Monday, 16 December 2019

Charging for the ATM

I've just come back from a wonderful weekend away (I'll be posting about it on my other blog, Morwenna's Tower, if anyone's interested in an idyllic Cotswold break), to find a furore about the ATM machine at the Post Office.
Since Friday, the machine has charged 99p for every cash withdrawal - this is a flat rate, no matter how much or how little money is taken out.
I've been reading the thread on the Hay Community page on Facebook, and the point has been made that, as usual, it is the poorest people in society who will be the hardest hit by this.
Apparently this is nothing to do with the Post Office - the ATM is owned by a separate company and they decided to start charging for withdrawals.
There is a free ATM machine at the back of the Co-op, and it is also possible to draw money out at the Post Office counter when the Post Office is open.
What annoys me about this is that they are charging for me to access my own money. I haven't paid a charge to take my own money out of the bank for 40 years - and I don't want to start now. I also don't want to start using my card to buy things routinely - I much prefer cash, which does not rely on electricity to work.

1 comment:

Caroline said...

Thanks for the warning!