In March 2009, the financial services industry changed the way consumers were charged for using ATM’s throughout Australia.

Under the old regulations, a financial institution was able to set the fee that a consumer incurred for using a ATM. The service fee was normally waived if the consumer was a member of the bank or credit union who owned and operated the ATM. In the very common scenario where a consumer used an ATM was wasn’t directly owned by their bank or affiliated to it in some manner – the bank would normally charge a fee for those services. If you used an independent ATM, for instance one that wasn’t operated by one of the major banks or institutions – they were paid a commission of sorts by the clients bank for facilitating the transaction. The operators of the independent ATM networks decided that wasn’t all that fair and sort to have the legislation changed.

Since the beginning of March, the owner/operator of the ATM can now charge whatever fee they want when someone uses their ATM. As an example, if a Suncorp member uses a Suncorp or affiliated ATM – they are not charged any fees for the transaction. If they use an ATM that isn’t in an agreement with their bank – the ATM owner, say Commonwealth Bank of Australia now have the ability to charge the Suncorp user whatever fee they feel inclined.

When the legislation was first amended there was a significant amount of press covering the changes, as the consumer advocacy groups felt it was open to substantial abuse. The example most often cited, related to an ATM within a bar, nightclub or pub. During the day when the nightclub or pub is not under heavy patronage, the fee for a consumer would be moderate – maybe $2.00. However, once the alcohol started flowing and people were inebriated – the fee would suddenly jump to $10 to use the ATM. It is easy to see why the consumer watchdogs thought it was going to be abused, a drunk person just wants more money to keep on drinking and isn’t paying a lot of attention. They’d more than likely ignore the prompt and just keep pressing next until the ATM dispensed additional drinking money.

I personally find it frustrating that the banks look at the ATM as another avenue to make money from the public of Australia. Users already provide the bank their money, which they invest an make hundreds of millions of dollars annually and for that privilege – they are charged to withdraw their own money. On top of that, electronic funds transfer has become so common place nowadays, a lot of people don’t carry cash on them anymore. You can use a standard debit or credit card to purchase and ice cream and you won’t get looked at sideways in most cases and you’re not being charged for it.

Every ATM I’ve used since the legislation changed has been charging $2.00 to use the ATM, regardless of time of day. I’m sure that plenty of people have come across ATM’s that charge a lot more but I haven’t come across one charging less, until last week. If you’re out and about and have a need for an ATM, I’d recommend you use a rediATM if there is one around – they only charge $1.75. While it is only 25c difference, I think that rediATM should be applauded for not following the masses and blindly charging $2.00 for their service. I hope if enough people use their network of 3,100 ATM’s throughout Australia – they might keep their service fee below the magic $2.00 mark that every other financial service business wants to charge.

For the last couple of weeks while working through the 100 pushup challenge, I’ve been peaking in the final set at between 60-65 push ups. I was getting quite worried that I wasn’t going to be able to complete the personal fitness challenge, until I managed to do 73 in the final session in week six. That made me think that I should be able to get through the 100 pushups for the final strength test but wasn’t quite willing to bet the house on it.

As it turns out, it was lucky that I didn’t bet the house on it as I failed in my first attempt at the 100 pushup challenge and only manged to do 98! I was really close but I began to really struggle when I got to 85 and by 95 I could barely lift my weight. Not wanting to go down without a fight, I took a ten second break, literally, did another 20 pushups and collapsed after completing 118 in total.

Unfortunately however, while 10 seconds isn’t very long – I didn’t make it though the fitness test. I’m going to repeat week six and increase all of the numbers per set and see how I go next weekend. A little disappointing, I was really hoping to get through it but I’m not completely disappointed beacuse of the additional 20 I managed.

Next week I will succeed!

After starting the one hundred pushup challenge half way through July, I have now completed all of the required sessions which will theoretically allow me to do 100 push ups consecutively.

Session one was probably the hardest in week six, which you might find a little strange. It involved five sets, with a minimum set of 35 and not less than 55 in the fifth for a total of 220 push ups. The third set from week five I completed a total of 235 push ups over eight sets but doing the same number of five sets really pushed me and I was only able to meet the requirement.

