Happy Birthday, ATM!

The Automatic Teller Machine-or ATM was born on this day in…are you ready?

1969!

Don’t worry if you didn’t get to use one until the late 70’s like me. Chances are you didn’t trust the darn things anyway. At the beginning, just about everyone was willing to take cash OUT -and virtually no one was willing to make a deposit.

The first ATM debuted at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York on this date. Clunky and limited in its functionality, it nonetheless started a banking revolution.

So, whom do we have to thank for the ATM? Well, several inventors worked on such a device, but Don Wetzel, an executive at a company called Docutel is generally credited with being the “Father of the ATM”.

Of course, once the banks caught on and found out they could MAKE money (in fees) from dishing it out, then everyone got into the act. ATMs are now EVERYWHERE, from gas stations to convenience stores to even some churches. There is even an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica!

From the start, the advent of the ATM also spawned some creative ways to STEAL from them. Most have been unsuccessful, but the short video below proves that the smaller variety found in places other than banks can just be carted away:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOq-TG5zJQ

Of course, would we all like to see the video of this Einstein trying to crack the damn thing open at home! Now, THAT would be entertaining! If you go to YouTube and type in “ATM”, you’ll get videos of all kinds of thefts-from someone backing their pickup truck through the window of a convenience store and dragging one off with a rope-to the garden variety robberies of people preying on those using ATMs, especially after dark.

Today, there are more than 1 million ATMs around the world, with a new one added approximately every 5 minutes. The busiest day for usage? Not surprisingly, on FRIDAYS. The average American uses his/her ATM card 6-8 times a month.

I am probably right in this range of use, but still cannot bring myself to make a deposit in those things. And I still get a creepy feeling if someone is standing around, waiting for me to finish. Is that guy with the ski mask over his face making a deposit to his Christmas Club account?

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com