Dollar Bank Introduces PTM, A Personal Teller Machine

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- At many banks, those long counters with tellers are disappearing.

But no worries, says Dollar Bank, you can still get the personal teller touch with them.

It's something called a PTM or "personal teller machine."

"It is much more convenient for our customers," Dollar Bank senior vice president Joseph Smith told KDKA money editor Jon Delano Tuesday afternoon.

"They have a teller that they are connecting with via video and that teller can pretty much do what a teller can do in our branches," he said.

It's the latest banking technology, and Dollar Bank is the first to offer it here.

The machine is really like an ATM machine except instead of just numbers and paper you really get a real live person.

It may take a little bit to get used to, but a live teller makes it easy, as Robert, one of the tellers explained: "We have people that come in and make deposits. They can make withdrawals. Some of them like to cash checks. People like to make mortgage payments, loan payments, credit card payments as well."

One advantage -- Dollar is placing PTMs outside a few branches, and the personal tellers, who work out of a central location in the Strip District, are available until 10 p.m., long after the branches close.

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Customer Dominic Britsch of the North Side likes that convenience.

"If you put it outside a bank, I have used it in different locations," Britsch said. "Definitely useful if there's not someone around or someone's busy, things like that."

"It's the weekend, and after the branch closes, that our usage goes way up," notes Dollar's Smith.

So what happens to the tellers at the counter?

Dollar Bank says no lay-offs -- just a re-deployment.