Starting from Arles April - money from La Poste

[DouglasM]

Hello everyone
I plan to start from Arles around 8th April 2024 and have a few questions for the forum. I will post each question separately.

As I will be passing through villages that probably don't have a bank or ATM (DAB) but may have a post office (La Poste) which is usually an agent for La Banque Postale would I be able to get cash over the counter using my Australian debit card?

Thanks, DouglasM

 

[Former member 104756]

Hi Douglas.

Sorry I'm not sure about your Australian card at La Poste, but for what it’s worth - We walked the Arles Way in 2016. From memory we did what we usually do. Started with some cash, topped up at ATMs when the opportunity arose - taking more or less cash depending on upcoming stages. We used a debit / credit card when available.

Sorry that’s a bit vague but the point is that from my memory accessing cash was not a big issue. That was in 2016, so I’d think it will be even less of an issue these days with many more small businesses taking cards.

Others may have more recent information.

It’s a wonderful path. Bon chemin.

 

[dick bird]

Hi Douglas.

Sorry I'm not sure about your Australian card at La Poste, but for what it’s worth - We walked the Arles Way in 2016. From memory we did what we usually do. Started with some cash, topped up at ATMs when the opportunity arose - taking more or less cash depending on upcoming stages. We used a debit / credit card when available.

Sorry that’s a bit vague but the point is that from my memory accessing cash was not a big issue. That was in 2016, so I’d think it will be even less of an issue these days with many more small businesses taking cards.

Others may have more recent information.

It’s a wonderful path. Bon chemin.

That´s what we did from Toulouse in 2018. There are enough towns along the route for you to access ATMs regularly. In between, a lot of businesses will take cards anyway. My Australian debit card worked as did my Australian travel card. Come to think of it, ATMs were probably more frequent than post offices and had much more customer friendly opening hours.

 

[NavyBlue]

Hi,

Here you can search the ATMs operated by the Banque Postale, inside or outside their premices : https://www.labanquepostale.fr/particulier/localisation_bureau.html

For safety reasons, the post offices (usually) don't store any cash outside of the ATMs. If a customer wants to retrieve some cash from, say, a saving account, a single-use card is given to him/her, to be used in the office ATM.

Of course, you will find other ATMs in (large enough) villages or towns.

The number of businesses accepting cards has grown, especially during and after the pandemic, even for small amounts (the French use a "sans contact" feature (contactless) up to 50 € without having to enter a PIN code). In the meantime, the number of ATMs is decreasing slowly, as some of them were not busy enough for being profitable.

No idea about your australian card. Visa cards, among others, are a kind of standard.

 

[DouglasM]

Thanks everyone. It confirms what I suspected that I won't be able to use La Poste to obtain cash unless they have an ATM.
I was basically wondering if anyone had tried to obtain cash over the counter at a small La Poste branch or agency.
Regards, DouglasM

I will now move on to my next question.