A Brief History of the ATM
March 31, 2015 6:32 PM Subscribe
"Never before had electronic equipment been so exposed to the elements. [T]hey could easily jam or run out of product. They could erroneously dispense several bank notes instead of just one—all without the owner's knowledge. They were activated by plastic or paper tokens that would only activate for the operating bank and, in some cases, only that particular bank location. Some banks would keep the token in the machine and return it to the customer (by post) once the account had been debited. As a result, early ATMs were standalone, clunky, unfriendly, and inflexible."
Ah, Diebold. Now there's a brand name that just oozes competence.
posted by indubitable at 7:03 PM on March 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by indubitable at 7:03 PM on March 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
My most memorable "personal anecdotes in which an ATM plays a central role" was when a gigantic termite fell out of the charmingly rustic pergola under which the ATM was situated (presumably to give banking customers a more friendly feeling), INTO MY HAIR. Seriously, that was in the late 70s and it still gives me chills.
posted by janey47 at 7:07 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by janey47 at 7:07 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Most urbanites have interacted with the ubiquitous "cashpoint." Paul Volcker, of the U.S. Federal Reserve fame, even considered it the "only useful innovation in banking." Cashpoints appear frequently on TV and in printed news because, for most consumers, they're one of the few points of contact with today's otherwise-ephemeral financial services.Ephemeral? That doesn't really make sense in this context. Maybe ethereal?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:14 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
Perhaps I missed a link somewhere, but I'm always disappointed when a website fails to provide pictures in such an obvious context for them.
It's the internet not some 4th c. scroll, add a few pictures.
posted by oddman at 7:15 PM on March 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
It's the internet not some 4th c. scroll, add a few pictures.
posted by oddman at 7:15 PM on March 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
Also, I'd never heard the term "cashpoint." Is that more of a British term, perhaps? (I'm in the U.S.)
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:17 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 7:17 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
My credit union's ATMs are branded as "Cashpoints". No fees, for any card!
posted by thelonius at 7:33 PM on March 31, 2015
posted by thelonius at 7:33 PM on March 31, 2015
Remembering when the different ATM systems weren't connected so you couldn't get money out of a MAC machine with a CashStream card and viceversa and it was always a pain to find the right kind of machine in a strange city.
posted by octothorpe at 7:33 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:33 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
Ah, how futuristic these used to seem...I remember when the first ones showed up down south #backintheday (ultimately replacing the drive-thru pneumatic tube system that was futuristic in its own way). They were called, in true late-70s fashion "The All-Day, All-Night Money Machine!" ...it doesn't matter how you say it, it always sounds zippy.
posted by sexyrobot at 7:42 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 7:42 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
All day, all night money machine!
posted by sexyrobot at 7:43 PM on March 31, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 7:43 PM on March 31, 2015 [6 favorites]
"personal anecdotes in which an ATM plays a central role"
I've seen those movies.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:51 PM on March 31, 2015
I've seen those movies.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:51 PM on March 31, 2015
This left me curious about what the hell a 70s-era ATM looked like, and... wowza.
posted by neckro23 at 7:51 PM on March 31, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by neckro23 at 7:51 PM on March 31, 2015 [8 favorites]
I can deposit checks by taking a picture of them with my phone, but I would still go out of the way to use an ATM as in neckro's link. Despite the talk about how unreliable early ATMs were that thing looks like even long after the bombs drop it'll still be dispensing bottle caps.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:00 PM on March 31, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:00 PM on March 31, 2015 [9 favorites]
Nothing beats the feeling of finger punching in your PIN number into the ATM machine. Absolutely nothing. RIP in peace to the old ways.
posted by I-baLL at 8:01 PM on March 31, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by I-baLL at 8:01 PM on March 31, 2015 [7 favorites]
The article doesn't mention it explicitly, but ATMs also killed traveler's cheques.
posted by ogooglebar at 8:01 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by ogooglebar at 8:01 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, popular ATM terminology has provided us with two separate instances of RAS syndrome: "ATM machine" and "PIN number."
posted by ogooglebar at 8:07 PM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by ogooglebar at 8:07 PM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
Somebody is suffering from RAS syndrome.
posted by peeedro at 8:08 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by peeedro at 8:08 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
RAS syndrome: "ATM machine" and "PIN number."
