“We don’t have money here,” an employee at PNC Bank’s downtown branch politely told a startled customer in July. “Please use our ATM machine.” The downtown PNC is the first locally to stop handling cash, and so far the only one. PNC spokesperson Rob Darmanin declines to speculate on whether the Plymouth Rd. and South ‘University branches will follow suit but notes that “customers should expect to see more conversions in the future in Michigan …”

Other banks also are moving that way nationally. An Akron-based PR woman for Chase says they already have a few cashless branches and expect to expand “through an integrated physical and digital approach.”

At the locally owned Bank of Ann Arbor, though, an employee sounds shocked at the question. “That will never happen here!” she vows.