Money Doesn't Grow on Trees (It Comes Out of ATMs)

I’m thinking quite a bit about ATM’s today. I know, I know, I need to get a life. But at least it’s part of my job today, with the news story about the search for three men on Staten Island who rigged ATM’s to steal more than $500,000 from unsuspecting customers. Here’s the story from The Daily News. I’ll get back to this in a minute.

When we look at all the new technologies that have come our way in recent decades, it always leads to the question “what did we do before (fill in the blank).” What did we do before cell phones, before the internet, before vending machines that actually brew the coffee in individual servings? But I’ve got one that tops them all: What did we do before ATM’s?

Seriously, think about it. (Obviously, this little exercise will only work for those of you of a certain age. But since I can remember pre-ATM days, it can’t have been THAT long ago. I mean, right?) Let’s say it’s a Sunday afternoon, sometime in 1972. You need some cash fast, because… I don’t know, because you just do. There’s nothing in your wallet. WHAT DO YOU DO? What DID we do? I can’t really remember. I guess the only option was finding someplace that would cash a check, maybe a grocery store. I remember in college, we’d go to this little deli that would cash checks for no more than $10, which at the time, would buy three pitchers and a pack of smokes. If a few of my buddies also cashed their $10 checks, we were livin’ large.

So you don’t have to, I’ve done a little research on ATM history. You’re welcome. There’s a website, atmmachine.com, which not only sells automated teller machines, it also seems to be the unofficial historian of all things ATM. Here’s their page on who should be credited as the inventor of cash dispensing machines, a matter about which there is apparently quite a bit of controversy:

“Who invented the idea of an ATM? We believe it was Luther George Simjian. Who invented the ATM as we know it? We have to think it was James Goodfellow in Scotland for holding a patent date of 1966. Who invented the free standing ATM design we recognize today? We think it was John D. White for Docutel in the US.” -ATMmachine.com

Go to the site and read more yourself. I think you’ll find it…..kind of boring. But what really surprises me from this “research” is that ATM’s have been around so long. Patents came in the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s. But I swear I don’t remember ever using one until long after I was out of college, maybe by the early ‘80’s, although glancing at my monthly bank statements now, my wife and I seem to be making up for lost time. My seven-year-old twins see us getting money all the time, and they think ATM’s are just machines that give out free money. I’ve tried explaining that it actually is subtracted from my account, but they don’t get that, and wonder why we ever say we can’t afford something when these robots on every corner are handing out cash right and left. It renders as passé the old parental adage “money doesn’t grow on trees.” No, they think, but it does get spit out by machines.

Finally, today’s news story about the ATM thieves on Staten Island. The crooks use a “skimmer” to steal the info off your card’s magnetic strip, and a tiny camera to record you punching in your PIN. (To deal with this, some stores and ATM’s have begun placing little hoods over the number pad so no one can see which buttons you’re pushing. The problem is, the hood is so large, YOU can’t see which buttons you’re pushing.) It’s a pretty dastardly plan. But with all their expertise about little cameras, you’d think the thieves would remember that there are little cameras photographing THEM when they use the stolen info. Did you see the pictures of them on the news? I’ve seen high school class pictures that didn’t turn out as clear. So we’ll be able to find out more about how they did it soon, since I’m guessing someone has recognized them and is turning them in as we speak. The ATM give-eth, and the ATM take-eth away. Luther George Simjian wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’d be interested in hearing your first memories of using ATM’s, and what you did for cash before they existed. Let me hear from you in “comments.”

Who does ATMmachine.com think was the inventor?