Voices

Comment from local press

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-04 08:00

Banks should show interest in poorer customers

After several local banks began charging customers for depositing large quantities of coins, the Beijing Consumers' Association took exception.

The money counting fee, said the association, is a practice of monopoly that wantonly infringes upon the rights and interests of customers.

People's daily lives are closely intertwined with banking services and we rely on the banks for everything from getting our salaries and pensions to paying bills for our water, electricity, gas and phones.

Many people, especially the retired and low-incomers who have no access to online banking services, have no choice but to join the long queues at banks to deal with these daily issues.

Banks should strive to improve efficiency to better serve these people, instead of looking down upon, and even further burdening, these low-end customers.

With the expectation of increasing inflation, the deposit interest of those low-income groups is limited. Add to that the money-counting fee people will not dare place their hard-earned money in the banks.

But what is the alternative? Do they have to turn to the method of the past and hide their treasury in the earth? That will be difficult, since people nowadays are packed into high-rise apartments and have no earth in which to dig.

Those affected most by the money counting fees are small peddlers - people who sell such things as pancakes, fruit and vegetables.

"Banks are forcing us to increase the prices of our goods," they will complain.

It is true that it takes bank staff some time to count coins but banks should focus on improving service efficiency, including technical upgrades, to solve these problems, instead of transferring the cost to customers.

Excerpts from a comment in Beijing Times, June 2

Flooding at train station sinks reputation

A heavy rainfall several days ago once again exposed construction quality problems at the notorious Beijing West Railway Station.

Two waterfalls appeared within the grandly decorated station: One from the ceiling and the other two floors underground. The waterfalls lasted for several hours, even after the rain stopped.

In the underground area, about 200 square kilometers of space was flooded with water that ran as deep as three or four centimeters.

Passengers had to be careful to avoid the waterfalls overhead and the floods on the ground, as well as the many buckets placed by station workers to catch the leaking water.

Travelers from across the nation must have been shocked by the scene but it was not the first time such incidents have happened at the station that have caused the capital to lose face.

The quality problems at the station are no longer news.

In 1998, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference criticized the station's quality problems two years after the building was hailed as the new gateway to the capital.

Unfortunately, the facility has been plagued with problems. One time, a large part of the glass ceiling came crashing down.

True, the station has some defects in its design and during the construction process there were some malpractices, so, it is unfair to put all the blame on the current management staff, but we should be asking whether the waterfalls that appeared this time could have been prevented by modern techniques.

A former official with the municipal construction committee said the main structure of the station was quite good, despite various problems. The leak in the ceiling, to my understanding, should not be difficult to solve. If proper construction materials are used in its repair, at least it should not happen as frequently and cause such serious results.

Blocked pipes reportedly caused the flooding underground. That can hardly be used as an excuse. The station's managers should have cleared the pipe before the rainy season started.

The problems, seemingly caused by a natural disaster, showed up the gaps in daily management of the station and shortcomings in maintenance.

It is forecast that this year is likely to be plagued with rainstorms. What will happen at the station if that is the case?

Excerpts from a comment in Beijing Times, June 3