Yeeeah, I couldn't bring myself to put the atmmachine tag on the post, even though I added pinnumber and it's just as horrible!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeeeah, I couldn't bring myself to put the atmmachine tag on the post, even though I added pinnumber and it's just as horrible!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
I miss the old ATMs that had the pane of glass that would slide back when you put your card in. I always hoped that a voice would start giving me my mission, should I decide to accept it.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by MrBadExample at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
All day, all night money machine!
All day, all night money machine!
All day, all night money machine!
Grate. Now it's stuck in my head. Thanks, metafilter. (God there must have been an ad where they just repeated it for a minute straight, before they banned subliminal advertising)
All day, all night money machine! GODDAMMMIT!!
posted by sexyrobot at 8:34 PM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
All day, all night money machine!
All day, all night money machine!
Grate. Now it's stuck in my head. Thanks, metafilter. (God there must have been an ad where they just repeated it for a minute straight, before they banned subliminal advertising)
All day, all night money machine! GODDAMMMIT!!
posted by sexyrobot at 8:34 PM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's endlessly depressing that the same company which makes so many ATMs--machines which are required to be 100% accurate--can so breezily get away with making trivially-hackable voting machines.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:37 PM on March 31, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:37 PM on March 31, 2015 [6 favorites]
It's endlessly depressing that the same company which makes so many ATMs--machines which are required to be 100% accurate--can so breezily get away with making trivially-hackable voting machines.
This one was my favorite Diebold voting machine SNAFU.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:43 PM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
This one was my favorite Diebold voting machine SNAFU.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:43 PM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
All day, all night money machine!
There's a shorter word for that: casino.
posted by axiom at 8:49 PM on March 31, 2015
There's a shorter word for that: casino.
posted by axiom at 8:49 PM on March 31, 2015
FEED ME A STRAY CAT
posted by Ratio at 9:05 PM on March 31, 2015 [16 favorites]
posted by Ratio at 9:05 PM on March 31, 2015 [16 favorites]
"The Ugly Teller" was Valley Banks commercial for it in the 70s
posted by atomicmedia at 9:16 PM on March 31, 2015
posted by atomicmedia at 9:16 PM on March 31, 2015
I am just old enough to remember what a pain it was before ATMs showed up. Banks were open absurdly short hours, like 10-2 or something, and I would go with my father to the tiny grocery store a mile or two away that would let him write a check for some cash. This seemed to be a weekly event or so. Being able to get cash out of the machine, 24 hr/day, was a huge win.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 9:30 PM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by LastOfHisKind at 9:30 PM on March 31, 2015 [5 favorites]
In NZ many ATMs still rely on the magnetic card and ignore the chip, leading to international (aka American) banks denying liability for skimming.
This is why we raise sheep, dairy cows and rugby players.
You can't skim those.
You can sheep, although we call it shearing.
Maybe our outdated tech is also called sharing.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 9:31 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is why we raise sheep, dairy cows and rugby players.
You can't skim those.
You can sheep, although we call it shearing.
Maybe our outdated tech is also called sharing.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 9:31 PM on March 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also, popular ATM terminology has provided us with two separate instances of RAS syndrome: "ATM machine" and "PIN number."
And "MAC card".
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:35 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
And "MAC card".
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:35 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
On relection I realised not everyone will say Shearing and Sharing like me; they sound the same when I speak them.
for reference
posted by Samuel Farrow at 9:49 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
for reference
posted by Samuel Farrow at 9:49 PM on March 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Here in slow old Canada we didn't get yer fancy cash machines until well into the 80's.
Luckily, for Johnny Cash, (who was clearly enduring some hard times in the 80's), Canada is so far, far away that nobody would ever see the shitty commercials he did for a crappy ATM that he sold his name to.
I remember TD had the Green Machine™ really early on, like late 70's, but no other banks did. By the time my bank started rolling them out there was maybe 2 machines in Toronto, I had to drive like 45 minutes to get to one. Convenient!
And then after it became the norm, there was that thing where you would go into the bank to 'update your bankbook' and it would take half an hour because of all the ATM transactions you had on there. Madness.
posted by chococat at 9:50 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
Luckily, for Johnny Cash, (who was clearly enduring some hard times in the 80's), Canada is so far, far away that nobody would ever see the shitty commercials he did for a crappy ATM that he sold his name to.
