How come ATMs in the USA only give out bills in increments of $20?

[ChrisBooth12]

Whereas I have seen in Europe they can come in in $5 increments? Obivisouly there is a reason for this and I expect because its cheaper to be the answer. I wonder because the Euro comes in many shapes and sizes whereas US currency is all one shape and size, which would probably be easier to engineer a machine to spit out same sized bills.

[garygnu]

I've used machines in the past that gave out $5's or $20's, the ones at my credit union currently give out $20's or $50's.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

It depends on where you are. The ATM in the bar across the street gives out only $5.00 bills (for use in the poker machines). The ATM at the bank on the corner gives out only $20.00 bills.

[bouv]

Most only give out $20 bills because it's cheaper and easier to make and maintain a machine that only deals with one currency denomination. Banks would rather do something cheaper and make a bigger hassle to the customers than the other way around, though there are a few exceptions (Merchants, a local VT bank, spits out $10 bills at most, if not all, of its ATMs.)

[AskNott]

My bank's ATMs give $20s and $5s. So, like Invisible Wombat says, it depends on where you are.

[Iggins]

My Credit Union gives out increments of $10. Almost all other ATM's in the area are $20's. I prefer the $10 ATM.

[kidchameleon]

I've never seen $5s, but I've been to a Citibank that spit out both $10 and $20.
A friend went to a strip club where they spit out only $50s. Yeowch!

[diggleblop]

The Bank of America one in Dash-In allows you to take out ten bucks at a time.

[D_Odds]

bouv hit it. It's cheaper and easier...for the bank. That said, I do remember a friend taking me to a $1.00 bill ATM near a college campus. Those that don't deal in $20s and $50s are the exceptions, though (ETA: at least here in NYC).

[LurkMeister]

IIRC, early ATMs used to give out $5s, $10s, and $20s; I remember that you could enter amounts in $5 increments. Before dispensing your money the ATM would tell you what bills it was going to give you, and you could request smaller bills.

I've heard that in Las Vegas there are ATMs that dispense $100 bills, which doesn't surprise me in the least.

[danceswithcats]

Former banking equipment tech here: ATMs in the US dispense pieces of paper. The person setting up the machine can code the cash cans for whatever denomination(s) they desire, and the display software responds to the cans it recognizes are loaded into the dispenser. Two and three can machines were most prevalent, so you could do a combination of $20 and $10, $20 and $5, and so forth.

The simple answer to the question lies in weekend use, particularly holiday weekends when the machine sits for 3 days without being serviced. Filling the machine to maximum dollar capacity reduces the likelihood of it running out of cash. For example, let's say a two can machine has a capacity of 10K bills, 5K in each. If you load with all $20, the machine has $200,000 to dispense. OTOH, if you split that between $20 and $5, capacity drops to $125,000.

[Arnold Winkelried]

Dear danceswithcats, Could you fill the machine with pieces of paper saying "Ha ha!", as long as they were the right dimension?

[CalMeacham]

It seems all the machines around here only dispense 20s now, but several years back you could get 10s and 20s. I figure it's simply easier to deal with only one type of bill, plus what danceswithcats says.


When I first used a bank with ATMs in Boston , in the mid-1970s, they had envelopes of cash made up in two possible denominations. Those were your only choices.

People started hitting the machines on Friday Night. By mid-Saturday they'd be out of money altogether. It was clearly An Idea Whose Time Had Come, but whose techniology couldn't keep up with the demand.

I don't think I used another ATM after that for another ten years. At that time, the bank had only three machines -- one in downtown Salt Laske, and two others over ten miles away. "Convenient" it wasn't, but at least I could get money if I needed it after hours.

[danceswithcats]

Dear danceswithcats, Could you fill the machine with pieces of paper saying "Ha ha!", as long as they were the right dimension? Absolutely! When I attended ATM service training at the home office, we had piles of "play money" which was made to the exact width and thickness as genuine scrip.

This is also why it's VERY important for persons filling the cash cans to not mix them up. If you put $20 bills in the $5 can, the machine treats them as pieces of paper, and the higher ups will not be amused.

[snowblindfrog]

The ATMs inside Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH allow for $2.00 as the smallest increment of cash withdrawal. This amount just so happens to be the exact cost of exiting the garage. But I kind of like the idea of getting such a small increment, would be handy if you want something from a vending mahine, etc.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Straight Dope Rule #56 and #56A.

Any thread titled "how come ... only" or "how come ... no" will be answered with plenty of contrary examples.

[Keeve]

Former banking equipment tech here:... For example, let's say a two can machine has a capacity of 10K bills, 5K in each. If you load with all $20, the machine has $200,000 to dispense.Yow! Does a typical machine really have that much money in it when full?

