Machka 

No ... as I say above, if you are selective about your ATM (it has to be one in some way associated with your bank) there is no fee. And even if there is a fee, it's usually quite low.

Machka 

What I don't get is this ...

You have two viable alternatives ... a) park the bicycle at the lovely bicycle rack they provided for you and go inside; b) use an ATM.

You've also got the third option of going online and not needing to go to a bank at all anymore.

So ... what's the problem? You're spoiled for choice here.

Six jours

Just the other day I was at the McDonalds and I asked the cashier for a refill on my soda. She explained that customers could get their own refills at the soda bar located immediately to my right.

Naturally I was outraged.

Machka 

I-Like-To-Bike

You certainly are talented at extrapolating a single isolated event into an explanation of the current status of the banking industry's service to the various generations of U.S. citizens. Where did you pick up this amazing ability?

BTW, were you livid or irate that this one individual had more money in his checking account than you thought he should have in his account?

InOmaha

This thread seems strange. A bike in a drive through lane is a convience based on hours of operation and the type of service. You would think there would be the opposite reaction in a Living Car Free Bike forum.

The only time I've been to a branch in the last year was when I drove up and cashed a check on my way home from work. The main bank was closed but a teller was there working. People here are saying that interacting with a person during drive through bank hours shouldn't be an option if you're on a bike and I find that odd. I guess going to the bank after work is another reason to have to drive.

FBinNY 

No one but the bank is saying bikes don't belong at the drive up window. Some of us are just saying we don't see it as some kind or rights or principles issue. In any case the OP had reasonable options via an ATM there or going inside.

However, if the drive up window were open while bank was closed, and going inside wasn't an option, then IMO the bank should take all comers at the "drive up window, even if they drive up on foot.

Walter S

I would accept that if the policy were accompanied by a good reason for not allowing bicyclists at the drive-thru. The bank offers the drive-thru as a convenience to customers that don't want to invest the time to park and wait on a teller inside. I would want to know why I'm denied the same service they offer other customers just because I'm on a bike.

FBinNY 

That's the difference between you and I. I figure it's their bank, so they get to make the rules. If I don't like them I'm free to bank elsewhere. Doesn't mean I wouldn't inquire, but I don't think they OWE me an explanation.

In any case, you see it as being denied because you;re on a bike, and I see it as because I'm not in a car. Last time I checked bikes and cars were different. the difference is significant, because I get to bring my bicycle inside with me, yet I don't think motorists feel excluded because they can't.

IME- it you go through life as if you're discriminated against, you'll always find issues and be bugged. If you're happy that you can make the choice to ride a bicycle (many don't have that option as much) then you'll enjoy the ride, and not b bothered by things like this.

Nobody talks about this on the forum, but one of the things I like about riding everywhere, is that it makes it like a small town. Everybody I deal with knows me, and greets me like a friend or neighbor. That never happened when I was just one of the thousands of "normal" folks they saw daily. I'll gladly trade access to drive up windows for that kind of community.

bbbean 

This. The self-fulfilling prophecy is always a factor.

Jim from Boston

This thread has been all over the place about this seemingly trivial problem, IMO, but I resonated with the above comment. I recently posted to our local Northeast Regional thread, "Metro Boston; Good ride today?" about being a friend or neighbor where you ride, even if you don't live there.

Mark Stone

This is my experience also in my city - All the businesses I ride to in my area know me as "the bike guy" or by name, and that is special to me. To automobile drivers, the same merchants are largely ambivalent, which tickles me. Once I went to get gas for my little 1997 GMC Jimmy at a convenience store, and the clerk looked at me sternly and said "Where the hell is your bike??!?"

prathmann

I wouldn't expect the person who plans to use his car or motorcycle for a bank hold-up to have valid registration plates on his vehicle (I find license plates on the side of the road with some regularity).

And the bank policy against cyclists and pedestrians using the driveup is not likely to deter someone planning a hold-up - AFAIK, all banks already have rules against hold-ups and if you're willing to violate that rule you'll probably also be willing to break the bank's rule against riding/walking up to the teller window.

