The poor are disproportionately harmed by ATM fees and denying this fact proves nothing except that you lack critical thinking skills. So allow me supply some for you.
A. Suppose you are a poor working person and you get paid by check.
(1) If you don't have a bank account, you get hosed paying the fee at a check cashing service. I know what you're thinking, and allow me to say, not having a bank account is not a problem that can be simply solved by being "smart." Go
do some research on the concept of the "unbanked" in America and actually try to understand that not everyone has the same circumstances or privileges that you might take for granted.
(2) If you do have a bank account, you have to go to a bank in person and cash your check, unless your employer does direct deposit, which saves you a trip but has the same ultimate outcome. (Note that in this thought experiment I skip over the possibility that a poor working person might pay by check or debit card; not to say it doesn't happen, just that we're focusing on the question of ATM fees and cash management here, and local businesses in poor areas often don't accept non-cash payment methods anyway.) Your options for avoiding the ATM fees are:
a. Cash the entire check and carry all that money, quite possibly the only money you have to your name, on your person for the next 7 days as you go about your life living in a poor, possibly dangerous, area. The problem of living in a high risk area when you are poor is not something that you can solve just by being "smart."
b. Deposit the check, and plan to return to the bank later to withdraw more cash or to use an ATM. Why is this a problem?
(i). Regarding going to a bank branch: If you live in a poor area, chances are that
your community is dramatically underserved by bank facilities and therefore making a trip to the bank is a much bigger time commitment for you than for the average person living in a middle class neighborhood. Certainly you can overcome this challenge by taking that time away from other activities that advance your quality life, but that's not the same as being "smart."
(ii) Regarding using the ATM: as the above article points out, there are many more ATMs than banks in poor neighborhoods. It's not even close. We're not talking about the nice Chase ATMs that have their own storefront on Broadway. We're talking about the crappy, slow ATM in your corner bodega. So if you have a busy life (perhaps you're raising kids, or working multiple jobs), in order to save some time by not going to the bank as in (i) above, using the ATM probably looks like a great alternative. However, it comes with a cost, namely the ATM fee. In this situation, the "smart" thing to do may very well be to go use the ATM anyway, and eat the fee, sheerly for the time savings. Regardless of how you do the math, at least it should be obvious by now that this is not a cut and dry situation.
B. Alternatively, if you are a working person and you get paid in cash, you might save a trip to the bank, otherwise the situation is much the same as we already discussed.
(1) You do not have a bank account and you proceed as in (2)a, above.
(2) You have a bank account and you must go there and deposit your cash, putting you back at (2)b, above.
TL;DR: I take issue with this claim:
my point was you don't have to be very smart to figure out how not to pay ATM fees
The problem of ATM fees and how to avoid them has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with your life circumstances, your employer's business practices, and where you happen live. If you're a poor working person, none of these three things is much in your control, let alone subject to "smart" decision-making or its opposite.
