[vicsireland] Re: The end of talking ATMs at National Irish Bank
- From: "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx>
- To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2012 15:34:41 -0000
Hi Robbie, I couldn't agree more about the Euro, but my bugbear are the
copper coins. Particularly in recent years since I have lost sensitivity in
the first two fingers of my right hand and the thumb, they are fiddly and apart
from the 200 cent too similar.
I haven't got a smart phone of any kind, partly in terms of cost, and partly
because I doubt how well I would handle a touch screen, though more and more
there seem to be reasons why I should try.
----- Original Message -----
From: RobbieS
To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 5:49 PM
Subject: [vicsireland] Re: The end of talking ATMs at National Irish Bank
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
=======
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: 6.20850)
http://www.pctools.com/
=======
Other related posts:
