In another life I was in banking, local large regional bank...the whole thing started back in the late 80's, save on overhead by reducing the number of people in the front office, you know, those people who used to provide us services, in favor of ATM's, telephone banking (now online banking) and customer service centers...lot cheaper, more reliable and less chance of fingers dipping into the till. I recall the resistance, long lines to access the few tellers on the job, while old teller windows sat vacant. It has just gotten more automated since then, people are numbers, not people, and only transactions matter.
