ATM turns 30

It's a thought-provoking question for Jeff Brune. How well would he function if ATMs had never been invented?

"I honestly don't know if I would be able to," admits the Cape Girardeau resident and executive director of Cape County Transit Authority. "I don't remember the last time I have gone to a bank and written a check to get cash. Why would you when it's so easy to stop at any ATM and do it faster?"

Well ... you wouldn't. And millions of American don't, thanks to the automated teller machine, which is celebrating 30 years of existence this year.

Since its 1973 introduction, but especially in the past decade, the ATM has become an essential and omnipresent part of American life. Many people visit an ATM at least weekly -- Brune visits his three to four times a week -- to make $20 to $40 withdrawals the most common activity, according to a survey that was released to coincide with the machine's 1973 introduction.

Use boomed in past decade

But it has really caught on in the last 10 years, jumping 64 percent from 1994 through 2002. An overwhelming majority of American ATM/debit card holders, 78 percent, said that the ATM has become an important part of American daily life.

Angie Bender, a Cape Girardeau resident who works in sales and marketing for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, agrees.

"I use it for cash, I use it as a check card," she said. "I can deduct from my savings account with it. I even deposit my check with the ATM sometimes. Anything you can use it for, I use it for."

Bender appreciates that unlike banks, ATMs are operable 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"If I didn't have an ATM, I would never have any cash, because I would never be able to make it to the bank during normal hours," she said. "It's crazy. I just couldn't do it."

The survey of 1,244 people was conducted last month for eFunds Corp., the nation's largest nonbank ATM deployer.

Many people expect the ATM to become more versatile in the future. Half of those polled said they would buy stamps at the machines, 48 percent would like to cash checks and more than a third, 36 percent, considered the ATM a fine potential vendor of tickets for lotteries, sporting events and concerts.

"That would be great," said Dobbie Herrion, an employee at Southeast Missouri State University who uses his ATM card several times a week. "I'd love to see something like that instead of standing in lines. They've got so many ATMs now. It's all about accessibility. The easier, the quicker, the better."

If there is one complaint about the ATM, it is that banks sometimes charge user fees. The average ATM surcharge, a fee charged to ATM users who do not keep an account with the bank owning the machine, rose by 4 cents in 2002 to $1.36.

"It's annoying," said Lydia Dewees, marketing director at Chartwell's Dining Service. "But I'll still use it if I have to. But if I know that my bank is nearby, I'll go to mine, just to avoid the $2 charge."

Idea while waiting in line

According to About.com, an Internet site that offers information on a host of topics, Don Wetzel introduced the first successful and modern ATM in the United States. Wetzel said at the time that he got the idea while waiting in line at a Dallas bank.

The concept came to Wetzel, a vice president of the company that developed automated baggage-handle equipment, in 1968. A working prototype came about a year later and the first working ATM was installed in a New York-based Chemical Bank.

The first ATMs were off-line machines, meaning that money was not automatically withdrawn from the account. Banks at first were very exclusive about who they gave cards to, mainly giving them to credit-card holders with good banking records.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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