How an ATM makes money for your business

An ATM in the corner of a store looks like a convenience for customers, and it is. But if you’re the owner, the more useful question is how does an ATM make money for a business like yours, and how much of that money ends up with you rather than with the company that put the machine there.

This post walks through where the money comes from, what decides how much you earn, and what it costs you. The answer to that last one, on a free placement with us, is nothing.

How does an ATM make money for a business?

There are three ways, and only the first one shows up as a line on a statement.

1. Your share of every surcharge

Every time someone takes cash out, they pay a surcharge on the withdrawal. That surcharge is what pays for the machine, the cash, the refills and the servicing, and your business takes a share of it, on terms our sales team agrees with you before the machine is installed.

So the machine earns on every transaction, and you earn a share of each one. You don’t invoice anyone or reconcile anything. The machine is ours to stock and reconcile.

2. Cash that gets spent in your store

This is the part owners tend to underrate. A customer who wants cash and can’t get it in your store has two choices: leave to find an ATM somewhere else, or not buy what they came in for. Some of the ones who leave don’t come back.

With a machine on site, that customer stays. Most of them turn around and spend some of what they just took out, on the counter in front of them.

3. Sales without a card fee

Every card sale carries a processing fee. A cash sale doesn’t. So when a withdrawal from your ATM turns into a purchase at your register, it is a sale you keep more of.

You also handle less of your own cash for the machine, because none of your money goes into it. We stock it with our cash and our team refills it.

What decides how much you earn

We don’t publish a typical earnings number, and you should be wary of anyone who quotes one before they have seen your business. Here is what actually moves it.

How many withdrawals your location does

This is the biggest factor by far. A store that does a lot of withdrawals a month earns meaningfully more than one that does a handful. Foot traffic, the kind of customers you serve and whether they tend to pay in cash all feed into it.

That’s why we give you an estimate based on your actual foot traffic, not a best-case figure. Ask for that estimate before you agree to anything.

The split you agree

Your share of each surcharge is agreed with our sales team during the call where we schedule the install. It is settled before the machine arrives, not after.

Where the machine sits

A machine near the entrance or the register gets seen and used. A machine hidden behind a rack gets walked past. Placement inside the store is a decision worth making carefully on install day.

How often the machine is working

A machine that is empty or broken earns nothing, and customers who find it down once stop trusting it. That makes the service side as important as the machine itself.

Our machines report cash levels and transaction activity as they happen, so a machine that is running low or acting up gets flagged on our side before your customers run into it. Support runs 24/7, and inside our service areas we are usually on site within about an hour. The details are on our ATM servicing and installations page.

What it costs you

On a free placement, nothing:

• No upfront cost and no equipment to buy
• No lease and no monthly fee
• No cash of your own in the machine
• No bill for installation, refills, maintenance or repairs

You give us a few square feet of floor and a power outlet. The surcharge paid by the person withdrawing cash covers everything else. You can see the full list of what we cover on our ATM placement services page.

Which businesses earn the most from an ATM

The businesses that do best are the ones where customers want cash and would otherwise have to leave to get it. Gas stations, convenience stores, liquor stores and bars are the obvious examples. Anywhere with steady foot traffic and customers who like to pay cash is worth a conversation.

Businesses that mostly take cards and see few walk-in customers will earn less. That doesn’t rule them out, but it’s another reason the estimate should be based on your actual numbers.

How to find out what your location could earn

The process is short:

1. Send us your address through the placement form.
2. Our sales team calls you to talk through your traffic, agree the split and pick an install date that fits your hours.
3. Our deployment team installs the machine, loads it and tests it on site.
4. You start earning a share of every transaction.

In our core service areas, most placements happen within 48 hours of a signed agreement. We place machines in 27 states, listed on our areas we service page, and if we can’t service your address properly ourselves, we’ll say so.

Common questions

How much can my business make from an ATM?

It depends on how many withdrawals your location does and the split we agree. We give you an estimate based on your actual foot traffic rather than a best-case number.

Who pays for the machine?

The person withdrawing cash pays a surcharge, and that covers the machine, the cash and the servicing. Your business pays nothing, and you take a share of the surcharge.

Do I have to put my own cash in the ATM?

No. We stock the machine with our cash and our cash management team handles refills. You never handle vault cash.

What happens if the ATM breaks?

Call us. Support runs 24 hours a day and we stock the common failure parts, so a machine gets repaired rather than sitting dark waiting on a shipment.

Want to know what an ATM could earn in your business? Send us the address and we’ll give you a realistic estimate.