I remember TD had the Green Machine™ really early on, like late 70's, but no other banks did. By the time my bank started rolling them out there was maybe 2 machines in Toronto, I had to drive like 45 minutes to get to one. Convenient!
And then after it became the norm, there was that thing where you would go into the bank to 'update your bankbook' and it would take half an hour because of all the ATM transactions you had on there. Madness.
posted by chococat at 9:50 PM on March 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
My mom still calls the things MAC machines.
posted by dirigibleman at 10:00 PM on March 31, 2015
posted by dirigibleman at 10:00 PM on March 31, 2015
I think you meant a NIC card (network interface card card)
posted by MikeKD at 11:29 PM on March 31, 2015
posted by MikeKD at 11:29 PM on March 31, 2015
Samuel Farrow: "This is why we raise sheep, dairy cows and rugby players.
You can't skim those."
You can certainly skim dairy.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:01 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
You can't skim those."
You can certainly skim dairy.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:01 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
In NZ many ATMs still rely on the magnetic card and ignore the chip, leading to international (aka American) banks denying liability for skimming.
Yeah, I really don't think they should be able to do that. Imagine the outrage if US credit cards weren't accepted in Europe (as they don't have chips in them). If the machine has the logo that matches your card logo, it should be able to work (as with credit cards; if the merchant is showing your credit card logo you should be able to make a purchase).
posted by el io at 1:13 AM on April 1, 2015
Yeah, I really don't think they should be able to do that. Imagine the outrage if US credit cards weren't accepted in Europe (as they don't have chips in them). If the machine has the logo that matches your card logo, it should be able to work (as with credit cards; if the merchant is showing your credit card logo you should be able to make a purchase).
posted by el io at 1:13 AM on April 1, 2015
As a student I got one of the earliest ATM cards in the UK in the 70s (for use on campus). The card had holes punched in it and looked something like this though for some reason I seem to recall the ones we were issued with had circular punched holes.
posted by epo at 2:24 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by epo at 2:24 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Having grown up in the Midlands, I still say cashtill when referring to the ATM. Confuses everyone except me. I also accept cash machine.
posted by arcticseal at 2:44 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by arcticseal at 2:44 AM on April 1, 2015
Yeah, it don't mean anything to youngsters but after closing my passbook account because of bank error in my favour of a whole $10! Which doubled my assets, I changed banks at age 17 and got one of those new fanged card things (no ATMs in my home town but I still felt futuristic, and ha, I laughed at my mother for growing up in a street with no cars or washing machines - I'm not that old - SHUT UP- 50 is 2.4 years away), and a year later enjoyed the relatively novel ignominy of forgetting my PIN (in the big city of Townsvikke - durr name town planning dudes) and having to walk away from the ATM. With no money. (Meta: ad on TV just advised me I could get $ from ATM with no card).
Btw, the bank who gave me ten bucks sent me an innocuous letter asking me to visit them. My conscience (fear) got the better of me and the next working day, I walked in, laid $10 on the counter and walked out without saying a word. Probably the Caltabiano girl recognised what family I was from, and it was all sorted out. Possibly, she pocketed the $10 and that bank is still looking for me to correct their bank error.
posted by b33j at 3:03 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Btw, the bank who gave me ten bucks sent me an innocuous letter asking me to visit them. My conscience (fear) got the better of me and the next working day, I walked in, laid $10 on the counter and walked out without saying a word. Probably the Caltabiano girl recognised what family I was from, and it was all sorted out. Possibly, she pocketed the $10 and that bank is still looking for me to correct their bank error.
posted by b33j at 3:03 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Keith woke beside the fountain
From his dreams of china mountains
Far from the chatter of these autobanks
That keep chucking out money!
It turned into the kind of joke
That Keith feels isn't that funny
posted by Devonian at 4:35 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
From his dreams of china mountains
Far from the chatter of these autobanks
That keep chucking out money!
It turned into the kind of joke
That Keith feels isn't that funny
posted by Devonian at 4:35 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
I remember the first time my father got a card and tried to use the cash machine. He went out to get cash and do the weekly shopping and came back angry about 20 minutes later as he had not been able to work out what to do to get it to give him cash, he had expected the machine to talk I think. How we laughed.
posted by biffa at 4:35 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 4:35 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also, I'd never heard the term "cashpoint." Is that more of a British term, perhaps? (I'm in the U.S.)