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

One side effect I've noticed recently is the scarcity of $10-bills. Whenever I break a twenty, I usually two fives instead of a ten. This has been explained as a result of the ubiquity of ATM machines, but they were ubiquitous for a long time before I noticed this phenomenon.

[An Gadaí]

In Germany if you take out €100 from an ATM you'll usually get €50, 2 €20s and a €10 but here you'll nearly always get 2 €50s and often ATMs will instruct you to take out money in increments of €50. It's a pain if you're running low on funds.

[Asimovian]

Yow! Does a typical machine really have that much money in it when full?Speaking for my wife, who worked at Bank of America in California for several years, the answer is yes. I don't have any personal knowledge to elaborate beyond that, but I think I asked her that question with the same astonishment you just expressed.

[danceswithcats]

Yow! Does a typical machine really have that much money in it when full? Paper money in the US measures a sneeze over .1 mm in thickness according to one source, and .0043" according to another. Going by the .1 mm measurement, that yields 254 bills/inch. The source claiming .0043" says 233 new bills (uncompressed) in one inch. The cash cans held around 12" of bills, so the range is 2796 - 3048. To make life simple, let's use 2900.

2900 x $20 = $58K x however many cans the machine holds (I've seen as large as four). Small, freestanding machines and kiosk ATMs will hold less than their larger through-the-bank-wall kin.

[Rayne Man]

The smallest denomination note that most ATM's in the UK will give out is £10. This is limiting the supply of £5 notes in circulation. This is because the majority of people now draw their money out from ATM's. If they specifically require £5 notes they have to go into a bank and probably wait ten minutes before they are served. So lots of £10's and £20's floating around, but not many fivers.

[11811]

Whereas I have seen in Europe they can come in in $5 increments? Obivisouly there is a reason for this and I expect because its cheaper to be the answer. I wonder because the Euro comes in many shapes and sizes whereas US currency is all one shape and size, which would probably be easier to engineer a machine to spit out same sized bills.
I can get $1 bills out of a machine in town here: you get a 5 and 5 1s when you ask for 10.

[Billdo]

For a while a few years ago, Chase Bank in New York experimented with "check cashing" ATMs in some of their branches. There was no actual check cashing involved, but you could take out any amount of money from the account in increments as low as 5 cents (no pennies). I guess the idea was that a customer could deposit a check and withdraw the same amount (+/- a few cents). There was one of these machines among the half dozen in a branch near me (and none in the other branch near me).

Sometimes when I happened on that machine, I'd withdraw, for no particular reason, some odd amount of money, say $67.45 rather than $60.00. After a while, the machine still had the coin dispensing slot, but only dispensed $20 "yuppie trading stamps" like its sisters surrounding it.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

I can get $1 bills out of a machine in town here: you get a 5 and 5 1s when you ask for 10.

I'm astonished by this--I never heard of getting $1 bills out of a machine.

[D_Odds]

I'm astonished by this--I never heard of getting $1 bills out of a machine.
Psst...see post #9. It was somewhere near the SUNY Albany campus in the late 80s, so it was one of the early ATMs, but it gave out ones.

[Otara]

Australia generally its only 20's and 50's.

Which is great IMO, the lower the amount, the better the chance it will run out. And the banks generally charge flat fees for withdrawals, so you do yourself over in bank fees if you're constantly taking out small amounts.

Otara

[Mr. Slant]

Yow! Does a typical machine really have that much money in it when full?

For the record, there are many ATMs that DO NOT get anywhere near that much money.
I know of ATMs that never see more than $10K at one time.
Banks would rather have their money earning interest, and some facilities will only move $45K in a month.. so the bank sends out cash handlers once a week, and accepts that from time to time they'll run out or have to do an occasional mid-week emergency fill as a cost of doing business.
Many ATM models don't get the 4 cans that Dances referred to upthread. I know of some that have a 4-can capacity, but only wind up with 1 can actually installed.

[matt_mcl]

Canadian ATMs used to give out $10s. I remember getting $10s out no more than seven years ago, but now they've completely stopped. I've noticed $10s getting correspondingly scarcer, but not half-dollar or American $2 scarce.

A few ATMs will give out $50s, but not many.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

so the bank sends out cash handlers once a week, and accepts that from time to time they'll run out or have to do an occasional mid-week emergency fill as a cost of doing business.They should NOT run out, if properly managed.

Any modern ATM is connected online (to check that your account isn't already empty, for example) and will send in a warning when it's getting low on bills. And, of course, the control room can query the ATM at any time to check on the remaining supply of bills, number & amount of deposits made, etc. A well-run bank ought to be monitoring their ATMs and dealing with this before they run out.

