Sun, 13 Dec 2009 4:49p.m.
Banks will not install ATMs unless they get about 6,000 transactions a month
By Lachlan Forsyth
Residents in the north Canterbury town of Oxford say their banking needs are being ignored.
Customers from some of the major banks are unable to access funds from the town’s only automatic teller machine (ATM), and retailers are feeling the pressure of acting as a de facto bank.
The Oxford Farmers Market draws people in from around Canterbury for local goods and produce and, like many markets, it relies on a cash trade.
“We think it’s a cashless society, but there are still place where you need the cash,” says café owner Jo Seager.
“A good 30 people I’d say have asked ‘where can I get cash out?’ and it’s a bit of a pain to go and empty out someone else’s till to try and get your cash,” says Edward Robinson, a stallholder at the Farmers Market.
“So they come into places like ours, maybe buy a coffee or something, and want $100 in cash,” says Ms Seager. “It puts a lot of strain on the business.”
Locals say what they need is an ATM.
“This is a growing community, and we have on of the busiest Farmers Markets in Canterbury,” says stallholder Pip Douglas.
But banks will not install ATMs unless they get about 6,000 transactions a month – meaning towns like Oxford, with a population of just 2,000, miss out.
Oxford does have an independent ATM, but there is a catch for some bank customers.
While these smaller machines operate where the larger banks wont, at the moment, National, ASB and ANZ customers are prevented from using them.
“There’s a good thousand rural New Zealand locations that need this type of service and we believe we’re set up to do it,” says David Dickinson of ATM plus.
He wants all the banks to come on board.
Locals say the hire traffic coming through the area means they need larger machines that can cope.
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