Memorandum submitted by Travelex
Travelex do not select locations adjacent to
free bank machines, we concentrate on remote convenience locations
We operate free cash machines where there are
sufficient transactions to make a business case (these account
for approx 100 or 10% of our estate)
Banks (including the Nationwide) elect not to
pay their interchange (30.2p) on transactions that charge, although
this would in effect reduce the surcharge
The Government choose to impose business rates
for ATMs and thereby account for approx. 20p of the surcharge
fee!
The notion that a customer is paying for their
own cash at an IAD machine is NOT correct. An IAD ATM is similar
to any other vending machine in that the commodity (in this case
cash) belongs to the operator and the customer is simply purchasing
it for a given fee. Not unlike a can of coke or bar of chocolate.
IAD operators and certainly Travelex, spend
a good deal more and take far more risk in placing ATMs in remote
locations. There is far more vandalism and theft associated with
this type of deployment and this is reflected in the operating
costs and surcharge fee.
As a customer is informed about a fee before
completing a transaction, we believe the most appropriate form
of advertising would be to promote the free machines as `FREE'
and not to confuse the issue by trying cover so many options and
variations in the surcharge market. If it does not say it is free,
then it probably is not. The problem exists that not all transactions
at an IAD machine will charge and so it is a confusing statement
February 2005
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