For folks looking to avoid being nickel-and-dimed at ATMs, getting cash back at the grocery store has been a popular – and until recently – free option in Durango.

However, City Market, a division of Kroger grocery stores, began charging to get cash back at the checkout about a month ago.

Jessica Trowbridge, a spokeswoman with King Soopers/City Market, said the cash back fee was implemented across all City Market stores.

“This service is very popular, and we process millions of transactions enterprise-wide per year. Unfortunately, we cannot continue to offer this service for free due to the high demand and processing/labor costs,” Trowbridge wrote in an email to The Durango Herald.

City Market now charges 50 cents to receive between $1 and $100 on checkout. It charges $3.50 for getting between $100.01 and $300 at checkout. The $3.50 fee is lowered to $3 if customers use their City Market value card.

Three hundred dollars is the maximum amount that can be withdrawn in cash at City Market through the use of a debt card.

Ryne Hayes, manager at Durango’s Albertsons, said the store does not charge for getting cash back, and there are no plans to begin charging for the service.

“If you’re shopping at Albertsons, it’s a service we provide,” he said.

Walmart also does not charge for cash back at checkout.

Robin Bobbitt, a spokeswoman with Walmart, also said it is a service the retailer provides to customers paying with debt cards, and she said she is unaware of any plans to begin charging for the service.

parmijo@durangoherald.com