Super-ATMs Being Rolled Out 270
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 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:In case you want to read it (Score:4, Funny)
Re:In case you want to read it (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
Are you sure? (Score:3, Funny)
Where's the link (Score:5, Funny)
MacDonalds (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Funny)
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 (Score:2)
Re:You never been to europe (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
At a down-hom
Re:MacDonalds (Score:2)
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 (Score:3, Funny)
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 (Score:3, Funny)
Everyone knows that MacDonald's is the home of the Big Mc.
Re:MacDonalds (Score:2)
Re:MacDonalds (Score:3, Interesting)
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... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, it's my 20cents. Harhar!
Literal Identity Theft (Score:5, Funny)
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: (Score:2)
Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:3, Interesting)
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 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
Re:Super-ATM? It exists for ages (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:3, Informative)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2, Informative)
BTW, the transaction systems 'round here run on Windows ME.
Re:Checks? How cute.. (Score:3, Informative)
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.. (Score:2)
nice features, one more needed: voting booth! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth! (Score:2)
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! (Score:2)
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! (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps a little reminder i
Re:nice features, one more needed: voting booth! (Score:2)
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/atms/ [diebold.com]
Social Security number? (Score:2, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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:
Re:Sorry, didn't RTFA (Score:2)
Re:Sorry, didn't RTFA (Score:2)
Security (Score:5, Insightful)
Mind you, that would be the only thing banks provide free these days.
$1.75 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:$1.75 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
North Carolina has the hookup (Score:2)
It's excellent (and it's a good bank, too!)
Social Security Legalities? (Score:3)
Re:Social Security Legalities? (Score:4, Informative)
Canada (Score:2)
Re:Canada (Score:3, Interesting)
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 (Score:2)
thats the hope anyway
Eating cards (Score:2)
Surveys are often as dense as granite (Score:5, Informative)
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
Rather swift marketing imho
Technology for everyone (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
>> 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 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I'd settle for better basic functions (Score:2, Informative)
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 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I'd settle for better basic functions (Score:2)
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.... (Score:2)
Logic says then, that if these machines can print receipts, they cannot be voting machines. QED.
Security risk (Score:2)
Hidden Agenda? (Score:2)
Once you do, you can more easily track the money flow, to catch those pesky terrorists.
Ever been to Japan? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ever been to Japan? (Score:2)
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. (Score:2)
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
If an
I don't get it (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
"Super" ATMs? (Score:3, Interesting)
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 (Score:2)
Re:1.75 transaction fee (Score:2)
Re:1.75 transaction fee (Score:2)
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 (Score:2)
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 (Score:3, Insightful)
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? (Score:2)
Retail counter clutter (Score:2)
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... (Score:4, Interesting)
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"? (Score:5, Informative)
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"? (Score:2)
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. (Score:2)
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"? (Score:2)
"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? (Score:3, Informative)
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: (Score:2)
Re:Not just $20's anymore? (Score:2)
Re:Not just $20's anymore? (Score:2)
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? (Score:2)