Banking on envelope-less ATMs
A month I ago, I walked into a Bank of America ATM to make a deposit and discovered I would need neither an envelope nor a deposit slip. All I would do is slip the check into a slot and the machine would do the rest: scan the check, record and deposit the amount and make a copy of the check if I desired a printed receipt.
I walked out. No one told me about this, but fears that the ATM would eat my check and spit it out quickly subsided. I returned and tried it without incident. I've done it a half dozen times since and it works well although deposits take a few seconds longer now because the check processing is done right at the machine.
Certainly it's more convenient for consumers, but the big beneficiary are the banks which will see the cost drop from $1.82 per ATM deposit to 50 cents, according to a story in Sunday's Boston Globe. I figured the bank saves by firing the little old lady who opens the envelope, throws it away and keys in the deposit. Also, banks no longer would have to stock ATM sites with envelopes and leaky pens that work don't work.
But the real savings comes from processing the check at the ATM. Given that the money is deposited instantly, armored truck personnel only have to service the ATM once a week instead of every day. Also, customers get quicker access to their money.
If you're interested in learning more about the recognition technology, check out (pun intended) Diebold's ImageWay technology that provides the hardware and character-reading capability in its Opteva and IX ATM lines.
By the end of last year, one in five ATMs have the envelope-less deposit feature for checks and cash, says the Globe story. But at an estimated $30,000-$50,000 per new machine, the capital outlay is major. BoA has 12,000 ATMs that accept deposits so at minimum, the network-wide upgrade will cost around $360 million for the machines alone.
But if you're still married to using envelopes, open an account at a smaller bank which given the high replacement cost will be likely to upgrade at a much slower pace.
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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com