Super-ATMs Being Rolled Out

News.com has an article up looking at something I find interesting and somewhat confusing. The Vcom ATM is an attempt to make people's lives more convenient by adding unexpected functionality to the standard Teller Machine. Besides dispensing cash, new ATMs can fulfull the roles of PayPal (by sending money to people), bank (by cashing checks on the spot), and cellphone store (by selling Verizon services). From the article: "The Circle K and Exxon Mobil machines are far more basic than 7-Eleven's Vcoms, which have been called overengineered. Several dozen customers polled informally outside a 7-Eleven in Winter Springs, Fla., recently said that they had never used the Vcom inside, and one woman who said she did use it once to withdraw cash complained that it was 'confusing' and 'complicated,' and added that she would not use it again. 'There were just too many steps,' said the woman, Peggy Baker, who teaches French in Winter Springs. 'And the $1.75 transaction fee was too much--it was painful.' She said she was not interested in the other Vcom features, which require users to enroll and enter a Social Security number on a touch screen."

In case you want to read it

[MichaelSmith]

TFA [com.com]

Re:In case you want to read it

[Lispy]

You must be new here, nobody actually read TFA. Therefore they just dropped the links altogether.

Re:In case you want to read it

[MichaelSmith]

Also it would have nice to know who submitted the story, or did Zonk just find the article?

Re:In case you want to read it

[greginnj]

And I'm sure glad the summary cleared up who that anonymous woman was trying out the ATM -- what her name was, where she lived, and what she did for a living. I'd hate to have to drill down to TFA to get that crucial, crucial information.

Are you sure?

[Zen Punk]

If only they had it throw up a windows-like dialog box with "yes" or "no" they could get people to sign their live savings over to 7-11 very easily.

Where's the link

[Anonymous Coward]

Or is that too 'confusing' and 'complicated'?

MacDonalds

[Toby The Economist]

ATMs are the MacDonalds of the banking world.

MacDonalds don't offer slow food.

Making an ATM offer slow services is not a good move; they just won't be used, in exactly the same way that very few people would buy a burger from MacDonalds if it took twenty minutes to cook.

You never been to europe

[SmallFurryCreature]

We took the fast out of fast food. In fact the "slow food" places like McD and Burger King are were you probably spend the most time waiting to get your meal.

As for this whole ATM idea that becomes a small store. Well, surely paying your bills through it is only for the poor (else you would just let your bank do it for free) who can only pay with cash. 1.75-3 dollars seems like the extra banks charge here if you want to pay a bill cash as the counter instead of through the mail from your account.

As for other services. Yeah great. Internet access through an ATM? Talk about a waste of hardware. You got a small bank vault, a complex teller machine sitting idle while somebody is browing goatse and 20 fuming customers behind him waiting to withdraw cash?

Couple that with the fact that an awfull lot of people are already confused enough by regular cash dispensers and this sounds like a really bad idea.

Then again what do I know. Maybe people said the same things about the original ATM's.

But 3 dollars for paying a bill. Yikes.

Re:You never been to europe

[jbolden]

I'm old enough to remember the original ATMs (called Money Access Centers (MAC) at the time BTW). People thought it was a great idea and immediately saw why it would be useful. The concern were all about tellers no longer existing for those transactions that were too complicated. No one thought "why would anyone want that"?

Re:You never been to europe

[bobwoodard]

I'm old enough to remember the original ATMs (called Money Access Centers (MAC) at the time BTW).

Same here! Ours was called Molli Mac (get it>) and the thrill factor was pretty big at the time. No cashing of checks, no waiting in teller lines, etc...

Re:You never been to europe

[c_forq]

In fact the "slow food" places like McD and Burger King are were you probably spend the most time waiting to get your meal.

I have heard several people make a statement like this and I want to know: where the hell are they are eating their other meals at? For a good home cooked meal it always takes me about a half hour to an hour (and even longer for roasts and some soups). For good sit down restaurants in my area it is many times a 20 minute wait for seating, a ten minute wait for drinks, and ten to 20

Re:You never been to europe

[raju1kabir]

I have heard several people make a statement like this and I want to know: where the hell are they are eating their other meals at? For a good home cooked meal it always takes me about a half hour to an hour (and even longer for roasts and some soups). For good sit down restaurants in my area it is many times a 20 minute wait for seating, a ten minute wait for drinks, and ten to 20 minute wait for food. At the fast food places it is 10 minutes tops, maybe 20 if there is a REALLY long line.

