Trouble with ATMs in Brandenburg: Closed in the evenings and on weekends!

Trouble with ATMs in Brandenburg: Closed in the evenings and on weekends!

In Brandenburg an der Havel, an ATM from the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse (MBS) is causing dissatisfaction among residents. The machine, which is located in the shopping arcade on Werner-Seelenbinder-Straße, is hardly accessible in the evenings and on weekends. Closing times are from Monday to Friday at 5 p.m. and on Saturday at 12 p.m. On Sundays the machine is not accessible at all as the passage remains closed. These restrictions are particularly frustrating since the machine has been broken for several days. Withdrawing cash is therefore impossible for many customers maz-online.de reported. A sign reading “Defect” was attached to the machine by Tobias Unterseher, an employee of the nearby bakery Thonke.

The head of the North District Library, Manuel Nieme, has also heard about the disruption caused by the machine. Although a technician has already been called, a repair is still pending. This problem has also brought to the attention of residents and the North Citizens' Advisory Council, who are wondering about the choice of location for the machine. MBS praised the location as “central and easily accessible”, but it incorrectly stated that the machine was open 24 hours a day. In fact, the machine is only accessible from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

A lack of alternatives

The situation is particularly worrying for the older generation in the district, who, according to Anja Weinkauf, feel disadvantaged by the citizens' advisory board. It calls for 24-hour access to an ATM and the relocation of the machine to another location. After all, there has been no Sparkasse branch in North since October 2023. The only way to withdraw cash is at the Edeka market, where a purchase costs five euros.

There are a total of 39 ATMs in Brandenburg an der Havel, divided into different groups, including 16 Sparkasse machines. But accessibility remains a big issue, because the average distance to a cash withdrawal point nationwide is 1.4 kilometers and 95.3% of the population lives at most five kilometers from a place like this Bundesbank analyzed.

In urban areas, people are generally even closer to an ATM than in rural areas. However, access to cash in Germany deteriorated between 2021 and 2023, which also explains the increasing dissatisfaction with the accessibility of withdrawal locations. More and more citizens are finding access complicated, which is also reflected in the concerns of residents in the north.