Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones --
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 20:26:21 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Rod Van Meter <rdv () sfc wide ad jp> Date: November 5, 2007 5:52:00 PM EST To: dave () farber net, "RJR rjriley.com" <rjr () rjriley com>Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones --
On Mon, 2007-11-05 at 10:02 -0500, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: "RJR rjriley.com" <rjr () rjriley com> Date: November 4, 2007 6:44:14 PM EST To: <dave () farber net>, <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: RE: [IP] Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones --
What this bank needs to do is cut the wait as much as possible and create processes to make waits more convenient. For example why not call people by number
This is in fact what Japanese banks do, with a machine that hands out slips for each of several categories, and tells you how many people are waiting. There are benches and magazines and newspapers available (old magazines and uncomfortable benches, but all the same). But cell phones in "quiet" places such as trains and bank lobbies are severely frowned upon (though their use in restaurants seems to be increasing). And there is even a bank employee standing by the rows of ATMs to help if you have a problem. You can withdraw up to about $10K from an ATM, too. The downside is that the ATMs are generally open only slightly longer than regular business hours (why the ATM needs the night off I have no idea). Any withdrawal outside M-F 9-5 results in a 105 yen (about a buck) charge, and on the weekends might be 210 yen if you use the ATM at a convenience store (which is likely the only one available). So, the competitive pressures (such as they are) are completely different here. Which would you pick? Better service or lower fees? --Rod P.S. I recently applied for a mortgage here, and it was a great deal of writing documents by hand (as required by law, I think), but much less stressful than the equivalent process in the U.S. We now have a 35 year variable-rate mortgage at 1.65% interest. Yes, things are different here. ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones -- David Farber (Nov 04)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones -- David Farber (Nov 05)
- Re: Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones -- David Farber (Nov 06)