InOmaha

Well to the OP, it never hurts to ask. Even if it requires asking different people. Especially if you like the rest of their service.

Because,

1) If you don't ask, you're guaranteed not to get anything from it.
2) Nobody may know the original reason for the policy, or if it's not a made up policy by one individual.
3) They may just change it and make your banking a little more convinent.

I've been around enough policy to know the reason lots of them are in place is because they've always been there (i.e. put in place before the longest serving employee).

It might be a policy because they had an abusive homeless guy on a bike come by all the time and they needed a policy so security/police could handle the situation. He may be long gone.

Or like in my hometown, the one bank in town would give out lollypops to kids. So maybe too many kids showed up in the drive through on foot or by bike looking for candy.

It never hurts to ask the right person nicely and see if things change.

wolfchild

Actually no you can't do that. Every bank in my city has their ATMs inside a building. So you need to dismount your bike and walk. There are few banks which have a drive-thru with an ATM but I don't use drive-thrus.

Mark Stone

My burgh has drive-up - - er, I mean ride-up ATMs all over the place, mostly in shopping center parking lots that make ATemming (Ha! I've invented a word! Lord-a-Mighty!) on a bike easier than snot.

wolfchild

Why ??...Because every business has a right to make their own rules on how to run their place. If some customer doesn't like it, then too bad, go somewhere else or just lock the bike outside and walk inside.

Dahon.Steve

The single "isolated" event was intended to give you my theory behind the banking industry to continue using live tellers when technology replaced them years ago. It doesn't have to be correct but my extrapolating skills have become legendary on this forum. ;-)

No I was not irate meeting another human being with much more money.

I-Like-To-Bike

The basis for your banking "theory" above seems quite convoluted since you stated that the individual you were snooping on was using the ATM, not a live teller to conduct his business, just like the other just plain folks like yourself waiting on the ATM line. You do indeed have a very special skill at extrapolating.

Ekdog

I don't pay any commissions as long as I use my bank's ATMs. Isn't that the case in your area?

I-Like-To-Bike

Not just in my area; my bank's ATM card can be used surcharge free at over 24,000 ATMs throughout the U.S. that are part of the Money Pass Network. I have never paid an ATM surcharge, however if I want to whine about ATM fees I can always seek out an ATM that is not part of the network or my bank's partners and pay an ATM fee.

Roody

Agree, they can make any rule they want and I can't stop them. But if a business treats me badly, or differently than it treats some other customers, I certainly have a "right" to complain and suggest ways that they can make me happier. If they don't follow my suggestion, I can decide whether it's worth it to change where I do business.

I think most businesses actually prefer it if you explain the reason for your unhappiness, rather than just quit dealing with them without giving any explanation. It doesn't seem very fair to just up and leave--without giving them a chance to change practices that make you unhappy, or at least explain the reasons for these practices.

I do try to be polite and willing to compromise. For example, a couple stores told me that I couldn't carry my backpack into the store. I dodn't like that, and informed them. Store A told me to leave my backpack on the floor where anybody could pick it up. I asked to put it somewhere cleaner and more secure, and they refused. I left and never went back. Store B let me leave the backpack on a shelf by the cash register. I compromised, left my pack on the shelf, and still shop there to this day.

I love my credit union for a lot of reasons. One reason is that I can use the drive-thru when I get out of work at 7:30 AM, more than an hour before the lobby tellers open. If they told me I couldn't do that any more, I don't know if that would be a deal breaker or not. But I would certainly not be happy, and I would have to thinklong and hard about it.

Roody

I remember there were fees for some transactions, and they seemed to add up to 4 or 5 dollars a month. Not a lot, but more than it was worth to me.

I-Like-To-Bike

You are the fellow doing all the "presuming" about who enjoys or is happy or not about using ATMs.

Being intelligent enough to figure out how to find and use an ATM that doesn't charge a surcharge has nothing to do with enjoyment of using ATMs or whatever other cockeyed thought you might "presume" about me or anyone else who is not in your circle.

Roody

Sorry, I deleted my post just before you responded. I apologize for any confusion!