At a down-hom

Re:MacDonalds

[tpgp]

ATMs are the MacDonalds of the banking world.

What?

The 'product' that you 'buy' at an ATM is exactly the same as what you'd get at a bank, but you get it faster.

The product you buy at MacDonalds is utter crap compared to a real restaurant, but quicker and (for some people) more convenient.

Are you sure you're not really this guy? [slashdot.org]

Re:MacDonalds

[Professor_UNIX]

MacDonalds don't offer slow food.

The fast food company with the golden arches is called McDonald's not MacDonalds. MacDonalds is probably some Irish pub in Boston that takes 30 minutes to serve up your corned beef sandwich. Either way you're wrong.

Re:MacDonalds

[eyegone]

Everyone knows that MacDonald's is the home of the Big Mc.

Re:MacDonalds

[roman_mir]

And of the Royal with Cheese.

Re:MacDonalds

[rapidweather]

McDonalds has gotten away from their core business long ago by offering too much on the menu. So, they don't have your burger, fries and drink ready when you arrive. What was simple to do in the 1950's is now hard to do.
Also, the drive in window takes 20 minutes to get to, the driveway up to it is always full. Not enough employees on the production line, those that are there are lost in the details of the now-complicated menu.

ATM's are reasonably quick. Anything that a customer can get to can get fouled up,

Even better...

[Lispy]

The only upgrade I would like to see would be if they made it actually return money. But well, that's just me...

Actually, it's my 20cents. Harhar!

Literal Identity Theft

[Scoria]

enter a Social Security number on a touch screen.

A masked thief enters a convenience store. The cashier tells him to take whatever he wants, but is surprised when he opens the ATM, removes a hard disk drive, and runs up to the cashier. He shouts, "I own you!"

The cashier says, "No! I meant that you could take anything but me!"

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[GreatBunzinni]

I don't see how they can be considered "super-ATMs". I'm from Portugal, which isn't a tech superpower, and in here the regular ATMs offer that kind of service since the early 90s.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[megla]

The advantage is that you can physically hand them off to someone.
They are still used in the UK to some extent, although not for anything like wages - well, not from a reputable workplace anyway!!
Generally they're used to transfer small sums to private individuals. For example, I just paid a £50 deposit for a student house next year by cheque. However, I'll be paying the rent by standing order from my bank account. The cheque was just easier for a one time small payment.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[NeoSkandranon]

although not for anything like wages - well, not from a reputable workplace anyway!!

That's interesting; in the States the majority of small businesses still pay their wages via business checks. Some of the tech savvy ones do direct deposit, but the impression I get (from various employers) is that it's more trouble than its worth to get the payroll information to the bank, rather than work it out in a few minutes on an Excel spreadsheet and write/print checks.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[TykeClone]

Payroll itself (following all of the rules and making sure that everything is done correctly and on time!) is cumbersome for small businesses. Creating and transmitting an ACH file shouldn't be.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[RandomJoe]

They are still fairly common, although it seems to be dwindling in some areas.

My pay is deposited directly to my account, but the company still sends me a "statement" that is identical to the checks they used to send, except it now has "Non-Negotiable" stamped across it. I use online bill-paying for the most part, but two of my bills are actually mailed by my credit union as checks instead of EFTs! But it's no fee to me, and I don't have to buy stamps.

Anymore I still write one check per month - for the mo

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[TheRaven64]

I wouldn't care too much for handing out my account number to people!

At least in theory, you are supposed to be able to publish your account number and sort code (the two bits that uniquely identify your account). Anyone can then deposit money in your account. If they want to take money out, however, they will need some proof of ID (debit card, online banking ID, etc). I frequently use this kind of transfer to pay when I owe someone more than about £10.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[wertarbyte]

Banks will undo transfers for up to six weeks, so as long as you check your list of transfers regularly, the risk is minimal.

There is a slight misconception here, at leat here in germany: If you initiate the transfer to another account yourself ("Überweisung"), the transfer cannot be undone by the bank. But if you give someone the permission to retrieve money from your account ("Einzugsermächtigung"/"Lastschrift"), you can cancel that transfer up to six weeks after it happened. To pull money fr

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[megla]

Cheques are traceable.
Every cheque has is unique (a combination of a specific cheque number and the account number), and the cheque number will appear on a bank statement when the money is taken. They can also be cancelled if you think you've issued one in error.
So in short, with my previous example, the landlord cannot say he hasn't recieved the deposit from me, because I have a bank statement with a record of the cheque which I gave to him being paid out.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[TykeClone]

Electronic payments are even more traceable - they don't require a human to read someone's handwriting because all of the information about the transaction is part of the transaction (including the trace numbers).

