This rolls back into my point again… I believe it was one person who stated this earlier in the thread?
I don’t believe we can make assumptions on how users will use the feature with no possible data to back this up.
Information is key… if its found this is how its being done then implement changes because now there is data to show why its unsustainable to run.
If people do small but frequent deposits i can think of a few possible ways to counteract this:
push messages to user stating their habits are impacting monzo and may cause other users to be charged for using this service (wordered better obviously)
put in a cooling period? maybe you have to wait a week before allowed to do another cash deposit
so to grow further Monzo have to offer something else to those who haven’t yet switched.
Monzo needs to become profitable. Growth by itself doesn’t mean anything. If “growth” is the priority then Monzo can just start giving away free money and instantly get millions of customers overnight. They’d be bankrupt the next day though.
I don’t see how offering a feature at a loss just to “grow” is a sane strategy. I’ve seen many companies do stupid things in the name of growth and they all ended up worse off financially (Twitter is the golden example of this - it’s “How not to run a business 101”).
If you live in Ireland aib and bank of Ireland have full range of charges on every transaction you do and a quarterly fee and then you have permanent tsb who charge €4 a month but you can earn €1 and cancel the charge if you use your debit card 50+ times then you have KBC bank Ireland who charge quarterly and a atm fee with no cash deposits as they are digital first bank but all these banks charge foreign atm and debit card use abroad and government stamp duty so I can see the point of charging but it’s what you charge and when to give to the customer as benefits there needs to be a good way forward and none of the arguing over a fee
And that’s the entire premise of Monzo’s argument, I don’t see how it’s difficult to understand.
Monzo are worried about the backlash of having a free service that then becomes a paid for service if it’s unsustainable. Exactly like what happened to International ATM Withdrawals, which at least 3 members of staff have explained now.
So they’re going to introduce the fee, get some data, and then possibly reevaluate.
You are making the assumption that if Monzo was to just say “we might introduce a fee in the future” then if a fee came about, everybody would be fine - all the angriness would be none existent because Monzo warned you.
But you are the one making an assumption here - on data you don’t have.
Monzo are navigating this ship, and they think this option involves less risk of upsetting people, as well as less risk to themselves. You can’t make assumptions yourself and call Monzo foul choosing to minimise risk and get some data first.
“we might introduce a fee in the future” then if a fee came about, everybody would be fine
I think we have plenty of evidence of the opposite. Making a free feature paid is definitely not fine. There’s a huge thread full of complaints here about the introduction of foreign ATM fees.
Starling has a huge revenue stream from their business side of things which they decided to use to subsidise the personal accounts. Monzo doesn’t (yet?) have that luxury.
I’m not sure that having data when there is a fee will be an accurate way of determining user usage of cash deposits.
Having no fee, seeing how the users use it, and then introducing a fee if necessary would be better.
I may be a rare one here, but I actually liked how Monzo managed the overseas ATM fee change:
No fee
Saw user usage
Consider options
Asked their users
Chose one
I know it can’t be perfectly replicated but in general it was a really positive way of a company engaging with the people who will use their company and ultimately aid them in being profitable.
This is ass about backwards though… there have been a high number of people on this thread alone that have said they’ll continue to use their legacy bank due to the fee, but possibly wouldn’t if Monzo provided the same service.
The same people mentioned above will then be outliers that wont be accounted for, it will just be assumed that these people don’t need this feature of cash deposits.
Happy to be proved wrong on this point if wrong but I believe it was stated there will be no way of representing this back to Monzo from what i can see apart from responses on this thread?
I never stated everyone would be fine with it at all, but who is to say one backlash will be worse than the other? Its impossible to tell.
I was one of those who wasn’t happy with this but eventually came around once I realised that I had the choice to adapt my habits to make it work for me.