Yep, i recently learned this watching/reading about atm gas attacks. It seems to be a uniquely British thing even, not just european.
When US companies/banks use it(and not international ones, i mean like the credit union mentioned above) it strikes me as being yet more pretentious "lets use the european term to sound classy!" BS.
posted by emptythought at 4:57 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yep, i recently learned this watching/reading about atm gas attacks. It seems to be a uniquely British thing even, not just european.
When US companies/banks use it(and not international ones, i mean like the credit union mentioned above) it strikes me as being yet more pretentious "lets use the european term to sound classy!" BS.
posted by emptythought at 4:57 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
From Wikipedia: [In 1972, Lloyds Bank] introduced Cashpoint, the first online cash machine to use plastic cards with a magnetic stripe. In popular use, the Cashpoint trademark has become a generic term for an ATM in the United Kingdom.
posted by ambrosen at 5:19 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ambrosen at 5:19 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Day or Night! Scotiabanking!
No forms to write! Anytime Banking!
It's trouble Free! Push Button Banking!
Come and push the buttons and you will see!
(sung to the tune of Glenn Miller's "In the Mood")
Further to the "getting your passbook updated" schtick, I can remember there were machines for awhile that would do it for you or print out record sheets if you didn't have your book. I can remember on one occasion thinking this was a smart idea and walking away with about 40 little sheets of paper.
My grandfather was an accountant who had worked for the IRS, and refused to use bank machines up until about the age of 90, shortly before he died, when he finally wasn't mobile enough to get to a human teller on his own terms.
posted by hearthpig at 5:20 AM on April 1, 2015
No forms to write! Anytime Banking!
It's trouble Free! Push Button Banking!
Come and push the buttons and you will see!
(sung to the tune of Glenn Miller's "In the Mood")
Further to the "getting your passbook updated" schtick, I can remember there were machines for awhile that would do it for you or print out record sheets if you didn't have your book. I can remember on one occasion thinking this was a smart idea and walking away with about 40 little sheets of paper.
My grandfather was an accountant who had worked for the IRS, and refused to use bank machines up until about the age of 90, shortly before he died, when he finally wasn't mobile enough to get to a human teller on his own terms.
posted by hearthpig at 5:20 AM on April 1, 2015
They're called Magic Money Machines around our house.
posted by marxchivist at 5:22 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by marxchivist at 5:22 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, on the history of ATMs in the UK, The Register did a great report on a rather big security issue from magnetic stripe ATM cards in the UK. I remember in the 1990s hearing about phantom withdrawals, and this article explained it. (Rogue IT department stealing money)
posted by ambrosen at 5:24 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by ambrosen at 5:24 AM on April 1, 2015
I vaguely remember, back in the mists of the early '80's my rather nefarious friends and I hatching a scheme whereby we would go to multiple MAC machines in the middle of the night and take out the max we could each time to get money for booze and drugs.
I don't remember how the plan had faired except to note that I did not wake in jail. I'm fairly sure a successful execution would have swiftly ended up there. SO most likely our plot was foiled by either the machine eating my card on the first go round or our incipient laziness. It's anyone's guess as to which.
posted by evilDoug at 6:20 AM on April 1, 2015
I don't remember how the plan had faired except to note that I did not wake in jail. I'm fairly sure a successful execution would have swiftly ended up there. SO most likely our plot was foiled by either the machine eating my card on the first go round or our incipient laziness. It's anyone's guess as to which.
posted by evilDoug at 6:20 AM on April 1, 2015
Docutel, one of the first ATM manufacturers in the U.S., was owned by a Texas businessman named Billy Jack Meredith. One of his investors was his brother, the 1970s era quarterback and Lipton soup pitchman, "Dandy" Don Meredith. (cite)
posted by jonp72 at 6:33 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by jonp72 at 6:33 AM on April 1, 2015
The Scotiabanking! jingle sounds like it's from a Pynchon novel
posted by thelonius at 7:22 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by thelonius at 7:22 AM on April 1, 2015
I remember getting five dollar bills from ATMs, and tens, too. That was perfect for going to a bar. Now it's just boring old twenties spitting out the things. :7(
posted by wenestvedt at 7:50 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by wenestvedt at 7:50 AM on April 1, 2015
Speaking of RAS, where I grew up, there was a bank called Cumberland County National Bank, but everyone called it CCNB. Somewhere in the 70s or 80s, they changed their official name to CCNB Bank NA. So there use could use your PIN Number on your MAC card in the ATM machine at CCNB Bank.