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[uncqual]

WRT rent... I live in a large apartment complex owned by one of the largest multifamily dwelling unit REITs in the US. The office staff and managers (who change about every 18 months) are incredibly careless - for example, they screwed up my balance once to the tune of about 15 dollars and it took me four visits to the office, one meeting with the on-site manager, three interactions with corporate "customer service", and three phone discussions with the regional VP to actually get this sorted out (even thou

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[coffeechica]

Absolutely serious. I've got a bank account and use transfers for pretty much everything, from the phone bill to electricity to payments to Amazon. My wages get paid into that accout. And for everyday money I use either cash or my debit card, since you can pay with that at most shops. I use online banking regularly, so my bank sees me maybe once a month, if that. And even then I use the ATMs instead of the teller, unless I need something more complicated. I honestly cannot think of a single instance where

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[Saint Stephen]

If you have to go into your bank once a month, you're not really as cool as you think you are. Maybe a couple times a year, and maybe haven written about 4 checks in a year. Maybe to the point where you've forgotten which corner of the envelope the stamp goes in.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[hanssprudel]

Are you guys serious? Yes, we use "cheques" all the time in the U.S. I get my wages in a check, I pay the rent with a check, etc. I do use a debit card for most purchases, though.

Yes, they are most probably serious. I am equally surpised every time I hear americans talk about checks. For me it is a novelty from a past age: you might as well be saying you have to talk to your money scrivener and goldsmith about payments.

I get my salary via a transfer into my bank account. Even if I had not (for convenience)

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[beeblebrox87]

I'm studying at university in the UK, and there are still occasional situations when one needs to use a cheque. I had to pay my tuition bill with a cheque (since the university is not willing to pay the transaction fees involved in debit card or bank transfer payments) and was paid by cheque when I sold an old computer to a friend, but aside from such rare situations I never use cheques. My parents live in the US and tell me they hardly ever use cheques either, their salaries are deposited into their bank

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[hanssprudel]

I had to pay my tuition bill with a cheque (since the university is not willing to pay the transaction fees involved in debit card or bank transfer payments)

People who make such arguments are usually fooling themselves (especially for large, rare transactions like University tuition). The truth is that the processing time of handling all the checks probably costs a lot more then the transaction fees would. Unless they are making the grad students do it or something, your university would be better off with

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[SlamMan]

At scale, sure, but if you only do two or three credit card transactions a day? Or if the average purchase is below $10

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[Council]

Are you guys serious? Yes, we use "cheques" all the time in the U.S. I get my wages in a check, I pay the rent with a check, etc. I do use a debit card for most purchases, though.

Yes, they are most probably serious. I am equally surpised every time I hear americans talk about checks. For me it is a novelty from a past age

I'm a young american who's had a checking account for four years now, and the only thing that's required me to write a physical check was paying the rent on an apartment I had. I remember

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[hab136]

I remember first getting a starter checkbook with my account and trying to buy something with a check from it, but it was sort of . . . novelty-ish, with pictures on the checks, and the wal-mart clerk just looked at me strangely, called over a supervisor, and then said "uhh, we can't take this" as if it was the strangest request they'd ever had.

Starter checks aren't accepted at most retail locations. They'll work fine for bills though. Regular checks (with your name pre-printed, etc) work fine.

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[smoker2]

Beyond that I have a debit card and a charge card for purchases, and cash for small private transactions. What would I need checks for?

Well, like you I do most of my banking online, and use my debit card or use an ATM for cash.

But ...

When there is still a week to go to payday, and I have no money left in the bank, a chequebook and guarantee card is most useful at the supermarket/petrol station. By the time they've banked the cheque and 3 days processing time has passed, I have money in my account and the

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[ahillen]

Are you guys serious?

Yes. The last time I wrote a check was probably some time in the end (or middle?) of the 80s, when I had just gotten my bank account and ATMs were not that common. Then I had to fill out a check to get money from my bank account. Since then, I never wrote a check. If I want to give money to other people, I either give it cash or transfer it from bank account to bank account electronically. The later I can do either online, by telephone, or at some ATM-like machines at the bank (I could

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[wfberg]

Are you guys serious? Yes, we use "cheques" all the time in the U.S. I get my wages in a check, I pay the rent with a check, etc. I do use a debit card for most purchases, though.

