ATMs can become thing of past

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your post and prespective, always a sensitive area - ATMs and their use/ relevance. It would be intetesting to establish the views from the rest of the community. Ambrish, community group owner.

From my personal experience of getting "cashback" from POS machines at supermarkets in UK, I'm sorry to say this is a very naive proposition and displays utter lack of appreciation of UX. I could walk in to an ATM and be out with my cash in 30 seconds. At a supermarket POS, I'd have to stand in a queue until I reached the POS, which took 10-30 minutes, depending on time of day and day of week. Not surprisingly, there were 3-4 ATMs installed inside the supermarket to fulfill the cash demand in a manner convenient to customers. The real solution to the high cost of installing and operating the ATM real estate is to drive greater adoption of cashless methods of payments - not shift the point of dispensing cash from ATM to POS. And that's what banks have been doing, with reasonable success, in the last 4-5 years. 

This blog, in focusing on the UK, makes assumptions that are incorrect. ATMs elsewhere on the planet ARE substitutes for bank branches. The fact that UK ATMs do NOT offer a variety of financial services transactions points to a lack of investment in community customer services, something considered unacceptable in many other countries. Even in the UK, it is wrong to suggest cash withdrawals are the only service on offer. Balance enquires and similar services account for more than 1/3rd of all ATM activity. The recent Access to Cash Report revealed 97% that 97% of UK adults continue to carry cash and nearly half of them - 25 million adults - would have their lives seriously disrupted if cash is not conveniently available. Cash is not a Minority Interest - the majority of people continue to choose to use cash and MUST be free to do so. They are entitled to have Payment Choice. As regards how this vital cash is supplied ATMs are the ONLY channel that works for the vast majority of the public - which is why ATMs meet over 90% of the UK’s cash needs today. Cash from retailers tills - “cash back” - Can augment cash from ATMs BUT never replace it. The figures are easy to understand. The average free-to-use UK ATM delivers £3 Million cash per annum; a local community shop, usually (from Association of Convenience Store figures) achieving total sales of less than £1 Million a year - and 25% or more of those sales are card-based. So, clearly, such a shop cannot possibly deliver £3 Million per year via “cash back”. What we - the UK Public -need is not misguided and unworkable schemes to replace ATMs. What we DO need is legal protections put in place to guarantee the future provision of Smart ATMs - allowing deposit, recycling and withdrawal of cash - in EVERY community, ATMs which CAN replace the dodo-emulating bank branches. Such legal protection will safeguard ACCESS to cash for individuals and businesses around the UK. We also need ACCEPTANCE of cash guaranteed by law, so that no business which accepts in-person payments is permitted to refuse cash for payment. Other markets have success laws. The UK must follow their lead, in the Public Interest. No further blogs required. The answers are provided in what I have just keyed.

This blog, in focusing on the UK, makes assumptions that are incorrect. ATMs elsewhere on the planet ARE substitutes for bank branches. The fact that UK ATMs do NOT offer a variety of financial services transactions points to a lack of investment in community customer services, something considered unacceptable in many other countries. Even in the UK, it is wrong to suggest cash withdrawals are the only service on offer. Balance enquires and similar services account for more than 1/3rd of all ATM activity. The recent Access to Cash Report revealed 97% - YES, 97% - of UK adults continue to carry cash and nearly half of them - 25 million adults - would have their lives seriously disrupted if cash is not conveniently available. Cash is not a Minority Interest - the majority of people continue to choose to use cash and MUST be free to do so. They are entitled to have Payment Choice. As regards how this vital cash is supplied, ATMs are the ONLY channel that works for the vast majority of the public - which is why ATMs meet over 90% of the UK’s cash needs today. Cash from retailers tills - “cash back” - can augment cash from ATMs BUT never replace it. The figures are easy to understand. The average free-to-use UK ATM delivers £3 Million cash per annum; a local community shop, usually (from Association of Convenience Stores own figures) achieves total sales of less than £1 Million a year - and 25% or more of those sales are card-based. So, clearly, such a shop cannot possibly deliver £3 Million per year via “cash back”, to replace a lost ATM. What we - the UK Public -need is not misguided and unworkable schemes to replace ATMs. What we DO need is legal protections put in place to guarantee the future provision of Smart ATMs - allowing deposit, recycling and withdrawal of cash - in EVERY community, ATMs which CAN replace the dodo-emulating bank branches. Such legal protection will safeguard ACCESS to cash for individuals and businesses around the UK. We also need ACCEPTANCE of cash guaranteed by law, so that no business which accepts in-person payments is permitted to refuse cash for payment. Other markets have such laws. The UK must follow their lead, in the Public Interest. No further blogs required. The answers are provided in what I have just keyed.