Why ATMs are really disappearing

Written on the 21 May 2018

The airwaves were flooded last week with reports that ATMs were disappearing due to the rise of Tap and Go technologies. Apparently, this had nothing at all to do with the fact that the Big 4 banks stopped charging fees at their ATMs and therefore were no longer profitable.

The overwhelming feedback from these reports was that the majority of people are not embracing the future of a cashless society and that a lot of people don't appreciate the 'Big Brother' push towards Tap and Go technology.

The truth is that the banks have been removing their ATMs left, right and centre because without charging their customers a transaction fee, providing ATMs actually costs them money.

Running an ATM does cost money. Aside from the initial cost of purchasing the ATM, the cash used to the stock the machine has to be purchased, someone has to physically stock the machine with cash and receipt paper, there are insurances including public liability, possibly rent as well as anti-fraud software and hardware.

None of this is cheap and this is why ATM2GO asks our customers to pay a convenience fee. This is a fee that we charge to provide them with convenient access to withdraw cash. We are not upselling home loans, credit cards or insurance or anything else that brings in other income streams. We provide ATMs so that people have convenient access to cash when they want it and we can't provide this service for free.

To find out more about ATM2GO and how we can provide both mobile and retail ATMs click here