--- description: Please do not leave a message after the beep title: JPMorgan Just Killed Voicemail image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt017717283458dd3b/6987ea3f524fc04eaddf01d0/108182262-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Massive Bank Just Killed Voicemail by [Robert Hackett/Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Robert Hackett/Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 2, 2015 5:47 PM CUT  Hanging telephone horn Hanging telephone hornGetty Images by [Robert Hackett/Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Robert Hackett/Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 2, 2015 5:47 PM CUT Who even leaves voice messages anymore? That’s what executives at JPMorgan Chase & Co. started to ask themselves before deciding to phase out the communication tool in its consumer banking division, [Bloomberg reports](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-02/jpmorgan-says-don-t-leave-message-at-the-tone-as-voice-mail-dies "undefined"). The bank announced its intention to cut the cord on employee voicemail at a conference in New York on Tuesday. “We realized that hardly anyone uses voicemail anymore because we’re all carrying something in our pockets that’s going to get texts or e-mail or a phone call,” said Gordon Smith, head of the company’s consumer and community bank, according to Bloomberg. “So we started to cut those off.” The technology cost the bank a monthly fee of $10 per line, Bloomberg said, citing Smith. So ditching the service for its nearly 136,000-person strong retail workforce could help the lender cut more than a million dollars in expenses. The company has already said it wants to cut its consumer bank’s budget [by $2 billion dollars](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-jpmorgan-outlook-idUSKBN0LS1DW20150224 "undefined"), although the savings from eliminating voicemail are small by comparison. A spokeswoman told Bloomberg that some employees, like branch managers, will retain the service. The bank joins a growing cadre of companies that have already [hung up the phone on voicemail](http://time.com/3645710/no-more-voicemail/ "undefined"), including, notably, Coca-Cola. The trend isn’t just corporate. In 2012, the Internet telephone company Vonage reported that it had seen an [8% decline](https://hbr.org/2013/09/time-to-hang-up-on-voice-mail/ "undefined") in the number of voice mail boxes, as well as a [similar drop in 2013](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/fashion/millennials-shy-away-from-voice-mail.html "undefined"). And a 2012 Pew study confirmed that teens [prefer texting over calling](http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/03/19/what-teens-do-with-their-phones/ "undefined") by a wide margin. Hopefully, [email will be next](http://fortune.com/2015/04/28/why-cant-we-kill-email/ "undefined") to go. And then [telemarketing robocalls](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20150602-column.html "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3905763/this-massive-bank-just-killed-voicemail/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3905763/this-massive-bank-just-killed-voicemail/"},"headline":"This Massive Bank Just Killed Voicemail","datePublished":"2015-06-02T17:47:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:05:35.564Z","description":"Please do not leave a message after the beep","url":"https://time.com/3905763/this-massive-bank-just-killed-voicemail/","keywords":["Tech","Smartphones","coca-cola","Pew Research Center","JPMorgan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt017717283458dd3b/6987ea3f524fc04eaddf01d0/108182262-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Robert Hackett/Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt017717283458dd3b/6987ea3f524fc04eaddf01d0/108182262-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"hanging-telephone-horn","caption":"hanging-telephone-horn","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3905763/this-massive-bank-just-killed-voicemail/","name":"This Massive Bank Just Killed Voicemail"}}]}] ```