Cash machines put inside, outside most postal branches

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
For the first time, most postal branches have been equipped with cash machines, enabling customers to pay bills in cash or just to put in their wallets.
The Israel Postal Company said Wednesday that it has completed a project to install automated teller machines on the exterior walls of branches so anyone can use their debit/credit card to get cash 24 hours a day.
In addition, regular machines have been installed on inside walls and minimachines have been set up on counters that tellers can operate when receiving payments with the customer keying in his personal code number.
Numerous government offices and other organizations insist on cash rather than checks when customers make payments; now they will be able to pay in cash without having to run to a machine somewhere in the neighborhood and carrying large sums of money around.
Unlike the commercial banks, the postal banks in postal branches do not charge fees for paying bills.
However, the charge for getting cash from a machine outside branches is NIS 4 and for inside machines NIS 5.
Postal Bank director Yoel Naveh said the new services makes it a financial banking institution like commercial banks (except that the postal bank branches do not loan money). They are open longer hours than commercial banks and can be a onestop shop for most banking services, he said.