I still think more engagement at each stage is key:
initial free deposits
state its temporary, use as normal service, may be costed in future depends on usage,
send notifications to individual users with suggested improvements
“You deposited x over x times last month, if you deposited this at once you can help to keep this feature free”
It would come across a lot better to all monzo users not just the vocal few on the forum (myself included) and then it would be a matter of look we tried your way not lets try ours cause its just not sustainable
To me, the amount of time it takes me to travel to my nearest high street bank branch, and back, would take around half an hour… so to pay £1 and get half an hour of my life back, and be able to go at a time & location that suits means I am currently ok with the fee
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Monzo have been bitten before in introducing a free feature that has turned out to be unsustainable. That’s why they’re trying something different here. That’s understandable, surely?
It should be pointed out that there are ~30 frequent posters on this thread. There are ~1,100,000 customers.
Would you as a customer want to be consulted on every business decision as a result? Do you not think it should be a case of a business presents to us their offering and we as consumers then choose if we want to use it or not?
Totally get this, and to be honest this wouldn’t affect me much, but I can completely see how it could affect others and the way in which Monzo is viewed, so I don’t want to just push it aside as it doesn’t affect me.
Monzo have already said they’re fine with this. If the service isn’t right for someone, they shouldn’t use it.
Nothing is set in stone. Just because they’re introducing a fee now doesn’t mean it’ll be around forever. They’re doing what they need to do right now. It’s a tech business, things are going to get chopped and changed all the time. People are assuming that because a decision about something has been made, it’s going to effect Monzo’s business forever.
I’ve seen plenty of people say “well how is Monzo going to make money work for everyone” “how’re they going to get to 1 billion users with these charges” etc etc. Monzo already doesn’t work for everyone, but their aim is to. They’re not close to a billion customers either, it isn’t a concern yet. And they’re going to take plenty of baby steps to get there over time. This decision might be important now, but when they’re profitable as a company might not be.
Of course the data will be skewed. But Monzo have made it painfully clear that they have no intention of offering another free feature and then adding a fee and being blasted like they were last time. So you’re left with 1 option. And getting some data and making an informed, risk free decision is better than none.
Heck, if the usage is so low, they might be able to reduce the fee to £0.80, and if it’s still low, £0.60 etc until it’s free. Who knows? Definitely not you or me.
You are one to say. You said it here:
Like I said, what data do you have to back that up? It’s all conjecture.
If Monzo believes there’s only one good option, why would they open it up to debate beforehand? It was said previously above but: Monzo isn’t obliged to ask for your input on every business decision because they’re being transparent. Sometimes they may ask us, sometimes not.
If they genuinely don’t know what users would prefer, they ask. If they don’t know potentially all use cases for a feature, they ask. But if they know what they want, they know.
Says who? It’s just your opinion again.
Clearly Monzo disagrees with you, they think it’d be better if a service wasn’t free first, then a fee introduced.
Does your high street bank support Post Office deposits though? At the moment I still have a Natwest branch that I can walk to from my office, but if this were to close I would probably just use the Post Office. If both my local Natwest branch and local Post Office were to close, only then would I weigh up the cost comparison of the Monzo fee compared to travel time/expense to get to the next nearest branch/PO.
There is no longer a post office near me, would still be the same. Although I work next to a post office!
On side of that, post office and bank still close a lot earlier than the places I’m guessing Monzo Cash deposits to be going via, so if you work shifts or have commitments 9 to 5, you’ll have a bit of choice “after hours” so to speak.
That’s fair enough - I think it’ll come down to individual circumstance. At the moment, there’s not enough of a convenience factor for me, though with continual bank branch and Post Office closures I expect that to change in the short-medium term.
Oh yes 100%, I respect their decision and I know they haven’t taken it lightly.
Another great point but one that should be taken in context… the forum is more likely to be pro monzo in nature, but the response on this thread shall we say has been mixed.
No I dont, but the day that Monzo’s backbone is transparency and what makes them different to date is how engaged they are on a daily basis with their customer base. Honestly thats why im with them, once that goes out the window and they prioritise profitability over what the customer wants too heavily I will happily take my business elsewhere
Sorry, I think im just of the believe that once a fee is there especially for a company thats not yet profitable there will be no push to remove this “accepted” form of income for no real reason? Im sceptical to say the least
Absolutely this 1.1 million times over.