Changing New Money for Tet Lucky Money: Hundreds of people are pouring money into... banks

Every Lunar New Year, many banks in big cities have a headache with the old worry: New money!

Advertising new currency exchange on social networks - Photo: HUYNH HOA

More than twenty years ago, the Tet lucky money giving of families was simpler, mostly old money and the value also symbolized wishes for good luck. The people who received lucky money were mainly the elderly and children.

"Pamper" customers with new money

The economy is growing, there are many commercial banks. Industrial parks, export processing zones, and many residential areas have several banks operating at the same time, leading to competition to attract customers.

Initially, paying new money to customers before Tet was considered a way to attract and retain customers because social demand was not yet great.

But then, this customer told that customer, and every time they went to the bank to do a transaction, many customers started to "make a fuss" - saying that if there was no new money, they would go to another bank.

Individual customers are still fine, many companies have tens of thousands of workers, every year the cashier or accountant comes to make transactions and asks the bank to pay in new money so that "the boss can give lucky money to the workers".

New money is packed in bundles of 10,000 bills, but every company has to exchange several bundles.

I don't know if workers get new money as lucky money, but for many years, the service of exchanging new money for a fee in front of industrial parks and export processing zones was almost public until it was stopped.

But new money is not something you can give out just any amount of.

Besides, since the switch from paper money to polymer money, the amount of damaged money that needs to be printed to replace it has decreased significantly.

In short, new money is always limited, especially small denominations, and people's demand for Tet lucky money is very high.

Exchange new money and then return to the bank

Therefore, as Tet approaches, many banks have a headache over the issue of new money. Many banks have to create a list of customers approved by the board of directors, and each customer can exchange a certain amount of new money.

But this list is often "broken" because every company wants new money.

The worst sufferers are still bank employees, especially cashiers. They are under pressure from bank leaders and customers, not to mention family and acquaintances...

A long-time cashier said that at first she had to pay compensation because an acquaintance brought 5 million VND to exchange for new money but she mistakenly gave him 50 million VND.

At the end of the hour, when checking the money, she discovered that 45 million was missing. After checking the documents and the statement, everything matched. Then she remembered the exchange, but when she called to ask for it back, the person denied it.

That year her family lost Tet.

A small boss at a big bank is fed up because every day he receives dozens of phone calls from friends, acquaintances, and relatives near and far with only one content: Please exchange new money.

Friends include high school friends, college friends, graduate school friends, yoga class friends, meditation group friends, singing group friends, volunteer groups...

The acquaintances are even more vast, from the neighborhood leader, to the in-laws of the brother-in-law, the sister-in-law's aunt... And relatives from both sides of the family that are near and far, that we don't see each other every year, only calling once near Tet to ask them to exchange new money for us.

Even children are involved: Student records must clearly state their parents' names and occupations. And one day near Tet, a student received a message from his teacher: Your mother works in a bank, go home and ask her to exchange some new money for me.

Meanwhile, my mother was going crazy because of her crime: Working in a bank, every year dozens of people from both sides of the family considered her job of exchanging new money as a duty that had to be fulfilled.

When will the nightmare of new money for bank employees end? When will it go back to the way it was: Old or new lucky money is fine because it has the same value.

Not to mention the beginning of the year, everyone collects new money in red envelopes and unused new bills and deposits them in the bank into their accounts and savings!

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/doi-tien-moi-li-xi-tet-tram-dau-do-dau-ngan-hang-20250121182311148.htm