ATM fees rising and falling

The fee for using an independently owned ATM is on the rise in distant locations. Customers Limited, the largest owner of ATMs, says its fees are now $2.50, up from $2.00. Fees have been cut on a trial basis in select high traffic locations in the city, however.

At the annual meeting of Customers held in Melbourne yesterday the managing director, Tim Wildash, said the firm increased fees to $2.50 at around 220 locations. He said fees would rise at another 300 locations, taking the number of ATMs covered by the higher price point to around 10 per cent of the fleet.

Costs of servicing automatic teller machines are higher the more distant they are from city services hubs. Wildash cited the Northern Territory and northern Queensland as examples of high-cost locations.

Lower fees are being tried at busy central business district locations where a Customers-owned ATM competes with ATMs owned by others.

Early trends are that a fee of $1.50, 50 cents below the industry norm, does not generate increased demand. Promotion of the lower cost at this stage is limited to signing on or above the machine.

Some ATM users are sensitive to price. Demand for ATMs owned by an entity other than a customer's bank fell by more than 10 per cent when fees were introduced in March 2009 and only some of this business has returned.