The end of another era

[Peter Moylan]

I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.

Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

[Madhu]

Post by Peter Moylan
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

Perhaps This would be a good time to read Revelation and see if you can
understand the parts that did not make sense to you in earlier readings.

[Mark Brader]

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Welcome to the club. I got a similar notice from TD-CT a few months
ago. They hadn't actually been providing passbook updates since the
pandemic got started, and they used that as their excuse to remove
the service: reducing the number of people needing to use a teller.
But it's only been in the last few years that you *needed* to go to
the teller for an update. Used to be you could do it at an ATM.

My CIBC accounts still have passbooks and their tellers continue to
update them -- the CIBC has also removed passbook updating from their
ATMs -- but the supply of new passbooks to my branch has apparently
been interrupted, so when one book fills up, it'll be "I'm sorry,
we can't do that".

Post by Peter Moylan
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having
a mobile phone will become compulsory.

No, no, you'll need to have a microchip implanted, like the ones that
many pets now carry.

[Sam Plusnet]

Post by Mark Brader

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Welcome to the club. I got a similar notice from TD-CT a few months
ago. They hadn't actually been providing passbook updates since the
pandemic got started, and they used that as their excuse to remove
the service: reducing the number of people needing to use a teller.
But it's only been in the last few years that you *needed* to go to
the teller for an update. Used to be you could do it at an ATM.
My CIBC accounts still have passbooks and their tellers continue to
update them -- the CIBC has also removed passbook updating from their
ATMs -- but the supply of new passbooks to my branch has apparently
been interrupted, so when one book fills up, it'll be "I'm sorry,
we can't do that".

Post by Peter Moylan
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having
a mobile phone will become compulsory.

No, no, you'll need to have a microchip implanted, like the ones that
many pets now carry.

You'll end up with a chip on your shoulder?

[Quinn C]

Post by Sam Plusnet

Post by Mark Brader

Post by Peter Moylan
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having
a mobile phone will become compulsory.

No, no, you'll need to have a microchip implanted, like the ones that
many pets now carry.

You'll end up with a chip on your shoulder?

All that, and ...

(thread-weavingly)

[Lewis]

Post by Mark Brader

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

My wife had a passbook account when she was a child, but those accounts
were eliminated at least 30 years ago, and maybe 40.

She's the only person about my age that I ever heard of having a
passbook account (but then most kids did not have bank accounts at all
AFAIK. Even when I had a paper route I didn’t bother with a bank
account, though I was required to get on in 1982 which meant for all of
high school I was the only person with an ATM card or checking account.

Post by Mark Brader
Welcome to the club. I got a similar notice from TD-CT a few months
ago. They hadn't actually been providing passbook updates since the
pandemic got started, and they used that as their excuse to remove
the service: reducing the number of people needing to use a teller.
But it's only been in the last few years that you *needed* to go to
the teller for an update. Used to be you could do it at an ATM.

Perhaps your passbooks were different? She always had to go to a
teller who would not the account changes in the passbook.

Post by Mark Brader
No, no, you'll need to have a microchip implanted, like the ones that
many pets now carry.

RFID is not secure, Phones are,

[Snidely]

Post by Lewis

Post by Mark Brader

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

My wife had a passbook account when she was a child, but those accounts
were eliminated at least 30 years ago, and maybe 40.
She's the only person about my age that I ever heard of having a
passbook account (but then most kids did not have bank accounts at all
AFAIK.

I had my first passbook account (at a Savings and Loan) when I was in
grade school. But then, it appears I'm a little older than you.

Post by Lewis
Even when I had a paper route I didn’t bother with a bank
account, though I was required to get on in 1982 which meant for all of
high school I was the only person with an ATM card or checking account.

I had several ATM cards in 1982, but I wasn't in high school.

Post by Lewis

Post by Mark Brader
Welcome to the club. I got a similar notice from TD-CT a few months
ago. They hadn't actually been providing passbook updates since the
pandemic got started, and they used that as their excuse to remove
the service: reducing the number of people needing to use a teller.
But it's only been in the last few years that you *needed* to go to
the teller for an update. Used to be you could do it at an ATM.

