2007-02-02

Daddy needs a new cocktail shaker


The banks are having a rough time. Bad publicity about layoffs despite unquestionably handsome profits. Chief NDipper Jack Layton slamming those $1.50 Interac fees. Scurrilous bloggers taking well-aimed potshots.

But there's a golden opportunity to turn things around: Vegas-style cash machines.

Imagine . . . every 500th customer gets an extra $20 bill with their withdrawal.

You're the 10,000th lucky stiff in the queue? A cool $100.

And if you happen to be that most fortunate one millionth button-pusher, get set to walk away with a thousand bucks!

These little prizes would amount to pocket change for the big banks. And, heck, everyone would be so enthralled that the cigar-smoking brandy swillers could quietly jack up Interac fees to $3 a pop.

1 comment:

Harmony said...

More years ago than I care to admit, I was living in Vancouver and I went to a TD ATM. I asked it for some fast-cash, which I think was $60. The ATM gave me $80: two twenties were stuck together. I very happily and with not a drop of guilt took the money and ran.
Now, I'd have felt guilty and would have turned in the $20 if I'd thought it had come from someone else's account. But I considered it a direct donation from the TD bank, and long overdue, in fact.
In an entirely different life, I was a lawyer. The senior partner at the firm had a policy of taking any case against a bank for FREE, no charge to the client. That's how much he detested banks.
I think these two little stories tell a lot about how much banks are viewed in our society...