Yeah, these guys are serious. Just to give an example; the "Eurocheque" was abolished in 2002 (along with the introduction of the Euro coinage) to not much fanfare; most countries had already given up on the scheme in the 1990s. Currently, no bank in my country (be it a small country; The Netherlands) offers cheques. The vast major

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[TykeClone]

That's changing. Federal Reserve Payments Study [federalreserve.gov]

In the mid 1990's, nearly 50 billion checks were being processed in the US. It was down to 37 billion transactions in 2004 and is steadily dropping. Things like debit cards, increased usage of credit cards for smaller purchases, increased usage of ACH transactions for payroll and billing, online billpay (where many items are transacted via ACH), and the conversion of checks to ACH items either at the point of sale or at large billing houses have all contr

Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages

[KDR_11k]

Depends on your account, some banks have accounts where you have to pay a few cents for making transactions on these machines.

BTW, the transaction systems 'round here run on Windows ME.

Re:Checks? How cute..

[hab136]

Do they still use *checks* in the US? I mean, they haven't heard of wire transfers and online banking? Seriuosly, how do people receive their wages or pay their rent there? By CHECKS?

Most full-time employees receive their wages by direct deposit. Most mortgages are auto-deducted from bank accounts.

Apartment rent, part-time employee wages, and person-to-person transfers normally use checks, yes.

The US never really caught on to wire transfers. The $50 fee per transfer might have something to do with t

Re:Checks? How cute..

[moonbender]

Hah. How odd. Wire transfers are usually free within the country, and, since a while ago, within most of the EU countries. Of course the banks take a day or two to "transfer" the money during which it also happens to generate interest for the banks...

nice features, one more needed: voting booth!

[toomanyhandles]

Can they set them up to handle the voting booth tasks? It seems the same companies that make these reliable, traceable units, just can't figure out how to make a voting console properly. Merging the two could solve the USA's current problems with (apparantly) rigged elections.

Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth!

[sjg]

That will never happen, unfortunately. I recently asked a friend why we don't just hold elections online, surely that could be done. To my surprise his immediate response was well thought out and eloquent, I won't do it justice, but the jist is.. If citizens can very easily just vote on issues from home, then why is there a need for decision makers in government at all? So once you allow everyone to vote from home, you open yourself up to that. Once you remove all the decision makers, you end up with a g

Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth!

[MichaelSmith]

Merging the two could solve the USA's current problems with (apparantly) rigged elections.

Voting at a cash dispenser seems a bit dangerous. What if a vote for a certain party causes an "accidental" buffer overflow and spits out money?

Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth!

[hey!]

Can they set them up to handle the voting booth tasks? It seems the same companies that make these reliable, traceable units, just can't figure out how to make a voting console properly.

I hadn't really thought of this until your post prompted me, but this is the theory under which you'd buy a voting machine from an ATM company isn't it? You would think that designing a system that can give away cash and take money out of people's accounts without human intervention would give a company the appropriate atti

Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth!

[toomanyhandles]

It follows that voting has a MUCH HIGHER level of security required in voting than in dispensing cash, because a tiny amount of fraud can have large consequences. It's the kind of thing you really can't afford to get wrong. The kind company you need is not the one that knows how to make the kind of trade offs you need to make a practical financial system. You'd want the kind of company you'd trust to do things like design a system to secure sensitive military data transfer.

Perhaps a little reminder i

Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth!

[DrSkwid]

Your wishes have come true :

http://www.diebold.com/solutions/atms/ [diebold.com]

Social Security number?

[Walzmyn]

SS Number? I give that to no one unless they are paying into the system for me - ie. my boss. It ticks off a lot of doctors offices when that box is blank but when I ask 'em why they need to know it they just stare at me.

I'd just as soon not have one at all, but I'm sure not pluging it into an ATM.

Sorry, didn't RTFA

[bazorg]

Over here in Portugal we have a company called SIBS [www.sibs.pt] which is owned by a consortium of banks. They're in charge of managing the network of ATM and the services provided to other companies through those machines.

