Monday, September 24, 2012

Where's Waldo...and the ATM?

As I walked through the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, I ran into many ATMs in the oddest places. Some were easy to miss, but none more than this one. The posters surrounding the ATM caught my eye at first, and only as I walked closer to investigate did I notice the ATM buried in the middle. Like any business, isn't the point of an ATM to be as visible as possible?



Why were there so many independent, stand-alone ATMs in this poor neighbourhood in the first place? Perhaps many people who live down here don't have proper bank accounts and so are forced to use these independent ATMs with super high service charges? If this is true, that's very sad indeed. 

I've heard some independent ATMs can have up to $20-40 service charges per transaction (mostly in the USA)!! Also, how do you know a fake one from a real one? Is there some guy sitting behind this ATM trying to steal your PIN? I wouldn't trust it. Would you? But the fact that they exist, I guess some have no choice. Again, a very  sad reality...



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