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NEWS ROUNDUP

Bank Branches Seen Increasing ll be 5,000 bank branches operating in U.S. supermarkets by the year 2000, according to one industry estimate. Currently, there are 2,100 in-store branches in U.S. supermarkets, according to National Commerce Bank Services here. That's up from 675 when NCB started tracking the trend in 1989. NCB estimates several hundred branches will be added annually.NCB President Doug

Bank Branches Seen Increasing

ll be 5,000 bank branches operating in U.S. supermarkets by the year 2000, according to one industry estimate. Currently, there are 2,100 in-store branches in U.S. supermarkets, according to National Commerce Bank Services here. That's up from 675 when NCB started tracking the trend in 1989. NCB estimates several hundred branches will be added annually.

NCB President Doug Ferris said the increase in bank branches in supermarkets "coincides with a sharp decline in the number of traditional bank branches nationwide."

Illinois to Run EBT Test

LOMBARD, Ill. -- The state of Illinois will replace paper food stamps with electronic benefits transfer cards in a test in Sangamon County this summer, according to the Illinois Food Retailers' Association here.

The actual starting date for the test has not been decided, but planning is under way, IFRA said. The pilot may be expanded to Chicago next year, according to the association. Statewide rollout could begin as early as 1995.

Thrifty Tax Service Is Suspended

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Bad weather and earthquakes proved too taxing this year for a seasonal supermarket service.

Thrifty Tax of America here, which prepares and electronically files federal, state and local tax returns, suspended operations this year about one week into its normal six-week run. The service reportedly took a beating from the extreme cold weather in the Midwest and East and temblors in California.

The service had been operating in about 750 locations, including such supermarket chains as Pathmark Stores, Woodbridge, N.J.; Ralphs Grocery Co., Compton, Calif., and Big Bear Stores, Columbus, Ohio. "The tax filing season of '94 was cruel to us," said Larry Amick, manager of corporate development at Thrifty Tax. "The earthquakes in L.A. destroyed all of the timing of the installation of our equipment in our stores out there on the West Coast."

Elsewhere, delivery of materials because of cold weather proved problematic. The service normally operated until March 1. Amick, though, said the service will be back again next year.

Employee Theft Linked to Quitting

WASHINGTON -- Supermarket employees who intend to quit their jobs steal roughly seven times as much money from the till as employees who intend to stay on, according to the Food Marketing Institute here.

FMI questioned 850 supermarket employees, mostly clerks and cashiers, from 850 different stores about theft. Of those who stole money from the store, employees who planned on keeping their jobs stole an average of $34.27. Those who planned to quit admitted to taking $245.89 on average. Twenty-four percent of employees planning to leave gave dollar estimates of the amount they stole from their employers.