It's that simple. In fact, most customers use their own bank's machines and incur no fees. Convenience fees are charged people who have no account relationship with the bank owning the machine. To not be able to charge a fee for a service you are offering would be like subscribers of The New York Times being able to read The Atlanta Constitution for free. Also, to not consider the total cost of operating ATMs covered by fees would be like buying a car and not factoring in the cost of gas, insurance, repairs, parking and taxes.
ATMs are expensive to offer.
Some of the monthly operating costs of ATMs are site rental, telecommunications, electricity, cash courier services, accounting, authorization and routing, daily deposit gathering, cost of cash, hardware maintenance and signage. Finally, setting prices is no role for the government. Bankers didn't like it and neither did their customers. The public is better served when competition and the marketplace set prices, not the government. Sincerely, Joe Brannen President Send an e-mail to the webmaster for more information or to share your opinion.