Possibly the best single feature they rolled out was to make available ATM payments to just about any company wiling to sign up. The first adopters were the utilities companies, that because of this now have less offices and "point of sale" than needed 20 years ago. Today any company can become a client of SIBS and get a 5-number code to be its ID. This ID will be printed on invoices along with another number, which identifies the transaction. Anyone can use an ATM to pay the invoice. Just type in these 2 codes, the amount to be transfered and you're done. The receipt will be printed out and for some services (ie: mobile phone top-ups) you get to see the effect within a couple of seconds.

Building on this basic operation, many companies hired the services of SIBS to add their own menus and sub-menus on the ATMs, so these days there is a quite a lot of stuff you can do:

• buy concert tickets
• buy train tickets
• make bank transfers
• allow/change permissions for automatic payments from your account (ie: allow the water bill to be paid without confirmation)
• top up mobile phones
• pay public transport monthly tickets . this one had some extra work: the public transport tickets have to get in the ATM so their chip gets read/written. They're similar to London's Oyster cards

and so on. overall it's pretty cool and has been working for a while now, that's why I'm surprised that adding bank transfers to ATM operations (in the US?) makes the news on /. in 2006. A few years ago, as banks started to have www-based services, new forms of login information were added to allow people to do at home most of these things, except getting cash out of your printer :)

Re:Sorry, didn't RTFA

[illuminatedwax]

These kinds of services have been in available in Japan for a very long time as well.

Re:Sorry, didn't RTFA

[moonbender]

The problem with doing at least some of this stuff from home is that it's more involved than just paying a bill. For instance, when you buy concert tickets over the net, you might still have to wait for the tickets to arrive per mail. The same is true for train tickets. That said, you can buy train tickets over the net which are delivered to you electronically as a PDF, which you print out yourself. That's really neat. OTOH these tickets are tied to a single person, unlike those you buy at a vending machine

Security

[zaguar]

I'm sorry, but I don't want to shop at my ATM. I want to do one thing - Deposit and withdraw money. I don't want a media center running on the latest and greatest OS - with the latest exploits included (free of charge)

Mind you, that would be the only thing banks provide free these days.

$1.75

[od05]

$1.75 is not terribly bad, in Chicago you can't find a single ATM for less than $2.00.

Re:$1.75

[Will Fisher]

Anything more than $0 is bad IMO.

In the UK most ATMs are free, and I refuse to use the ones that charge.

My bank is already making money on the intrest I earn/pay, why should I have to pay to take out my own money?

Re:$1.75

[Gordonjcp]

<AOL>ME TOO</AOL>

No, I won't use cash machines that charge. I also don't use petrol stations that have night pay windows - let me in the damn shop, or you don't get my business. I'm a customer, so don't treat me as a criminal.

Re:$1.75

[fbjon]

Are you saying it costs $2 just to withdraw money?

North Carolina has the hookup

[oldosadmin]

One of our largest banks is the "State Employees' Credit Union"... they have ATMs everywhere, no surcharge.

It's excellent (and it's a good bank, too!)

Social Security Legalities?

[Khyber]

Having RTFA I don't see mention on the main reason for inputting a SSN. Last I checked, The SSN is NOT VALID to be used as a form of identification (even though we all know we're branded and identified by this number by our government overlords.) When are we going to finally stand up to these invasive bastards?

Re:Social Security Legalities?

[Formica]

Um, where exactly did you check on the SSN not being a valid form of identification? http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_154.html [straightdope.com]

Canada

[CastrTroy]

In canada, when you use your banks atm machines, you can cash cheques, pay bills, do almost anything you can do at a teller. The only reason I even go to the teller anymore is to get coins. There's still the need for money orders, and other things that only tellers can do, but those reasons are getting fewer and fewer. I'm not sure if it's good or bad. It's a lot more convenient to be able to get go up to a machine 24 hours a day and do your banking. but then again it's lost jobs for those people workin

Re:Canada

[MKalus]

the one thing that still irks me with Canadian banks though is that they have those abitrary cutoff times / dates.

Heck, most computer systems from large institutions run 24/7, why can't they process a payment on the weekend? There is no real reason WHY they have to hold it (they do take the money out of your account after all right that instant).

Re:Canada

[cliffski]

so? word processors made many typists redundant. I'm sure the correction fluid business nose-dived too. Those ex bank tellers hopefully retrain and go on to do something more stimulating and creative than a paper task that a computer can automate.
thats the hope anyway :D

Eating cards

[sl4shd0rk]

All that superduper stuff and I bet they still eat your card.

