[jtbayly]

> "should the rest of us with smartphones pay for that bank office?”

Yes! There are many things you cannot do without a physical bank location. It is worth paying[1] something to have them. I used to use an online-only bank, but I realized I wanted to be able to walk into a branch at times, so I switched to a new bank.

[1] “Paying” can mean a variety of things, including lower interest rates on savings accounts, for example.

[Kwpolska]

What are those mythical actions that can't be done outside of a physical location? How many of them are things you do ~once in a lifetime, like getting a mortgage?

[genewitch]

I need 100 rolls of quarters. I need 500 $2 bills. I need to change my pin on a debit card.

I need to change all these $2 bills and quarters into $20 bills.

Trivial examples that I have done at my bank. Maybe drbit cards now don't need to be put into a machine to change the pin anymore, idk.

[Kwpolska]

The PIN thing can be done online at both of my banks.

As for the cash stuff, those are things you may need to do if you’re a shopkeeper, but I can’t imagine a reason why I would do that myself. Banks over here will sometimes charge fees for changing cash.

[genewitch]

in the US $2 bills are an icebreaker. There's still a lot of people that don't believe they're real. I also used them as incentives for my kids to go above and beyond with their communal chores. The quarters thing i haven't done personally but i was adjacent to for a club, it was for a game in a booth at an event.

banks here don't charge, as one of their expected roles is to change money in the US.

[Spivak]

I mean I've used an online only bank for years now and there's nothing I haven't been able to do. They send cashier's checks by mail.

I suppose if I wanted to deposit cash I couldn't but it's never come up.