Re: Devices Enforce Cellular Silence, Sweet but Illegal Side tone and cell phones --

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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.



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