So much loose change, bank staff got hand cramps counting it. The bank said that 8 people depositing loose change simultaneously delayed other customers. Female employees were busy counting the coins (Source: Quanzhou Evening News). A stack of money nearly a meter high was still less than 50,000 yuan (Source: Quanzhou Evening News).
Southeast Network - Strait Daily News, May 10th (Our reporter Jianhui Chen, Mingfei Xie, text and photo) Yesterday morning, eight employees of Quanzhou Bus Development Co., Ltd., brought 50,000 yuan in one-yuan bills to multiple windows at a bank in the urban area of Quanzhou, requesting to deposit the money into eight personal accounts in batches. The bank believed this affected other customers' business transactions and reported it as "disrupting financial order." In the end, under police mediation, the bank opened a dedicated channel to count the loose change, but by the end of the day, only 13,000 yuan had been deposited.
Eight people depositing simultaneously, the bank claims "disrupting financial order"
"Why can't we deposit? The money is real, we've queued up for numbers, and we have accounts with your bank," insisted young man Xiao Wang, demanding a reason from the bank.
Xiao Wang, an employee of the bus company, along with seven other colleagues, arrived around 9:30 AM carrying three iron boxes filled with 50,000 yuan in one-yuan bills. They planned to deposit the money into eight personal accounts in batches. After successfully depositing 6,300 yuan at two windows, the bank suddenly stopped the counting of the loose change.
Ms. Liu, the head of the bank's business department, said that these eight customers were all depositing loose change, with a total amount reaching 50,000 yuan. All of them queued up simultaneously, causing four or five service windows to become "paralyzed." This extended the waiting time for other customers, leading to complaints and grievances. As a result, both sides had a verbal dispute, and the bank reported it as "disrupting financial order."
The police intervened to mediate, suggesting that the bank open a dedicated channel to count the loose change or allow Xiao Wang to temporarily store the loose change at the bank until the bank could find time to count it.
"One window counting is too slow, we hope for more dedicated counters," Xiao Wang and others did not agree. The suggestion of "temporary storage" also led to disputes over who should write the receipt.
A dedicated counter cleared 13,000 yuan in one day
Xiao Wang said that all the money was deposited into personal accounts, and they had followed the rules by queuing up for numbers. The bank should adhere to the service concept of "the customer is God."
Ms. Liu, however, believed that the bank did not refuse to handle loose change transactions but did not want Xiao Wang and others to use the method of "simultaneously queuing up to deposit money." She also mentioned that if the deposit or withdrawal amount exceeds 50,000 yuan (including 50,000 yuan), at least one day's notice must be given, otherwise the bank would not be able to temporarily mobilize counting personnel. "These bills are too old to be counted by a bill counter; only manual counting can be done, and one person would need an entire morning to count them."
At around 1:30 PM that day, the bank opened a dedicated counter specifically to count the loose change. By the time the bank closed that day, the staff had counted a total of 13,000 yuan, and Xiao Wang and others took the remaining loose change back.
Bus Company: Loose change increases by 200,000 yuan daily
Xiao Wang and others deposited the money into personal accounts under their own names. Regarding this, Manager Wang of the finance department of the bus company introduced that previously, the company had accumulated over 2 million yuan in one-yuan bills. Currently, the company still has over 1 million yuan in loose change without finding any "suitors" to accept it. For over 20 days, they have been busy negotiating with various banks, but almost all have encountered similar difficulties. For this reason, some employees voluntarily helped the company by lending out the loose change and signing "temporary loan slips" with the company, ensuring repayment within two or three days.
"We have no choice; this is just a temporary measure," Manager Wang said. The company does not want to distribute the money as wages to employees, which would shift the burden onto them. If these employees then go to the bank to handle "loose-to-whole" transactions, it would only make the bank's business even more "overloaded."
"Even worse, while the inventory of loose change remains unresolved, it continues to increase at a rate of over 200,000 yuan per day," Manager Wang said. That day, over ten employees went to various banks to deposit money, but out of 110,000 yuan in loose change, only 66,000 yuan was successfully deposited.
What puzzles Manager Wang is that a year ago, many supermarket owners and small vendors would line up at the bus company to exchange whole bills for loose change. However, since the second half of last year, fewer people have come to exchange loose change. Now, even when the bus company offers "door-to-door service," few vendors are willing to exchange loose change, even saying "there's too much loose change."
People's Bank: Complaints can be made if refused
During the interview, Ms. Liu from the bank also said that the unit settlement account of the bus company is not with their bank. To conduct large-scale "loose-to-whole" transactions, they should go to the opening bank of the settlement account.
Manager Wang of the finance department of the bus company said that currently, there are six banks related to the company's daily operations. Among them, four larger ones had previously shared the responsibility of handling the "loose-to-whole" transactions for the bus company, including this bank. But since the beginning of this year, including the opening bank of the bus company's unit settlement account, they have all lost interest in "loose-to-whole" transactions.
Yesterday afternoon, after learning about the matter, the head of the Currency and Gold Department of the People's Bank of China Quanzhou Central Branch stated that the act of Xiao Wang and the other eight customers depositing money into personal accounts falls under personal deposits. According to regulations, the bank should accept it. If refused, they can call the bank's complaint hotline to report the situation.
This official also said that the bus company can go to banks with relevant business relations to handle "loose-to-whole" transactions, including the opening bank of the unit settlement account. Normally, banks will accept such transactions.