With Ramadan coming to a close, Saudis and expatriates have found themselves going to one, two or even three ATM kiosks before finding a machine that has not already been depleted of cash. The best strategy is to go early in the day. The situation will be worse once the bank holiday kicks in on Tuesday because the ATMs will not be reloaded for a week until banks reopen Sept. 14.

Obaid Al-Shammari, a Saudi who was unable to draw his salary after trying his luck at a number of machines on Thursday, said banks should check their machines more often in the days running up to the bank holiday.

“Most of the ATMs do not have money to cough up,” he said. “This is a very strange situation, banks should not leave their ATMs empty.”

Saeed Al-Harbi, a retiree, said the retirees were the worst affected when the ATMs do not have enough cash. “The retirees, who are old people, suffer from long queues in front of the ATMs,” he said.

He said after checking a number of ATMs belonging to his bank, it seems that the bank was so sick of him trying that the last machine swallowed his card.

“I had to borrow money from friends until I obtained a new card,” he added.

The Eid ATM scramble is exacerbated by employees who had their holiday bonuses paid by automatic deposit and use the ATMs to get to the cash in order to cover holiday expenses, which often includes buying new home furnishings and clothes for the family.

People who have lived through Ramadan and Eid here know that the best strategy is to withdraw the cash they need before the beginning of the Eid bank holiday. For those who need to go to the bank, it’s already too late to get speedy in-and-out-service. Lines at banks and money transfer offices are already long in anticipation of the bank holiday. And when the tellers reopen a week later, customers who didn’t get their banking done before the holiday will crowd banks afterward.

Add to that the Sept. 23 Saudi National Day holiday and the end-of-the-month pay cycle and you aren’t likely to get quick service at a bank until early October.

As the machines limit the withdrawals to SR5,000 every 24 hours, many have to visit the ATMs for consecutive days. Some Saudis have called on the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to raise the limit, at least during the Eid rush.