Stamps? Gift cards? Bill payments? Concert tickets? In the past few years, automated teller machines have started offering more than cash -- and users can expect to see even more of these and other features as technology and consumer acceptance improve, industry experts say.
"ATMs are becoming more like super ATMs with more intelligent software and technology," says Tracy Kitten, a senior editor for ATM Marketplace magazine.
The ATM is now 38 years old, and 2 million of the machines are stationed around the globe. There is no doubt that these blinking boxes are now a big part of our lives. The American Bankers Association reports that half of the U.S. adult population uses ATMs every month, with 40% stepping up to the console 10 or more times a month.
These numbers, combined with the increase in automated functions at many businesses -- think airline check-ins and grocery checkouts -- mean people are happy to automate many of their in-person transactions, Kitten says.
Though today it may seem second nature to scan your own yogurt at the local market and not terribly far-fetched to pay your electric bill at your bank's ATM, the automated revolution has been dawning slowly for the past couple of decades.
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Wells Fargo began selling postage stamps through its ATMs in 1994. It took a decade, but it has become the sixth-largest distributor of stamps in the United States.
Aimee Wilson, the owner of a gourmet-chocolate and candle company in Philadelphia, recently made a stop at a Wachovia ATM -- which is not where she banks -- for the sole purpose of buying stamps. Her young son was asleep in the car, and she knew the errand could save her from waking him to enter a post office. "It was very convenient to just drive up and get my stamps," says Wilson.
A few years after launching its successful stamp program, Wells Fargo began offering tickets to amusement parks and aquariums. The convenience hasn't taken off yet. But banks have more such offerings in the works.
Gift cards: These are poised to be one of the next big things coming out of ATMs, Kitten says. Better ATM Services, based in Mesa, Ariz., has helped the owners of existing ATMs retrofit their machines to dispense Amazon.com gift cards and local restaurant coupons out of the cash slot. The initial test release in a handful of cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Phoenix, has been a success, says Better ATM CEO Todd Nuttall, and major banks are expected to offer cards soon.
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Bus passes: Nuttall, a former American Express executive, says he envisions ATMs dispensing any and all prepaid products, including public transportation passes and event tickets.
Bill payments: In Europe, India and China, Euronet Worldwide's ATMs have increasingly offered services such as money transfers and bill payments for cell phones, cable services and utilities, as well as cash.
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