Surveys are often as dense as granite

[tinkertim]

VCom machines make a fortune from people who normally do not hold bank accounts. The check cashing is ideal for people who work the swing shift and miss most of the check cashing joints an liquor stores.

Many people who don't have a bank account also pay their bills via western union, either a moneygram or purchasing money orders to mail off to someone , or drop in the rent box on the way home.

These people really don't give a rat's ass who gets their social security number, they hope whoever steals it manages to pay off their bills and fix their credit score.

They also don't care about the $1.75 fee, as most people who appreciate the machines don't in fact use the ATM feature.

Vcom cornered a market nobody else has been able to touch. There's a 7-11 in every blue collar neighborhood in most first , and third world countries and those things are popping up globally.

So .. as the game show used to say .. 'SURVEY SAYS' -> once again, nothing useful because the people surveying are just too dense to realize exactly who these things were designed to serve.

Rather swift marketing imho :)

Technology for everyone

[base_chakra]

So .. as the game show used to say .. 'SURVEY SAYS' -> once again, nothing useful because the people surveying are just too dense to realize exactly who these things were designed to serve.

Well, this is exactly the sort of technology that should be designed—ideally—to serve every consumer. Another slashdotter compared ATM technology with McDonalds restaurants. That's an apt comparison on multiple levels, since McDonalds kitchens are designed toward the ultimate goal of intuitive, self-explana

Re:Technology for everyone

[tinkertim]

>> Well, this is exactly the sort of technology that should be designed--ideally--to serve every consumer.

I think the appeal of these machines to the people who are making them a success is they feel a little more like a customer than a consumer.

The simple fact that it appears to be designed 100% with them in mind makes it novel on a more personal level.

>> Not surprisingly, it seems as though the article's author wants to make this seem like a case in which users are polarly divided.

That's becau

I'd settle for better basic functions

[sacrilicious]

Every time I go to my bank's ATM I withdraw $300. To do this, they make me hit "withdraw money", then hit "from checking", then present me with several pre-selected amount buttons all below $200 which makes me hit "other amount", then I hit 3-0-0-0-0-ENTER, then I hit "confirm with receipt". Message to the bank: how about if you customize my options so that one of the first buttons I have the option of hitting reads "withdraw $300 like you have every time you've been here in the past ten years". I'd really like to hit just one button instead of ten. Doesn't seem like rocket science.

Re:I'd settle for better basic functions

[Anonymous Coward]

Chase (BankOne) ATMs have a feature just as you describe. You can set a "preferred fast cash amount." You enter your pin, and instead of hitting enter, you hit the "fast cash" button. It will validate your pin, and dispense your fast-cash amount (and will automatically print a receipt without prompting for it, if you have customized that setting too.)

I'm actually very happy with how functional the Chase ATMs are here in Chicago... except for that one time I saw a malfunctioning ATM that actually had a wi

Re:I'd settle for better basic functions

[Sebilrazen]

Wells Fargo ATMs allow you to do this for their 'Quick Cash' button. You can manually configure it to be the amount you need, want.

Re:I'd settle for better basic functions

[Gadzinka]

which makes me hit "other amount", then I hit 3-0-0-0-0-ENTER

Well, how about those morrons remove the need to type the smaller currency?

I mean, when was the last time that ATM allowed you to withdraw $0.53? It doesn't let you do this in Europe either. Hell, most ATMs in Euro zone or outside of it won't let you withdraw less than about 10-20 euro, some of them have no bills smaller than 100. And yet you have to type 1-0-0-0-0-enter to withdraw a hundred...

Robert

Of course you can't VOTE with it, because....

[CFD339]

....according to Diebold, maker of millions of ATM's and some very bad voting machines, it isn't possible for them to create a voting machine which prints a receipt.

Logic says then, that if these machines can print receipts, they cannot be voting machines. QED.

Security risk

[Nimey]

The more LOCs and functionality one of these has, the more potential for security holes. I'd go out of my way to avoid one of these.

Hidden Agenda?

[nurb432]

Perhaps if you make getting cash just too hard for the average joe, you can wean the public off of those little anonymous bills.

Once you do, you can more easily track the money flow, to catch those pesky terrorists.

Ever been to Japan?

[benher]

I'm with the Europe folks on this one - This is really only news for Americans. Here in Japan, ATMs have had this sort of functionality via the Postal Savings system for years. That, and most ATMs at convenient stores can be used to pay utilities, purchase tickets, and a hoard of other services. Maybe US banks just don't feel any pressure to innovate. Hell, in comparison to the rest of the world in terms of a user experience it's not even innovation - it's catch-up.