As far as anecdotes go, somewhere around my house I have a couple of fake ATM bills for training and testing the machines.
IBM serviced their ATMs back in the day, and I remember training classes, though I didn't work on them.
I guy told me that one night he went to an ATM to get $20 or so, and the machine dispensed it... then did it again, then again...
He was still watching the money come out when the cops showed up.
Some comedian asked why there's Braille on the drive-up ATMs. I want to know why I have to enter x0.00 when I ask for cash and they tell me it has to be in multiples of $10.
(preview- I think my first ATM would give out packets of $25- one $20 and one $5, in an envelope. Then they would only give out twenties, without the envelope.
Now mostly I see machines that will give out tens or twenties)
posted by MtDewd at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2015
As far as anecdotes go, somewhere around my house I have a couple of fake ATM bills for training and testing the machines.
IBM serviced their ATMs back in the day, and I remember training classes, though I didn't work on them.
I guy told me that one night he went to an ATM to get $20 or so, and the machine dispensed it... then did it again, then again...
He was still watching the money come out when the cops showed up.
Some comedian asked why there's Braille on the drive-up ATMs. I want to know why I have to enter x0.00 when I ask for cash and they tell me it has to be in multiples of $10.
(preview- I think my first ATM would give out packets of $25- one $20 and one $5, in an envelope. Then they would only give out twenties, without the envelope.
Now mostly I see machines that will give out tens or twenties)
posted by MtDewd at 7:55 AM on April 1, 2015
Does anybody remember early ATMs that had, instead of a monitor, a strange periscope-like viewing slit onto a few lines of amber dot-matrix display? A weird mixture of cheap low-tech and privacy.
(My memory is of NatWest having these, but I might well be wrong; I tried Google searching but pictures of old ATMs are pretty much impossible to find in the noise.)
The switch from monochrome to color displays was a big deal, too.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 8:05 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
(My memory is of NatWest having these, but I might well be wrong; I tried Google searching but pictures of old ATMs are pretty much impossible to find in the noise.)
The switch from monochrome to color displays was a big deal, too.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 8:05 AM on April 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
I remember the adjustable eye-slits, but I was only a child and was never tall enough to look through them. I think I may have been lifted to take a look once, but I don't recall the colour. Could have been NatWest.
posted by YAMWAK at 8:16 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by YAMWAK at 8:16 AM on April 1, 2015
(ultimately replacing the drive-thru pneumatic tube system that was futuristic in its own way)
They still have these at my mom's bank in small-town Mississippi. They do also have an ATM, but it pales in comparison. Fwoomp!
posted by zeptoweasel at 8:20 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
They still have these at my mom's bank in small-town Mississippi. They do also have an ATM, but it pales in comparison. Fwoomp!
posted by zeptoweasel at 8:20 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I recall reading that when banks started deploying ATMs in the U.S., they had determined that $25 was the most common amount when their customers would write a check for cash, so they insisted that their new terminals dispense fives and twenties. This configuration was abandoned after it was found that the bank personnel servicing the machines would often switch the $5 cassettes and the $20 cassettes when loading cash, creating headaches for the back-office staff who had to sort out the resulting errors.
I think it was the same source that pointed out that after ATMs became popular, merchants had to keep more tens, fives and ones on hand, because their customers usually tendered twenties.
posted by ogooglebar at 8:25 AM on April 1, 2015
I think it was the same source that pointed out that after ATMs became popular, merchants had to keep more tens, fives and ones on hand, because their customers usually tendered twenties.
posted by ogooglebar at 8:25 AM on April 1, 2015
the drive-thru pneumatic tube system that was futuristic in its own way
I have fond memories of these -- at the bank my parents used, if the person at the other end of the pneumatic tubes realized there was a kid (me!) in the car, they would send back a lollipop!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:47 AM on April 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
I have fond memories of these -- at the bank my parents used, if the person at the other end of the pneumatic tubes realized there was a kid (me!) in the car, they would send back a lollipop!
