Recent figures show that more than half of all ATMs in the UK are now owned by Independent ATM Deployers (IADs). According to figures from network operator Link there are 68,630 cash machines in the UK, with 34,733 owned by IADs, such as YourCash.
When it comes to the type of ATM, we are all used to seeing the traditional ‘hole in the wall’ machines at bank branches, petrol forecourts, railway stations, supermarkets etc. And for smaller businesses, such as convenience stores, there is an obvious attraction to having a fully managed machine located outside. However, that may not be the best solution. As a business owner, are you really ready to give up a large chunk of potential advertising space, by handing over part of your shop frontage, so that an ATM can be installed?
And inside you will also have to be prepared to lose some of your valuable retail space, to accommodate the back of the machine and potentially a secure room, or ‘bunker’. You don’t have the same issues with an internal lobby style ATM, which only takes up about the same floor space as a couple of shoe boxes. And you have the added benefit of people coming into your store to use the machine and potentially spending some of their cash whilst they are there.
Having decided that an internal machine is the right one for you, there’s then the decision to make on whether to go Fully Managed or Merchant Fill.
The Fully Managed option means that someone else will come and fill the machine for you – and this is certainly an appealing proposition, but it’s also a much more expensive operating model, so any commission payable is likely to be much lower. And you also miss out on the opportunity to re-cycle your own cash and save on bank charges.
Operating a Merchant Fill model, where the business uses their own cash, enables basic maintenance (such as note jams) to be undertaken without the need for an engineer visit. And by cash loading the ATM daily there is less likelihood of the machine running out of money – both of these features mean that uptime is high, which is good for both the store and their customers.
So if you or anyone you know is thinking of having an ATM, consider the benefits of a Merchant Fill solution before deciding which route to take.
Ewan Ogilvie, Managing Director, YourCash
