03-10-2023, 11:19 AM
What would you like governments to do about it? Compelling private businesses to provide a certain service at a certain price never works. The only time I think governments should get involved in pricing is when there is collusion between "competitors" (aka price fixing where supposed competitors actually cooperate to be able to all increase prices).
The problem with ATMs is that hardly anyone uses them anymore making them uneconomical to provide for cheap/free. Although removing them or switching to expensive user pays non-bank ATMs is hard on those that find it difficult to use alternatives, they might just have to accept that free/cheap ATMs are a thing of the past.
It happens with other things as well: I remember buying a decent diskman for about $30 15-20 years ago whereas when I wanted one recently for my kids, the only option was a poor quality looking one for about $200, at which point I decided they didn't need one after all. I'm not angry with Sony etc for no longer making diskmans, and I don't think the few remaining cheap knock-off producers are "price gouging". It is just the market adapting to what most people want.
The problem with ATMs is that hardly anyone uses them anymore making them uneconomical to provide for cheap/free. Although removing them or switching to expensive user pays non-bank ATMs is hard on those that find it difficult to use alternatives, they might just have to accept that free/cheap ATMs are a thing of the past.
It happens with other things as well: I remember buying a decent diskman for about $30 15-20 years ago whereas when I wanted one recently for my kids, the only option was a poor quality looking one for about $200, at which point I decided they didn't need one after all. I'm not angry with Sony etc for no longer making diskmans, and I don't think the few remaining cheap knock-off producers are "price gouging". It is just the market adapting to what most people want.