Perhaps your passbooks were different? She always had to go to a
teller who would not the account changes in the passbook.

Ah, memories.

Post by Lewis

Post by Mark Brader
No, no, you'll need to have a microchip implanted, like the ones that
many pets now carry.

RFID is not secure, Phones are,

Depends on the implementation. I think you overestimate phones.

/dps

[Peter T. Daniels]

Post by Snidely

Post by Lewis

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

My wife had a passbook account when she was a child, but those accounts
were eliminated at least 30 years ago, and maybe 40.
She's the only person about my age that I ever heard of having a
passbook account (but then most kids did not have bank accounts at all
AFAIK.

I had my first passbook account (at a Savings and Loan) when I was in
grade school. But then, it appears I'm a little older than you.

The Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn (which after 1898 had branches
elsewhere in the city) distributed to schoolchildren cardboard folders
with places for them to save their dimes (like the folders sold to coin
collector hobbyists) and when they were filled up -- probably $5 worth
-- you took it in and opened a savings account and got a bankbook.

I wonder when they (and presumably other banks) stopped doing that.

[J. J. Lodder]

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

Which for purposes of control is far more effective
than tatooing on your serial number,

Jan

[occam]

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

Mobile phone? I fear a chip in my butt will become obligatory soon.
That'll be a case of a smart-arse implant technology. (Remember you
heard it here first.)

[Peter T. Daniels]

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

Hunh. We haven't had bankbooks in decades. When you brought in
the old one to start a new one when all the spaces were filled up,
they simply didn't replace it, and sent regular (monthly or quarterly)
statements instead. Now that's not even an option if you have an
electronic account.

I do insist on paper statements for my monthly utility and credit card
bills. It turns out that when they correct an error [when my gas meter
was replaced with a new model, something went wrong with transferring
the old reading to the new machine[, no record remains in the electronic
account of what had gone wrong, and I had to show them that the first
bill after the changeover had been inaccurate by displaying the last few.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

[b***@shaw.ca]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook, but I still keep a few cheque books
around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a year now, in particular
circumstances.

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
Eventually, I suppose, our plastic cards will disappear, and having a
mobile phone will become compulsory.

I'm holding out on that one. I never bump into other pedestrians on city sidewalks
while looking down at my smart phone, because I don't own one. Same with
phone-distracted driving.

bill

[occam]

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook, but I still keep a few cheque books
around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a year now, in particular
circumstances.

Two or three decades ago, when Building Societies in the UK started
their 'conversions' to bank status, there was a rush of applications to
join the remaining 'true' building societies. I heard that some people
were not only hanging on to their (now obsolete) passbooks, but some
were actively collecting these - a bit like stamps. I have not visited
my Building Society in the UK for ages, so I am not sure if the passbook
I have is still valid, or even functional? I still have a cheque book,
which continues to deliver.

[charles]

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will
no longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years
older than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook, but I still keep a few
cheque books around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a
year now, in particular circumstances.

Two or three decades ago, when Building Societies in the UK started their
'conversions' to bank status, there was a rush of applications to join
the remaining 'true' building societies. I heard that some people were
not only hanging on to their (now obsolete) passbooks, but some were
actively collecting these - a bit like stamps. I have not visited my
Building Society in the UK for ages, so I am not sure if the passbook I
have is still valid, or even functional? I still have a cheque book,
which continues to deliver.

I've still got a passbook for an account opened in 1996

[occam]

Post by charles

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will
no longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years
older than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook, but I still keep a few
cheque books around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a
year now, in particular circumstances.

Two or three decades ago, when Building Societies in the UK started their
'conversions' to bank status, there was a rush of applications to join
the remaining 'true' building societies. I heard that some people were
not only hanging on to their (now obsolete) passbooks, but some were
actively collecting these - a bit like stamps. I have not visited my
Building Society in the UK for ages, so I am not sure if the passbook I
have is still valid, or even functional? I still have a cheque book,
which continues to deliver.

