Cashless tap puts ATMs in shade

ADAM CREIGHTON AND SAM BUCKINGHAM-JONES
Spectator
Have tap-and-go payments sounded the death knell for the ATM, a fixture of Australian shopping centres and sidewalks since the 1980s?
The number and value of withdrawals have begun to fall for the first time. Proliferating options combined with rising fees — some ­private operators charge up to $5 per withdrawal — have created a perfect storm for cash and indepedendently owned ATMs.
The share of payments made with cash slumped from 69 per cent in 2007 to 47 per cent in 2013 while the number of withdrawals per ATM per day has collapsed a third since 2009 to just over 60 last year. EFTPOS “cash out” transactions have been falling since 2014.
“The period ahead may be challenging for the ATM industry,” the Reserve Bank says in a new study, suggesting the popularity of contactless payments for low-value transactions will “accelerate” the demise of cash.
The new Spice Alley in Sydney’s Chippendale — where each day about 2000 people eat, drink and pay — is a case in point, being virtually cashless.
“I’m a card girl,” said Katya Ginsberg, pulling out her debit card. “The quicker the transaction, the better.”
Around the centre’s restaurants, ATMs are scarce too. “I don’t have a cent in my wallet,” Ms Ginsberg, 25, said. “Really, when you think about it, the ­future is probably cardless, too. You’ll only need your phone.”
Issac Su, who works at The Hong Kong Diner, believes cashless is better.
“It’s healthier. You can’t handle food and money.”
Reforms in 2009 that allowed ATMs to charge users directly have underpinned a 20 per cent increase in the number of ATMs — giving Australia among the highest number per capita in the world — as well the share owned by private ATM providers.
“To date, independent deployers have responded to rising costs per transaction by raising charges, but this approach might in itself encourage changed behaviour by some consumers, including the use of electronic payments in preference to incurring ATM fees,” the RBA said.
The average “foreign” fee for using bank-owned ATMs has risen from $1.93 in 2009 to $2.02 last year, less than inflation. But fees at independently owned ATMs have jumped from $2 to $2.57.
Even though bank-owned ATMs make up a little less than half the total (down from 55 per cent in 2010), three quarters of transactions and 90 per cent of balance inquiries occur on them.
The Australian