We all know where our nearest cash machine (also known as an ATM) is, so that we can always nip out to get some money when we need it. Since 1967, when an ATM provider installed the first cash withdrawal machine in the UK, over 65,000 further cash points have been installed up and down the country to service your needs! Below are 10 facts you might not have known about cash that you withdraw every week from ATM’s.
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The total of all withdrawals from UK cash machines reached almost £200 billion in 2012 – an average £5455 per second
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Some cash dispenser machines in Japan press each bill at 392°F to give you clean, bacteria free bills!
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If you rip your bank note as it comes out of a cash point, don’t fret! The Office of Currency Standards will replace the note as long as you have 51% of it…
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Over £380million is sat, unused, in piggy banks up and down the United Kingdom!
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You will never get a note that is badly ripped or worn from a cash dispenser machine in the UK – each machine has a sensor to detect excessive wear on each note, and removes those that are in particularly bad shape.
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There was no need for an ATM provider in Bhutan until after 1974 – they didn’t even have a currency until then! Goods and services were exchanged, before the Bhuntanese Ngultrum was introduced.
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There are over 2 million cash machine dispensers worldwide, including one in Antarctica!
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To stack a pile of notes 1 mile in the air, you would need at least £70 million and 14.5 million notes
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The average gift from the tooth fairy in the UK is £1.24
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Notes dispensed from cash machines and ATMs are designed so that they would have to be folded back and forth 4,000 times until they ripped – no wonder they survive so well in all those wallets and purses!
