[vicsireland] Re: The end of talking ATMs at National Irish Bank
- From: RobbieS <robbiesin@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2012 17:49:07 +0000
I think there's a trend towards virtual banking and virtual money instead
of a real bank on the street and physical money. I don't mind this once
it's accessible.
I have recently acquired the Bank of Ireland app, but have not yet
transferred money on it.
There is an increase in the use of a new technology on smartphones which
allows for the transfer of money (e.g., from your account to a vendor's),
by swiping the phone over a sensor. I think this sounds grand indeed, but
unfortuneately, I hear that the banks are charging extortionate fees for
the use of this technology. We may have more hope in campaigning for a
reduction in these charges.
While banking and money etc. are under discussion, after nearly eleven
years, I still find the euro cash (especially the notes), difficult to
gauge. At the time, I remember some official responding to vip complaints
about the euro's design by saying that the vip community needs to give it
some time, and that they would get used to it eventually, and that if
things remained very bad in five or six years, for instance, then the
design issue could be revisited. The currency was designed by a Belgian
banker with few of the excellent design features employed by the individual
old currencies before this (e.g., the hole in the middle of the Spannish 25
peseta piece), or our own excellent punt with many good design features.
So, apart from all the other economic or political reasons, design alone is
enough for me to hope for the demise of the euro.
Regards,
Robbie
On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 5:27 PM, Dónal Fitzpatrick <dfitzpat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> wrote:
> I come from pretty much the exact opposite end of the political spectrum a
> s you Ed, but I wholeheartedly agree.
>
> Taking this to another angle, has anyone tried using the AIB mobile app
> with voiceover? It's not bad, though I'd be very curious whether anyone
> has managed to do a funds transfer. That bit seems to be inaccessible.
>
> Dónal
> On 5 Nov 2012, at 17:23, "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Hi Tim Robbie and all. Those of our membership who work in the banking
> sector may be in a position to correct me, but it seems to me that our
> position as VIPs is likely to worsen rapidly. The branch network of AIB
> is being radically reduced and BOI seems to be running an unannounced
> policy of downgrading the staff in branches. By that I mean the higher
> level functions, such as the discussion of loans or other traditional
> functions of a manager, who was stationed in a branch and thus knew the
> locality intimately, are being shifted to the main cities and into the
> hands of specialists, roving "Advisors" and "Account Managers" all of whom
> are based at a distance from rural Ireland. I know that many of the VIP
> working population, possibly a disproportionate number, as compared with
> the general population, live in or near the major cities, largely because
> of the employment pattern of VIP workers, but nevertheless the majority of
> VIP citizens are not actually workers. They are unemployed or
> unemployable, by reason of multiple disabilities or age. For this group,
> or thos of us who hang on in rural Ireland, mostly self-employed or
> unemployed, the banking system is becoming increasingly inaccessible. It
> did not seem unreasonable to expect the NIB talking ATMs to become more
> generally available. If they could do it, why not the others? In fact
> many of the ATMs around the place seem to have physical earphone sockets,
> which suggests that it is only unwillingness to either use, or possibly
> purchase the necessary software to make the machines accessible.
> >
> > From choice, if I can get to a bank in banking hours, I would sooner
> deal with a person than a machine, because of the employment implications
> of doing the opposite, and because I actually enjoy dealing with people,
> but as hours and branches recede into legend, we need an alternative.
> >
> > This alternative is of course shakey enough for all of us with or
> without sight, this year their have been two money famines in Skibbereen as
> the ATMs of two different banks have gone on their own strikes, because of
> unspecified technical difficulties.
> >
> > We need to take a firm line on this as a group.
> >
> > Sorry for the length of this, but it something which has been
> increasingly worrying me, as I see branches falling like ash trees with the
> fungus around West Cork.
> >
> > Ed
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: RobbieS
> > To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 12:06 PM
> > Subject: [vicsireland] Re: The end of talking ATMs at National Irish
> Bank
> >
> >
> > Hi Tim,
> >
> > Sometime last summer, Emma Tracey did a good report on BBC Radio 4's In
> Touch on the subject of talking ATMs. Apparently, in March of this year,
> the US passed legislation making the provision of screen-reader facilities
> compulsory and standard on all new ATMs in the US. How far we are from
> that.
> >
> > Robbie
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 9:45 AM, Tim Culhane <tim.j.culhane@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Its with great regret that as a result of the decision of National
> Irish
> > Bank to close their entire branch network in the Republic, we will no
> longer
> > have access to their talking ATMs machines.
> >
> > Naturally this is very disappointing news, but there isn't much we
> can do
> > about it.
> >
> > I certainly hope that VICS will continue to lobby the remaining banks
> > operating in the Republic of Ireland to improve accessibility of
> their ATMs
> > machines, and perhaps in the future talking ATMs will return.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Tim
> >
> >
> >
> > ===========================================================
> > The vicsireland mailing list
> >
> > To unsubscribe at any time send a mail to:
> >
> > vicsireland-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > with the word "unsubscribe", without the quotes in the subject of the
> message.
> >
> > To contact the moderator send mail to:
> >
> > tim.j.culhane@xxxxxxxxx
> >
> > For mor information on the Visually Impaired Computer Society visit:
> >
> > http://www.vicsireland.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > =======
> > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
> > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.21, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.20840)
> > http://www.pctools.com
> > =======
> >
> >
> >
> > =======
> > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
> > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.21, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.20840)
> > http://www.pctools.com/
> > =======
>
> The vicsireland mailing list
>
> To unsubscribe at any time send a mail to:
>
> vicsireland-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> with the word "unsubscribe", without the quotes in the subject of the
> message.
>
> To contact the moderator send mail to:
>
> tim.j.culhane@xxxxxxxxx
>
> For mor information on the Visually Impaired Computer Society visit:
>
> http://www.vicsireland.org
>
>
Other related posts:
