with them over my time of being a regular customer. Not all bank tellers are pleasant customer service people, but this group just had a good vibe I guess.&lt;p&gt;One day I try go to the bank and the counter was ripped out and drywalled over, and in its place is a giant ATM machine. It&amp;#x27;s like an ATM machine on steroids that can do anything with your account. And if you had issues there was a screen on it that would connect you to a call center in Bangladesh or wherever.&lt;p&gt;Some corporate bank employee was posted next to the machine to explain the change to people who had questions. When I walked up a group of people were standing around listening to him talk, they looked ready to pull out the pitchforks. He assured us that all of the tellers were still employed, they were just working &amp;quot;behind the scenes&amp;quot;. I didn&amp;#x27;t buy that at all, and neither did anyone else.&lt;p&gt;I continued to use the machine to deposit my cash, but it really sucked. I mean the machine worked absolutely fine. But it sucked to imagine how those tellers felt to be replaced by it.&lt;p&gt;Now that I don&amp;#x27;t get paid in cash, I don&amp;#x27;t even go to a physical bank at all. I deposit checks on my phone in the rare occasion I need to do that.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m still not sure how to feel about this. I want to hate it but it feels a little irrational. Maybe all of those tellers went to a coding bootcamp and now make triple their salary designing the ATM machines? Seems like that&amp;#x27;s how the story is supposed to go. But probably not. Nothing I can do about it anyway.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>txdv</author><text>&amp;gt; Maybe all of those tellers went to a coding bootcamp and now make triple their salary designing the ATM machines?&lt;p&gt;Of course, that is where all the unemployed people go.</text></comment>