Too bad US Bank decides to close Eldridge branch

A sign in the door of the US Bank branch in Eldridge.

    Customers of US Bank were notified recently that the bank will close its branch office in Eldridge, Iowa. This is our branch, and I, for one, am none too happy about the decision.

    Really? Eldridge? The largest small town in Scott County, Iowa? Some 6,846 residents live in Eldridge,  the U.S. Census reported in July 2019.

    According to an Oct. 14, 2020 story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, US Bank will close 400 more locations by early 2021 after shuttering 300 in 2020. That's a lot by any standard.

    The Star-Tribune reports bank customers make most transactions online, via US Bank's website or app. This online activity accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    US Bank is the fifth-largest bank in the United States. The newspaper points out the expected savings of $150 million will be plowed back into the company. No estimate of job losses was given as employees are being offered various opportunities, such as with the Paycheck Protection Program.

    However it's befuddling why the Eldridge branch is on the chopping block. The community is growing, and recently voters approved building a new fitness facility and pool. Eldridge is surrounded by some of the richest, and most expensive farmland in the world. Farmers, as another example, are successful in Scott County and they use the bank. There are many retirees in the community and of course they use the bank.

    I lived in Davenport when I first moved to the Quad-Cities in 1982. In my 20s at the time, I wanted a bank that would have handy locations to where I lived and worked. At the time I chose Firstar Bank, a predecessor to US Bank.  

   Convenient locations are still the idea, decades later.

   These days we Bakers live in rural Scott County, and there's a branch US Bank office on Utica Ridge Road about 10 miles south, in northern Davenport. Closer is the Eldridge office, and I do like to shop in Eldridge. 

    After Jan. 2, when I bank I will need to drive further from home and I will increase my time away from home.

    That's not a healthy prospect in this time of a pandemic.