I've still got a passbook for an account opened in 1996

When was the last time you walked into a branch and asked them to
'update' it? (The procedure involves putting the passbook through a
machine, which prints out all the 'missing' transaction since the last
update.)

[charles]

Post by occam

Post by charles

Post by occam

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says,
inter alia, that from June this year the option of having a
passbook will no longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years
ago. I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years
ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for
many years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty
years older than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook, but I still keep a few
cheque books around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a
year now, in particular circumstances.

Two or three decades ago, when Building Societies in the UK started
their 'conversions' to bank status, there was a rush of applications
to join the remaining 'true' building societies. I heard that some
people were not only hanging on to their (now obsolete) passbooks, but
some were actively collecting these - a bit like stamps. I have not
visited my Building Society in the UK for ages, so I am not sure if
the passbook I have is still valid, or even functional? I still have a
cheque book, which continues to deliver.

I've still got a passbook for an account opened in 1996

When was the last time you walked into a branch and asked them to
'update' it? (The procedure involves putting the passbook through a
machine, which prints out all the 'missing' transaction since the last
update.)

probably at least 20 years ago. I doubt if tehstill have the required
machine, perticularly with the name of the society on the book has passed
into history.

[Ken Blake]

Post by charles

Post by occam

Post by charles

Post by occam

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says,
inter alia, that from June this year the option of having a
passbook will no longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years
ago. I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years
ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for
many years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty
years older than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook, but I still keep a few
cheque books around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a
year now, in particular circumstances.

Two or three decades ago, when Building Societies in the UK started
their 'conversions' to bank status, there was a rush of applications
to join the remaining 'true' building societies. I heard that some
people were not only hanging on to their (now obsolete) passbooks, but
some were actively collecting these - a bit like stamps. I have not
visited my Building Society in the UK for ages, so I am not sure if
the passbook I have is still valid, or even functional? I still have a
cheque book, which continues to deliver.

I've still got a passbook for an account opened in 1996

When was the last time you walked into a branch and asked them to
'update' it? (The procedure involves putting the passbook through a
machine, which prints out all the 'missing' transaction since the last
update.)

probably at least 20 years ago. I doubt if tehstill have the required
machine, perticularly with the name of the society on the book has passed
into history.

It's not an official record, of course, but for me, the equivalent of a
passbook is Quicken, where I keep all my financial records. What's
official are the paper statements I receive by mail each month (and use
to verify that my Quicken records are correct).

[Ken Blake]

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook,

Same for me. It's been so long since I had a passbook, that I had
forgotten the word, and had to google it.

Post by b***@shaw.ca
but I still keep a few cheque books
around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a year now, in particular
circumstances.

Almost the same for me. I pay our gardener by check once a month and our
housecleaner by check every two weeks. My wife pays her hairdresser by
check.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Ken Blake

Post by b***@shaw.ca

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Peter Moylan
I've just received a notice from my building society that says, inter
alia, that from June this year the option of having a passbook will no
longer be available.

Our Caisse d'Épargne (similar to building society) doesn't have
passbooks now, but it it did when we opened the accounts 34 years ago.
I don't remember when it changed -- probably at least ten years ago.

Post by Peter Moylan
Personally I haven't had either a cheque book or a passbook for many
years, but this is going to be confusing for people twenty years older
than me.

It has been decades since I saw a passbook,

Same for me. It's been so long since I had a passbook, that I had
forgotten the word, and had to google it.

Post by b***@shaw.ca
but I still keep a few cheque books
around. I write a cheque perhaps three or four times a year now, in particular
circumstances.

Almost the same for me. I pay our gardener by check once a month and
our housecleaner by check every two weeks. My wife pays her hairdresser
by check.

I'm glad is not just me that's a survivor from the last century. I buy
various things my cheque -- routine doctor's visits, donations to
charities (once each per year), various other things I can't think of
right now. However, I've started using my credit card for things I
wouldn't have dreamt of paying for in that way a few years ago, like
buying fruit and vegetables at the Arab shop (British English "Indian
shop"). I have used it in the supermarket from our arrival in France,
something I never did in England.