"An A.T.M. is not very intelligent, but it puts bank tellers out of work," Mr. Pollack said.
They no longer fold elaborate fortune-tellers out of loose-leaf; instead they go online to read horoscopes or play games.
And they ran their business -- selling $10 bags of crack, the police said -- as efficiently as bank tellers, out of apartment buildings on one block of West 146th Street, whose vestibules they commandeered each night.
They were supposed to put bank tellers out of work.
While the accounts are backed by the State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, Eko has created "tellers" out of the trusted corner grocers who operate throughout India.
You should be able to make multiple fortune tellers out of one toilet paper roll.
Average fees for withdrawals from out-of-network automatic teller machines, as well as fees for bounced checks, have hit new highs, according to Bankrate.com's annual checking account study released this week.
The problem, though, according to consumer lawyers and employees, is that in the vast majority of cases, using the cards can generate large fees — 50 cents for a balance inquiry and $2.25 for an out-of-network automated teller machine, for example.
While bank customers are typically not liable for losses because of fraudulent activity on their credit and debit cards, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Santander Bank said they have lowered limits on how much cash customers can take out of teller machines and spend at stores.
"If you don't tip some of these tellers, they steal from you," said Mr. Knight, an immigrant from Trinidad and an out-of-work pharmacist.