Re:Ever been to Japan?

[RubberDogBone]

Cost-cutting is the real goal. Tradition has had customers going to see a teller. But that costs money. So the banks are trying to push ideas that turn out to have been done elsewhere.

The trick is getting the customers to break tradition and use the machines for more than withdrawals, so enter the train tickets and Paypal and whatever.

What they are really saying is "here's this great machine that does all THIS, and it's free*!!! or you can go to a teller and pay extra. You choose."

*until you have no ch

From the "What were they thinking?!!" department.

[ScrewMaster]

... which require users to enroll and enter a Social Security number on a touch screen."

Asking people to enter sensitive information on a touch screen in a completely insecure environment? It's one thing to go to your local bank branch and sign up for an ATM service, it's an entirely diffent matter to do it while standing in a 7-11. customers complained about the machine's usability, but I don't care if the thing is running Mac OSX ... an ATM is simply not the place to be signing up for services.

If an

I don't get it

[Rac3r5]

Here in Canada, we don't have machines like those, but I'm not sure if I'd even use them. We just have simple ATMs that accept cheques, bill payments, and dispense cash for free (well at least my bank).

But the only thing I actually use them for is dispensing money once in a blue moon because everyone here accepts debit or credit cards. And maybe sometimes cashing in a goverment tax refund cheque.

As far as bill go, we can pay them all online for free with my bank.

Re:I don't get it

[Oswald]

It sounds like you do get it. These machines are pointless.

"Super" ATMs?

[dodobh]

Hey, Indian banks have been offering these features for a few years now. I have been using these services for ~ 7 years (ever since I got an ATM card).

And the menus are not confusing, they are actually laid out pretty well. (One additional option - other services, then just go down one or two levels more to get to the precise service you want). Cash withdrawal and cheque deposits are totally different services and have different buttons.

1.75 transaction fee

[log0n]

If only - we're in the $2.50-$2.75 range for fees here in the Balt/DC area. A $3 fee is pretty much the point at which cost outweighs convenience and I startchanging my banking habits. All the features in the world isn't going make me more inclined to use more sophisticaed ATMs.

Re:1.75 transaction fee

[eluusive]

WHen you start talking about it in terms of interest, or much anything else. It's outrageous. Goto taco bell and get charged and entire food item to use your ATM? Since when to gas stations charge to use your credit card to buy gas? The whole thing is stupid, I refuse to use my ATM/Credit Card anywhere there is a charge. Which in turn means, most of the time I just don't go there.

Re:1.75 transaction fee

[Hiro Antagonist]

Maybe this is because I was raised by a Jewish mother, but I refuse to pay ATM fees. I either use my bank's ATMs, or get cash when I purchase something -- usually, my weekly groceries. Even if you have to stop at a Longs and buy a pack of gum, you still end up with a cheaper 'fee' ($0.75), and you get something out of the whole transaction (the gum).

This does add up. Assume two ATM transactions per week. The average fee in my area seems to be around $1.75, and my bank charges an $0.75 'foreign ATM fee',

Re:1.75 transaction fee

[TheRaven64]

In the UK, banks used to charge for using ATMs. Then a few stopped. Then, they formed a group which allowed you to use each other's ATMs for free as well as your own banks. Supermarkets also jumped on this bandwagon by putting ATMs outside and absorbing the fees themselves, on the basis that it made people more willing to spend money.

When you close a bank account, you are usually given a form to fill out explaining why[1]. Last time I did, I had to spend half an hour talking to the manager, while he

my ATM dispenses home mortgages

[peter303]

With real estate going up so much every month, my bank decided to bypass mortgage brokers and give out instant mortgages via ATMs.

When you key your pin in, your now see the third line "MORTGAGE ACCOUNT" below "CHECKING ACCOUNT" and "SAVINGS ACCOUNT". When you select MORTGAGE ACCOUNT, you can ask for an instant appraisal (linked to Zillow.com) and the day's mortgage rates. If you like what you see, then you can apply for an instant cash out mortgage and it appears in your account. Then you can do waht you want with the new cash.

This new feature was activated April 1, 2006 according to the disclosure.

No fee?

