President of the Sawtell Chamber of Commerce Clive Greenway said there is a need to “keep cash going” but he is disappointed that it now comes at a cost.

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“[Now] that the major banks have pulled their ATMs, everyone is charged a fee and only certain banks will allow the post office to do basic banking,” he told the News Of The Area.

That fee is three dollars for a withdrawal.

ANZ bank customers have been unable to do their banking at post offices since 2019 as a result of Westpac, NAB and CommBank paying an additional $22m a year to process their customers’ transactions.

“The only ones that win in a cashless society are the banks,” Mr Greenway said.

“You should be able to access your money at any given time.

“Banks make more money by getting rid of their ATMs; it’s like when they shut branches down. You go online and that costs them nothing… they’ve got your money which they invest overseas and make a fortune on it.”

Mr Greenway leases space in his shop to an ATM company, but it needs 24/7 access in case it breaks down or runs out of money.

Brooke George also had private ATMs installed in her two boutiques in Sawtell and Woolgoolga.

“In Woolgoolga, there is a constant stream of people using the ATM, as a lot of people don’t do online banking,” she told NOTA.

“However, when everything went down at the ATM, and you couldn’t get out cash, everyone was stuck.”

Ms George has noticed that people aged over 30 still withdraw cash, especially men.

This is likely due to concern over the rise in scammers hacking online accounts.

By Mary KEILY