IN October 2015 the tellers at the Commonwealth Bank Orange started making noises about no longer accepting cheques as deposits to accounts at the teller box – you had to go and process these outside at the ATM.
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I wrote to the Managing Director – Ian Narev – on October 27, 2015 saying that I was a concerned shareholder as I considered this would be a big turn off for customers (that is people who want to deposit money in the bank).
I also suggested that the person in head office who had made this decision should be sent to a branch for a couple of years to see what life was like in the real world.
On November 2, 2015 a lady called Stacey Younand telephoned me on behalf of the managing director.
She said that they were aware of the problem and the decision had been reversed.
Nine months later we find that a partition has been installed in the banking chamber at Orange.
Customers are interrogated as they enter and if you do not wish to use a machine, you are reluctantly allowed to pass through to the end of the corridor where you find a line of customers and a teller, maybe two if you are lucky, in what I imagine to be the new you beaut teller consulting areas.
No doubt designed by yet another head office person who has never ever been near a branch.
Notes are dispensed from an automated machine, not counted and handed to you by the teller.
Apparently there are plans to install a number of further ATMs in this area, which resembles a poker machine alley.
I understand that there was a television program during the week that reported the CBA planned to charge $2.50 if you wanted to speak to a real person.
Like BREXIT and the recent federal election, customers will start voting with their feet.
Yours sincerely,
Ernest Shave, Orange
Greyhound ban will need funds for homing
THE news that greyhound racing will be banned in NSW and the ACT is most welcome.
As New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said, this industry is responsible for the unnecessary slaughtering of tens of thousands of healthy dogs.
Now that the industry has been given notice to close down, the fate of thousands more is uncertain.
The government must ensure that the greyhound racing industry stops all breeding programs immediately in order to make certain that there are not even more dogs in need of "forever homes".
Over the next year, any money earmarked for building or renovating tracks should be reallocated to promote desexing and dog-adoption programs.
Greyhounds are gentle, friendly dogs who love nothing better than human company, a kind word and a loving touch.
If you are thinking of taking a new companion into your home, a greyhound, or any shelter dog for that matter, will offer loyalty and affection.
Please don’t buy a dog from a breeder and sentence one of these beautiful animals to an early death; adopt a companion and offer him or her, and yourself, many years of joy and love.
Sincerely,
