[moftz]

The fee isn't a huge deal the times I've needed an ATM and my bank didn't have any of theirs nearby. It's a couple bucks which isn't too bad.

Free would be nice but I can understand why banks would charge non-customers fees. If your ATM is in a very high traffic and convenient place, you are going to be servicing and refilling the machine more often which costs more money. If you can control the usage a bit by charging non-customers a fee then you can reduce service costs.

[Symbiote]

In Britain, I think the banks charge each other. According to [1], 98% of withdrawls in the UK are free.

I assume this averages out amongst the large banks, who probably each have their fair share of convenient places. The small banks pay for their customers' convenience; presumably a very worthwhile cost for some of the new banks or Internet-only banks.

[1] http://www.link.co.uk/

[2] http://www.link.co.uk/about-link/statistics/