The Inconvenience of Cash Deposit Machines rejecting P1000 bills

Have you ever tried using cash deposit machines in banks like BDO, Security Bank and UnionBank? It's supposed to ease up your deposit transactions in your branch.

We all know how lines can get longer if you'll transact through the teller due to several factors including lack of available manpower (on average, they only have two) and the variety of transactions that they process. In concept, cash deposit machines are there to lessen the deposit transactions that are being handled by tellers so they can focus on other transactions that require much of their time.

The cash deposit machines, though not yet widely available, should filter walk-in customers who would only like to deposit to their accounts. This should eliminate the long queues that we normally see during paydays and before long weekends.

BDO's Cash Accept Machine (CAM) is one example of the cash deposit machine that we have now in the Philippines. It's been around for quite some time although they have yet to roll it out across all of their branches. According to their website, CAM is now "in almost 400 in-branch and off-site locations in key cities and business districts nationwide". The list of active CAMs can be found here.

I am one of those who frequently use CAM. I've personally tried it in BDO Washington in Makati and BDO Strata 100 in Ortigas. Other banks also have the same service. I've used the ones in Security Bank Head Office in Makati and UnionBank Plaza in Ortigas. The experience is really smooth and you would really feel the convenience of using it than lining up to transact with a teller. How I wish that they could have it in all of their branches.

While cash deposit machines can be the perfect solution to customer service woes in branches, my recent experience with a BDO Cash Accept Machine is different though. The machine is rejecting new P1,000 bills. The personnel inside the BDO Strata 100 branch even told us to crumple the bills though it still didn't work. They then had to replace it with old P1,000 bills just so the machine can read and accept it.

By the looks of it, the bankers are fully aware of the lapses of their deposit machine. And that, instead of making the depositors' experience more smooth, it only gave us unnecessary stress.

The thing is, this isn't just an isolated problem. I've also experienced this with the cash deposit machine in UnionBank Plaza a couple of weeks ago. Same with  BDO, they asked me to have my new P1,000 bills replaced in the counter before depositing in the machine.

Technology can be our best friend but it also has its fair share of inconveniences. But if it can't do the very reason why it was conceptualized, how can you fully trust it? I guess people will still have to line up just like the good old days. I hope that whoever the manufacturer of these cash deposit machine is, they would seriously look into fixing this problem soon.