Behind the no-armed bandits
Jim Hart writes: Re. “ATMs: what those no-armed bandits do with your $2 fee” (yesterday). It is a tad disingenuous of banks to say they don’t make any profit on ATM fees. The only reason it costs NAB $2 to give me money out of my CBA account is because all the banks have agreed on that figure. On the other hand banks don’t charge for an internet transfer of funds to an account at another bank. An ATM is just another computer terminal, and both transactions require the same negligible amount of computer time.
The bottom line is they do it because they can, just like those other cartels — airlines and theatre booking agencies.
Patrick Gallagher writes: Note that UK banks, which are in no way behind than their Australian cousins when it comes to gouging the public, have been banned from charging withdrawal fees at “foreign” ATMs.
Wake Up to ratings reality
Dave Lennon writes: Re. “Ten breakfast EP on indefinite leave.” (yesterday). Reading Glenn Dyer’s contribution to the piece about Wake Up‘s ratings made me wonder. I don’t suppose anyone has the ratings for the early days of the current version of Sunrise to offer a better perspective on how Wake Up really is going? Lest we forget there was Sunrise MK1, which was axed and Seven left breakfast TV for about 18 months (from memory) before they reluctantly decided to have another crack.
I’ve watched I guess about five minutes of Wake Up, but it provided me with the quote of the week.
While discussing at what point in their children’s development parents might revisit any tendency to wander around the house naked, Tash, not Tarsh, related a recent George Costanza moment in which she had seen her brother naked, which prompted the line “and thank god he has been blessed”.
Actually I think the much-maligned UK banks are much more customer-friendly. I had to do an “over-the-counter” withdrawal at NatWest a few years back, and the teller was taken aback when I asked her if there was a fee applicable “no, of course not. Why would we charge a fee for you to withdraw your own money?”
Jim Hart writes:
“….The only reason it costs NAB $2 to give me money out of my CBA account is because all the banks have agreed on that figure. On the other hand banks don’t charge for an internet transfer of funds to an account at another bank. An ATM is just another computer terminal, ….”
While I have no idea whether $2 is a fair fee or not, your example is also a bit disingenuous. It has to cost banks more to transfer money at an ATM than it does through your computer on the internet. Your computer represents absolutely no cost to either bank. The ATM I assume costs many thousands of dollars itself, and whether owned or leased, there are real estate costs relating to where the ATM is installed (usually in high visibility commercial real estate locations). It has to cost the banks more to run an ATM distributing actual cash, than to do an internet transfer where one terminal is a privately owned computer.
On a different note, I was amused by one aspect when banks were first able to charge for ATM withdrawals. If using an NAB operated ATM at a roadhouse while travelling, it used to ask whether you wanted to continue after declaring the fee (I think it was $1.50 at that stage), and the next screen would use a promotional idea from the period “NAB, A Little Word, With A Big Meaning” – I suspect that someone worked out the irony, because it disappeared from the ATMs fairly quickly.