The most joyful noise to childhood ears was the metallic sound of the world shaking.
When I was a boy in the 1970s, my parents gave me a toy bank of the globe, a pressed-tin sphere that had a coin slot somewhere over the Arctic Circle. The multicolored bank, manufactured by the Ohio Art Co. of Toledo, was about 5 inches in diameter and stood on a red base.
When the world got heavy enough, when enough coins had been deposited, I unscrewed the stopper at the bottom to raid my life savings and spend it on comic books, trading cards and dime-store candy.
This economical model worked surprisingly well during elementary school, but when I started receiving a weekly allowance in middle school and began stuffing the toy globe’s slot with currency, my mother took me to First National Bank of Akron to open a savings account. Her parents had taken her there as a girl, and now it was my turn, the third generation of our family to bank at First National. My paternal grandmother even worked there as a bookkeeper.
Oh, I still bought comics, cards and candy, but I learned to deposit the extra cash and let it accumulate in the bank. I also learned about checking accounts while watching my mother diligently balance her First National checkbook, and she helped me when I finally got my own.
First National is where I took my first paycheck, got my first credit card and took out my first bank loan for a car.
In the early 1980s, First National is where I was introduced to the wonders of automated teller machines. How I fondly recall the ATM at the bank branch at State Road Shopping Center in Cuyahoga Falls.
It spoke — honest to gosh — with the friendly accent of a British woman. Or maybe she was Scottish. Do you remember this? “Welcome … Please enter your secret number … Please select the service required … Please wait while your transaction is processing … Thank you for banking with us.”
Only she didn’t say “processing” the way Americans usually say the word. The ATM pronounced it as “PRO-sess-ing,” a quaint accent to these Ohio ears.
It was a difficult adjustment when First National Bank was renamed FirstMerit Bank in the mid-1990s. Customer service was unchanged, but that name!
What exactly is a FirstMerit? It took several years before I felt comfortable calling First National Tower in downtown Akron by its new name, FirstMerit Tower.
I have been a loyal customer for more than 40 years, but I have to admit that FirstMerit did some things that made me pause. In recent years, it closed several of my favorite branches in Summit County while expanding in other states, seemingly turning its back on its hometown clientele.
A few years ago, FirstMerit got rid of banking slips in its lobbies. Then it installed a new computer system that couldn’t print account balances on receipts. If you wanted a record of your balance, tellers had to go back into the system to print another slip to go with the first receipt. Not very efficient.
The news last year that Columbus-based Huntington was acquiring Akron-based FirstMerit in a $3.4 billion deal sent shock waves through the community and my family. I spoke with young people, however, who didn’t seem to think this was any big deal. They had already changed banks several times in their young lives and didn’t have any brand loyalty or generational ties with FirstMerit.
But my little world was shaken — just like my toy bank from childhood. In the words of that long-ago ATM, I am still PRO-sess-ing the transaction.
I made my final visit Friday afternoon to FirstMerit, where a busy teller assured me the transition was going well. FirstMerit officially converts into Huntington on Tuesday. Although my family briefly considered taking its business to a different bank, we’re going to stick around to see what happens and hope for a smooth transition.
Goodbye, FirstMerit.
Thank you, FirstMerit.
Welcome to the family, Huntington.
Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.