Session two jumped from five sets upto nine sets but on lower repetitions per set. Workout number two required a minimum of 18 in any set, not less than 58 in the ninth set for a total of 246 pushups. As I mentioned perviously, the lower repetition count sets suit me far better and I managed to meet or exceed the requirement for a total of 268 pushups. Frustratingly, in a few fitness workouts I’ve managed to get between 60 and 65 in the final set but I haven’t managed to exceed it – which was beginning to sow seeds of doubt that I’d be able to make it the 100 pushups.

Session three was nine sets and was going to be a challenge, as it required a minimum of 274 total pushups in the workout – up approximately 30 from the previous session which is a big jump. The workout required a minimum of 22 in any set and not less than 60 in the ninth. To try and get past the magical 60-65 pushup barrier that I seemed to be stuck on, I trained per the requirements and managed 73 pushups in the ninth set – which I was very happy about.

Now I just need to get through the final 100 pushup strength test in the next day or two.

Last week was the fifth week of the 100 push up challenge and it was certainly a challenge. After making it through the fourth week with a reasonable amount of comfort in the end, I was unsure how the change in the personal fitness regime was going to work out. As I mention, session two and three from week five increased the number of sets from five to eight but with slightly lower repetitions.

Session one was a continuation from week four, still five sets but with all sets over 30 except one and at least 40 in the fifth. After getting through week four, this set didn’t prove too difficult and I managed to meet or better the minimum per set with 49 in the fifth for a total of 185. I’ve been trying to make sure I do more per set than required, which has been the plan all along to guarantee that I’d complete the next work out and its been successful, beating the previous peak total work output by 21 push ups.

Session two was the first of the eight set work outs in week five and as I mentioned in week four, I wasn’t completely sure if it’d go in my favour or not. As it turned out, my hunch was correct – more sets on a lower repetition count was definitely more comfortable as it was closer to the style of workouts I’d do at the gym. Set two required a minimum of 18 per set and not less than 45 in the eighth. I blasted through the eight sets, doing at least 20 per set and pushing out 65 in the eighth for a total of 220 – an increase of 35 from two days earlier and I was stoked.

The third session of the week was again eight sets, requiring at least 20 per set and not less than 50 in the eighth. While I managed to blow past the total work output in the second set compared to the first for the week, unfortunately I wasn’t able to accomplish the same feat in the third. I still beat the requirement for each of the eight sets but only managed 64 in the eighth for a total of 235. While not a bad effort, I was hoping to make at least 240-245 to put me in good shape for week six.

I’m looking foward to week six, first work out is five sets and the following two are nine! If I can make it through the third set, I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to do the 100 consecutive push ups as the third session has a required total output of 274 push ups!

Last week saw the completion of the third week in the one hundred push up challenge. After a mixed bag of results in week 3 of the program and realising that the expectation was going to be lifted considerably – week 4 in the push up challenge felt like it was going to be a complete unknown.

The first session in week four required five sets and each set had at least 21 push ups in them with the fifth expecting not less than 32. After having a strong finish in the third set in week 3 and pushing more repetitions on each set than required – it meant that I only needed to match my previous total work output in a different format to reach the goal. Thankfully I managed to make scrape through but only increased my total output by 2 to 132.

Session two was again five sets and each set had at least 25 repetitions in it with the fifth requiring not less than 36. I was reasonably confident that I’d make it through session two, based on the logic that I’d improved in the last two sessions and that I should theoretically have slightly more endurance. The assumption was correct and I managed to match or exceed the requirements for each set, pushing out 45 in the fifth for a total of 152.

Third and final session for the week was a doozie, five sets with a minimum of 29 per set and at least 40 in the fifth set. This session was really quite difficult to complete and I had to work really hard for it. While I’ve been completing more total push ups than required, this session required more than my peak output from the previous push up workout. I still managed to match or better the requirements but only just – requiring a total of 160 and I managed 164 – the perfect workout.

Week five is going to be a blinder as the second and third sessions increase to eight sets instead of five. Thankfully, however each set is on a lower repetition count initially but for a higher total output. I think more sets but lower rep count is going to suit me more, as each session is closer to the power style exercise I’d normally do at the gym but I’ll wait and see how I go before making a judgement call!