9-2-1969

[953 nut 52,185]

                                      9-2-1969

               First ATM opens for business

On this day in 1969, America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely popular and handled many of the functions previously performed by human tellers, such as check deposits and money transfers between accounts. Today, ATMs are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail.

Several inventors worked on early versions of a cash-dispensing machine, but Don Wetzel, an executive at Docutel, a Dallas company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment, is generally credited as coming up with the idea for the modern ATM. Wetzel reportedly conceived of the concept while waiting on line at a bank. The ATM that debuted in New York in 1969 was only able to give out cash, but in 1971, an ATM that could handle multiple functions, including providing customers’ account balances, was introduced.

ATMs eventually expanded beyond the confines of banks and today can be found everywhere from gas stations to convenience stores to cruise ships. There is even an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Non-banks lease the machines (so-called “off premise” ATMs) or own them outright.

Today there are well over 1 million ATMs around the world, with a new one added approximately every five minutes. It’s estimated that more than 170 Americans over the age of 18 had an ATM card in 2005 and used it six to eight times a month. Not surprisingly, ATMs get their busiest workouts on Fridays.

In the 1990s, banks began charging fees to use ATMs, a profitable move for them and an annoying one for consumers. Consumers were also faced with an increase in ATM crimes and scams. Robbers preyed on people using money machines in poorly lit or otherwise unsafe locations, and criminals also devised ways to steal customers’ PINs (personal identification numbers), even setting up fake money machines to capture the information. In response, city and state governments passed legislation such as New York’s ATM Safety Act in 1996, which required banks to install such things as surveillance cameras, reflective mirrors and locked entryways for their ATMs.

[ztnoo 2,298]

3 hours ago, 953 nut said:

It’s estimated that more than 170 Americans over the age of 18

 

I'm guessing the author of the story means 170 MILLION ......................................

[AMC RULES 36,961]

  You do know, don't you...  

you're not supposed to be reading that closely.

[953 nut 52,185]

6 hours ago, ztnoo said:

author of the story means 170 MILLION ...

Wacky wikipedia messed that up and I read right over it.

[DougC 2,641]

To this day I have never used an ATM or a debit card nor will even consider doing on line banking. I do use credit cards and still write checks and pay with cash when I can......

 

YEAH, I KNOW...................

[ztnoo 2,298]

6 hours ago, AMC RULES said:

You do know, don't you...  

you're not supposed to be reading that closely.

 

Well, I'm a bit of a historian, so details do matter.

Come to think of it...., details almost always matter.

[953 nut 52,185]

15 hours ago, 953 nut said:

more than 170 Americans over the age of 18 had an ATM card in 2005

Actually that is a correct and accurate statement! I am quite sure more than 170 Americans have cards; don't know how many more, but more than 170.