The Challenge of Depositing Money in a Cashless Society

This trend continues unabated at the savings banks, Volks- and Raiffeisenbanken as well as at private banks such as Postbank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank & Co.: The institutions are reducing their branch networks, converting branches with employees into pure self-service ATM locations or eliminating them immediately complete. At the same time, cash is still very popular in Germany. And in order to get this or give it back, you need branches. A contradiction that is causing more and more customers headaches.

+++ Sparkasse no longer accepts cash – will all bank customers soon be affected by this? +++

However, more and more people are doing their financial transactions online and are also taking out loans online. Customer frequency in the branches is falling. At the same time, hardly a day goes by without ATMs at Sparkasse, Postbank & Co. being blown up and looted somewhere in Germany – usually causing enormous damage.

Postbank relies on supermarkets

When looking for ways to compensate for the loss of branches, the institutes are taking different approaches. For example, some savings banks send red savings bank buses once a week to regions where there are no longer any branches. People can do their financial transactions there. Other banks such as Postbank have won supermarket chains such as Rewe and Edeka or gas stations as cooperation partners. There, customers can withdraw cash at the checkout when shopping.

+++ Sparkasse, Volksbank and Co: What customers need to know when withdrawing money +++

But what about the opposite direction? How do people get rid of their money? Whether it’s children who have accumulated a mountain of pocket money, or people who, for example, have sold their car or a piece of furniture for hundreds or even thousands of euros in “classified ads” – how and where can they deposit their money so that it is safe resting in an account instead of lying in a drawer at home? Answering this question is becoming increasingly difficult. Because the options for depositing money become more scarce with every branch closure. Especially when it’s not about notes but about coins.

Sparkasse in Hesse no longer accepts cash

The decision by Sparkasse Hanau to no longer accept cash at its location in Niederdorfelden near Frankfurt/Main recently caused a stir. Neither from business people, nor from clubs, nor from children who want to pay in the money they have saved. Due to low staffing levels, this service can no longer be offered. A savings bank that no longer accepts money? Upside down world – one would think. But not uncommon.

Postbank, for example, has not only closed numerous branches of its own in recent years, but has also reduced the technical options for depositing money. Until a few years ago, there were so-called “cash recycler” machines at many Postbank locations where customers could deposit banknotes and coins into their account free of charge, but at least the acceptance of coins has now been stopped. All too often the devices were defective because people intentionally or negligently threw foreign objects into the devices – the maintenance and repair effort was correspondingly high. Since then, depositing coins has only been possible at the counter in “real” Postbank branches (i.e. not retail Post branches).

The offer for depositing banknotes is somewhat broader. On the one hand, appropriately equipped ATMs are available at many (not all) Postbank locations and, on the other hand, at Deutsche Bank locations. Because both institutes belong to the same group.

The savings banks in Germany have significantly more branches. But that doesn’t automatically mean that depositing money is easier. The Sparkasse Bochum, for example, accepts money in all branches – depending on the account model for a corresponding fee. But there is only a coin counting machine at the main office in Bochum city center.

Deposit coins – at Berliner Sparkasse in a bag

The Berliner Sparkasse, for example, offers more options for depositing your coins. However, with around 3.6 million inhabitants, Berlin is almost exactly ten times larger than Bochum. Nevertheless, even in the capital, “only” just under 30 of the Sparkasse’s more than 140 advisory and private customer centers offer the opportunity to deposit coins. At Berliner Sparkasse, this is done with a so-called “SafeBag”, i.e. a special bag that is filled with money and then handed over.

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How do other institutes in other cities handle the topic? The Volksbank Hamburg, for example, does not have any coin counting machines, but does have 16 machines in the city where banknotes can be deposited. And what do banks do other than not have branches at all, like ING, for example? There you turn to retail again. At Rewe, Penny, dm, Rossmann and Toom, among others, ING customers can deposit money at the checkout – even without having shopped there. You must have the ING banking app for authentication – and accept that the bank will withhold 1.5 percent of the amount as a fee.

After all, this example shows that there are definitely ways to deposit money into your own account, even in times when bank branches are becoming fewer and fewer and financial transactions are becoming more and more digital.