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 8:47 AM on April 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
Do people in other places not have both ATMs and pneumatic tubes? I can go to any one of the nearby banks and watch my money disappear into the tube.
posted by Monochrome at 9:03 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by Monochrome at 9:03 AM on April 1, 2015
I remember when the first ATM machine was installed in my home town. The bank branded them as "Anytime Machines." For the first week or so they had an attractive young woman standing beside the machine wearing a beauty-pageant style sash reading "Anytime." She would explain how to use the machine to first-timers. I always wondered if whoever came up with this idea was just so marvelously innocent that it simply never occurred to them that there was something a bit off about having a woman standing on a street corner wearing a sash reading "Anytime," or if the whole thing had started out as a dirty joke that ended up being taken seriously.
posted by yoink at 9:09 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by yoink at 9:09 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Do people in other places not have both ATMs and pneumatic tubes?
We can't all live in Steampunkistania.
posted by yoink at 9:09 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
We can't all live in Steampunkistania.
posted by yoink at 9:09 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
I remember getting five dollar bills from ATMs, and tens, too.
The small town I grew up in only had one bank, and that bank didn't get an ATM until the early 80s. I was in the car with my parents, on our way out of town somewhere, shortly after the ATM was installed. My dad, who is not a patient person by any stretch, went to get some money out. There was a woman in front of him using the machine. He stood there and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, until she was finally done.
When he got back to the car, he was fuming. The ATM dispensed $5 bills, and the on-screen instructions said to enter an amount in $5 increments. So the woman in front of him inserted her card, entered her PIN, and got $5 out. And then repeated. And repeated. And repeated, until she had $30 or something.
It seems ludicrous now, but any technology new to a particular setting has a learning curve, I guess.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
The small town I grew up in only had one bank, and that bank didn't get an ATM until the early 80s. I was in the car with my parents, on our way out of town somewhere, shortly after the ATM was installed. My dad, who is not a patient person by any stretch, went to get some money out. There was a woman in front of him using the machine. He stood there and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, until she was finally done.
When he got back to the car, he was fuming. The ATM dispensed $5 bills, and the on-screen instructions said to enter an amount in $5 increments. So the woman in front of him inserted her card, entered her PIN, and got $5 out. And then repeated. And repeated. And repeated, until she had $30 or something.
It seems ludicrous now, but any technology new to a particular setting has a learning curve, I guess.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
In the Milwaukee area, some early ATMs were called Take Your Money Everywhere (TYME) machines.
posted by drezdn at 9:16 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by drezdn at 9:16 AM on April 1, 2015
All day, all night money machine!
All day, all night money machine!
All day, all night money machine!
Grate. Now it's stuck in my head. Thanks, metafilter. (God there must have been an ad where they just repeated it for a minute straight, before they banned subliminal advertising)
All day, all night money machine! GODDAMMMIT!!
I'm at the day money machine (what?)
I'm at the night money machine (what?)
I'm at the combination day and night money machine!
posted by srboisvert at 9:33 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
All day, all night money machine!
All day, all night money machine!
Grate. Now it's stuck in my head. Thanks, metafilter. (God there must have been an ad where they just repeated it for a minute straight, before they banned subliminal advertising)
All day, all night money machine! GODDAMMMIT!!
I'm at the day money machine (what?)
I'm at the night money machine (what?)
I'm at the combination day and night money machine!
posted by srboisvert at 9:33 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
Here in Pittsburgh, which is rather like Steampunkistania, we still have lots of pneumatic drive-thrus. My daughter gets a lolly. Also, I used to camp in the Monongahela Natl Forest. A memorable ATM (really, we still call them MAC machines around here) on the way would disperse withdrawals to the penny. Coins would roll out into a little plastic cup. Needless to say, lots of withdrawals of $10.59 and the like were made. This was in Maryland, near Deep Creek.
posted by firemouth at 9:47 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by firemouth at 9:47 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
Oh wow, I miss the days when Royal Bank dispensed $5 bills in their ATMs.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:56 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:56 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
They will always be "Cash Stations" to me.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:07 AM on April 1, 2015
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:07 AM on April 1, 2015
> [ATMs are] one of the few points of contact with today's otherwise-ephemeral financial services.