[Lord_Dweomer]

How about rather than giving us uber-ATMs...how about making REALLY simple cheap ones and passing the savings on to the customers in the form of extremely reduced or non-existent transaction fees? Anybody have any idea what the profit margin is on those? I mean, it can't honestly cost anywhere close to $2 per withdrawl can it?

Retail counter clutter

[Animats]

This is really a reaction to retail counter clutter, an annoying problem to retailers. There's not just a cash register and maybe a scale. There's the point of sale terminal, the credit card terminal, the customer PIN pad, the money order terminal, the lottery terminal, the cell phone activation terminal, the value card recharging terminal... And then you have to train minimum wage people to run all this stuff.

Other countries have had the One Big ATM for some time, but the US has so many competing compan

If my ex could use it...

[jessecurry]

My ex girlfriend used to use the Vcom all the time, and she was almost entirely technologically illiterate. After she used it the first time she said that it was "fun", and that she "felt like someone from the future".
If she can use one, almost anyone should be able to use one. She'd go cash her payroll checks, which she would get on Saturday night after 6pm. If the check was ever less than $300 there was no fee. Plus there was the added benefit of the Slurpee that she would get me before she left the store.
I thought that there was no way the machine would pay for itself, but she insisted that there were lines at times.
I think that the idea is a good one, I think that people will use it, and I think that we will see machines such as this for a long time to come.

Re:"too many steps"?

[hattig]

I've seen ATMs offer mobile phone top ups for quite a while, which is probably useful if you have a pre-pay mobile.

Anything else takes too long - when there's a queue you aren't going to live long if you start using slow specialist services.

I also happen to think that charging people to get access to their own money is a bit rich, but luckily I'm in the UK so all the standard bank and building society cash machines are free regardless of who you bank with. Going abroad is always a shock though, because we're used to withdrawing smaller amounts of money more frequently than large amounts of money infrequently.

Re:"too many steps"?

[raju1kabir]

Anything else takes too long

Topping up your Octopus card [wikipedia.org] is quick too. And life sucks without a loaded Octopus card. Though I suppose if you want to stay anonymous you're better off recharging with cash at 7-Eleven.

Re:"too many steps"?-Roaming.

[jimicus]

Here in the UK the banks actually did something useful for their customers some years ago - they set up one big network just for cash machines, called it "Link" and allow anyone to use a bank-owned Link cash machine free of charge.

Pretty much every cash machine has a "link" symbol on it.

The big issue at the moment is small cash machines appearing in pubs, clubs and shops which charge (generally about £1.50 per transaction). I don't have a problem with it, as I live in a city so I'm never that far awa

Re:"too many steps"?

[DrSkwid]

We have crap come up on our ATMs here (UK) before we can ge to the cash.

"Would you like to top up your mobile phone?"

No thanks, I came to the bank for banking.

It's only one extra button press but it annoys me every time. It's like having an advert interrupt your television, positively barbaric.

$1.50 per transaction, blimey. They reduce their staffing levels in the branch and then charge you for the privilege. They tried introducing a charge here but the public refused to let it happen and it was soon withdr

Re:Cashing checks?

[petermgreen]

that only works if you have

1: an account
2: either sufficiant funds or sufficant overdraft facility to cover the cash withdrawl.
3: an atm that supports deposits (do most us atms do so? i know most in the uk don't seem to)

i presume by check cashing they are reffering more to the service you get from places like pawnbrokers who will give you cash and then essentially lend you the money until the check clears (for a fee ofc)

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Not just $20's anymore?

[eluusive]

Most ATMs already support outputting any denomination of money. For example goto a Bank of America ATM, it'll ask you to punch in the amount you'd like rather than select it from a list. That's because the software and the machine both support other denominations. However, the bank chooses to only put $20 bills in the machine.

Re:Not just $20's anymore?

[zakezuke]

Most ATMs already support outputting any denomination of money. For example goto a Bank of America ATM, it'll ask you to punch in the amount you'd like rather than select it from a list. That's because the software and the machine both support other denominations. However, the bank chooses to only put $20 bills in the machine.

Yes, I remember Mexico the cooler ATMs when you withdrew like 3000 pesos gave you 500s, 200s 100s, 50s, and sometimes 20s. I was most impressed with a stack of 5 20s, that was nice.

Re:Not just $20's anymore?

[eluusive]

The funniest thing is that the stores don't get outed any money for accepting counterfeit bills. They just go turn them in for real ones at the bank, and then the secret service takes off with the counterfeit ones.