Felpausch Branch closing Thursday

American 1 Federal Credit Union will be closing our Felpausch Branch doors forever on Thursday, Nov. 19 at the end of business hours.

Over the years, the Felpausch location has served us well, and we hate to see it go.

Our new North St. Branch, however, is on schedule to open its doors in December 2009, and will replace both the Felpausch Branch and the Argyle Branch. This new branch will provide more lobby space, more parking, and more drive thru lanes.

In the meantime, please use our Home Office at 718 E. Michigan Ave in downtown Jackson – a short 2 mile drive East from Felpausch. The Home Office is also open until 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and until 3 p.m. on Saturdays. There are several nearby ATMs, including Super Liquor at 1200 West Michigan Ave. and Kelly’s Quick Stop at 3797 West Michigan Ave.

Look for more details on our North St. Branch grand opening in the weeks to come.

Introducing: Receipts on demand

Like many other businesses, American 1 is always looking to cut costs for our members, reduce waste, and leave less of an impact on the environment.

That’s why we’re excited to announce Receipts On Demand, a program that introduces both a new receipt and a new way of doing things.

For one, we’re no longer automatically printing receipts for our members for each transaction. If you come into a branch to manage your account, and you want a paper receipt, you will ask for one. Otherwise, we won’t print a receipt. Ask yourself: do you really need a printed receipt for your transaction? Sometimes you will, sometimes you won’t. We’ll assume, in most cases, that you won’t need a receipt.

Second, we’re launching new thermal receipts and printers at three of our branches – Home Office, Argyle, and Parnall – starting Monday. Those receipts you get when you pay for gas at the pump? They’re kind of like those. They’re smaller, lighter, and only one sheet – instead of the yellow-and-white sheets we used to have.

This new on-demand receipt system does many things, all of them good, including:

• Save money on paper costs and waste
• Reduce our environmental impact with smaller receipts AND less of them
• Make most transactions faster, saving time
• Reducing identity theft, since there’s less of a paper trail

While this on-demand receipt system is kicking off at three of our branches, we plan to install it credit-union-wide over the next few months.

So when you make a transaction at an American 1 branch, and we ask if you want a receipt, make sure you really think about it. For some members, a printed receipt helps them manage their money better.

But if it’s just going to end up in the trash, say “no thanks.”

Progress continues at North St.

Construction is continuing at our new North St. Branch, and we have new photos to share.

O’Harrow Construction now has the base of the building set up, and is working on pouring concrete, setting the roof, and defining walls at the branch location.

For up-to-date photos on our North St. progress, visit our Flickr photo gallery.

North St. update: we have a building

Well look at that – we have a building at our new North St. Branch location.

O’Harrow Construction began piecing together actual walls and support beams this week.

Check out our Flickr photo gallery for up-to-date photos on our North St. construction project.

North St. Branch preview

Click the picture for a bigger view.

Pretty sharp! Keep up to date on our North St. progress with the “northst” tag on the blog.

Argyle vs. North St. – size comparison

So just how big is our North St. Branch property?

Using Google Maps, you can see exactly how big it is in comparison with our Argyle Branch property – the red-circled spot on the map above.

At the bottom, you can see our North St. property, which – as of this snapshot – is still a big green, grassy field. The white box overlaying the field is the entire property on Argyle St.

North St. is going to be big.

Branches closed for Labor Day

Just a reminder: all American 1 branches will be closed for Labor Day on Monday, Sept. 7.

Our branches will reopen at their normal times on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Have a safe holiday weekend!

Breaking ground at North St.

The rain held off long enough on Wednesday for our board of directors to break ground at our new North St. Branch project.

Actual construction started in the last few weeks, but the ceremony to kick off the new branch building had everyone posing with hard hats and golden shovels for the event. Representatives from O’Harrow Construction brought a preview of what the new branch will look like.

Check out pictures on our Flickr page.

North St. Branch groundbreaking August 26

We’re excited to announce our official North St. Branch groundbreaking ceremony will take place Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 4:30 p.m.

American 1’s board of directors, senior management, and representatives from O’Harrow Construction, will oversee the kick-off for construction on our newest branch. We hope to have the whole thing done by December this year.

Come out and join us!

Track our North St. Branch progress

We added a little progress bar (maybe you’ll recognize the shape) to track progress on our North St. Branch. Check it out along the sidebar at right.

When you click the bar, you’ll head to our Flickr photo page to see pictures on the construction process. We’ll take pictures of the site every so often and provide updates as we go along. This month will kick things off with our groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 4:30 p.m. You’re invited to join us!

If everything goes according to plan, the North St. Branch will be fully operational in December 2009. It sounds crazy, but that’s just a few months away.