Ephemeral? That doesn't really make sense in this context. Maybe ethereal?
Financial services, ethereal, makes 'em --
Precious
Gonna withdraw some Imperials, they're so --
Precious
Some comedian asked why there's Braille on the drive-up ATMs
Because
a) Not everyone who uses the "drive-up" ATM drives up to it.
2. Not everyone who uses braille is completely sightless.
iii - The mfgrs of the machines don't want to source two different sets of keypads -- one for "drive-up" ATMs and one for all the other ATMs.
Anecdote Transfer Machine
Transaction #1: In the early days, a friend of mine would actually "kite" his deposits. He'd deposit an empty envelope, draw cash against the stated amount, and make the real deposit in person, later, after he got paid. The ATM (and the bank) did not prevent this. He is now a successful attorney.
Transaction #2: Another friend sustained serious brain injuries in a bicycle accident, was in a coma for weeks. The first time he went to the bank afterwards, he couldn't remember his PIN (nor tons of other numbers and codes). But when he put his hand up on the keypad, his hand remembered it, entered the correct code, and told his brain what it'd done. He is now a visually impaired electrical engineer seeking employment.
posted by Herodios at 10:12 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ephemeral? That doesn't really make sense in this context. Maybe ethereal?
Financial services, ethereal, makes 'em --
Precious
Gonna withdraw some Imperials, they're so --
Precious
Some comedian asked why there's Braille on the drive-up ATMs
Because
a) Not everyone who uses the "drive-up" ATM drives up to it.
2. Not everyone who uses braille is completely sightless.
iii - The mfgrs of the machines don't want to source two different sets of keypads -- one for "drive-up" ATMs and one for all the other ATMs.
Anecdote Transfer Machine
Transaction #1: In the early days, a friend of mine would actually "kite" his deposits. He'd deposit an empty envelope, draw cash against the stated amount, and make the real deposit in person, later, after he got paid. The ATM (and the bank) did not prevent this. He is now a successful attorney.
Transaction #2: Another friend sustained serious brain injuries in a bicycle accident, was in a coma for weeks. The first time he went to the bank afterwards, he couldn't remember his PIN (nor tons of other numbers and codes). But when he put his hand up on the keypad, his hand remembered it, entered the correct code, and told his brain what it'd done. He is now a visually impaired electrical engineer seeking employment.
posted by Herodios at 10:12 AM on April 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
A while back I was wondering what the most number of drive-up bays a single bank had. The best I could find was one near my hometown that has 7 pneumatic tubes, 2 atms, and a teller window.
posted by ckape at 10:32 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ckape at 10:32 AM on April 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
We have a snazzy new ATM at our headquarters that allows you to edit the bill mix that it dispenses. I can have a hundred dollar bill or 20 fives - I love it.
posted by ersatzkat at 12:25 PM on April 1, 2015
posted by ersatzkat at 12:25 PM on April 1, 2015
ersatzkat, let me know when I can get twenty-five twos.
posted by Wild_Eep at 7:52 AM on April 2, 2015
posted by Wild_Eep at 7:52 AM on April 2, 2015
I once got $60 extra bucks out of an ATM and the bank never corrected it, which was pretty amazing. Asked for $60, got $120, and somehow it has ever remained the rare bank error in my favor. The bills were new and I think sticking together, so it's possible they weren't able to trace what went wrong because the machine still thought it spit out $60.
There was an ATM (M&T bank, maybe?) in Ithaca, NY that gave out exact amounts, down to coins. Helpful if you only had $17.56 in your account and needed to get it out.
posted by misskaz at 11:07 AM on April 2, 2015
There was an ATM (M&T bank, maybe?) in Ithaca, NY that gave out exact amounts, down to coins. Helpful if you only had $17.56 in your account and needed to get it out.
posted by misskaz at 11:07 AM on April 2, 2015
Yeah, the ATMs from my bank (PNC) dispense down to the dollar. I remember ones in the late 90s that would dispense quarters, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:14 AM on April 8, 2015
posted by Chrysostom at 11:14 AM on April 8, 2015
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posted by MtDewd at 7:01 PM on March 31, 2015 [3 favorites]