Rant: The new bank branch in Springfield looks like a spaceship and feels so cold

I had to go into the new First Regional branch on Main Street yesterday to sort out a direct deposit issue... and wow. The whole place is just glass and white plastic with these weird blue lights everywhere. It felt more like a tech store than a place to handle money. There wasn't even a real teller line, just a row of tablets where you check in and wait for someone to wave you over to a little pod. I saw an older couple looking totally lost, trying to figure out the tablet screen. The whole vibe was so unfriendly and rushed, like they just want you to do everything online and never come in. It made me miss the old branch with the wood counters and the actual people you could talk to. Has anyone else felt weirded out by how banks are trying to look so futuristic now?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessicac288d agoMost Upvoted

Exactly, like @the_pat's friend, it just feels designed to push people out.

price.tara10d agoTop Commenter

Okay but hear me out, maybe that's the whole point. If the place feels like a tech store, maybe they're trying to make banking less scary and more like something people already know how to do. Those tablets probably cut down on waiting in a slow line, and the blue lights are just a design choice, not a personal attack. The old wood counters were nice but they also meant long waits on a busy Friday. This setup might just be more efficient for most people, even if it takes some getting used to.

the_pat10d ago

Heard a similar thing from my friend's mom last week. She went to deposit a check and said she stood there for ten minutes just trying to find a person, because the tablet kept asking for her account number she didn't have memorized. She ended up walking out and driving to the next town over to use their old fashioned drive through. I mean, maybe it's efficient if you're all set up digitally already, but it seems like it really leaves some people behind.