There can be occasional spurts of activity at an ATM where it will be emptied before a armored car refill can be scheduled, but when you hear "oh, that ATM is always empty by Friday", that's an indication of a poorly-run bank.

[lee]

They should NOT run out, if properly managed.

Any modern ATM is connected online (to check that your account isn't already empty, for example) and will send in a warning when it's getting low on bills. And, of course, the control room can query the ATM at any time to check on the remaining supply of bills, number & amount of deposits made, etc. A well-run bank ought to be monitoring their ATMs and dealing with this before they run out.

There can be occasional spurts of activity at an ATM where it will be emptied before a armored car refill can be scheduled, but when you hear "oh, that ATM is always empty by Friday", that's an indication of a poorly-run bank.
Back in the late 90s I worked in the data center of a locally run bank. Every fifth Saturday or so, I had to spend the morning babysitting the ATMs. There was a program that allowed us to see not only the amount of money left, but also if there were other issues than low money and when the last activity was. If there was no activity in an expected period, someone had to go out and check the ATM. In my experience, it is much more likely for an ATM to run out of paper and ink for receipts than it is for it to run out of money. This is at least partly due to the fact that they generally indicate money level more clearly than ink level.

It is in the best interest for the bank to have the ATMs up and running. Every transaction handled by the ATM is one less that is handled by a live teller. The live teller transactions cost a lot more. There is a charge the bank pays for transactions on other bank's ATM, but those are still less costly than using a teller. There was no way that the bank could have handled all their transactions via tellers.

[TheTyrant]

Former banking equipment tech here: ATMs in the US dispense pieces of paper. The person setting up the machine can code the cash cans for whatever denomination(s) they desire, and the display software responds to the cans it recognizes are loaded into the dispenser. Two and three can machines were most prevalent, so you could do a combination of $20 and $10, $20 and $5, and so forth.

The simple answer to the question lies in weekend use, particularly holiday weekends when the machine sits for 3 days without being serviced. Filling the machine to maximum dollar capacity reduces the likelihood of it running out of cash. For example, let's say a two can machine has a capacity of 10K bills, 5K in each. If you load with all $20, the machine has $200,000 to dispense. OTOH, if you split that between $20 and $5, capacity drops to $125,000.

I once interviewed for a job servicing ATMs and had the opportunity to see the inside of a few different models. Really interesting stuff. The guy who showed me the ATMs told me pretty much the same thing you mentioned--that loading the machine with twenties maximizes the money available from the machine.

He also told me that loading the machine with twenties reduces chances for error in loading the machine. Something about the ATM thinking twenties are supposed to be in a can that's actually full of tens and rejecting the bills as they come out of the canister. (As you can see, I didn't take the job so I don't know the details.)

I'm guessing that if the ATM sees that tens are coming out of a bin that was supposed to be loaded with 20s it'll stop drawing from that bin. Then the machine's capacity is decreased significantly. Easier to load every canister with 20s.

Of course, that's a WAG. danceswithcats would know more than I would. Really cool tech in those machines, though.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Whereas I have seen in Europe they can come in in $5 increments? Obivisouly there is a reason for this and I expect because its cheaper to be the answer. I wonder because the Euro comes in many shapes and sizes whereas US currency is all one shape and size, which would probably be easier to engineer a machine to spit out same sized bills.


My bank's atm gives out 10s as well as 20s (here in CT).

[Mr. Slant]

SNIP
I'm guessing that if the ATM sees that tens are coming out of a bin that was supposed to be loaded with 20s it'll stop drawing from that bin. Then the machine's capacity is decreased significantly. Easier to load every canister with 20s.
SNIP

Being able to detect the actual denomination of bill being dispensed from a mis-coded bin is NOT a feature in all ATMs, I assure you.
I once knew a cash handler who inserted an improperly coded bin.
It was coded for $2 bills but was, of course, full of twenties.
Guess what happens when a machine that thinks it has $2 bills in responds to a request for $60? Stupid thing dispenses 30 bills.

[Musicat]

I'm guessing that if the ATM sees that tens are coming out of a bin that was supposed to be loaded with 20s it'll stop drawing from that bin. That's assuming the machine can read the bills and detemine their denomination, something danceswithcats said it did NOT do in post #14:This is also why it's VERY important for persons filling the cash cans to not mix them up. If you put $20 bills in the $5 can, the machine treats them as pieces of paper...

[TheTyrant]

That's assuming the machine can read the bills and detemine their denomination, something danceswithcats said it did NOT do in post #14:

Ah, well, like I said danceswithcats would know more than I would, but it was explained to me that the IR sensors used to verify that only one bill is dispensed at a time can also be programmed to detect the bill's denomination, as is cited in a 1998 NY Times article here. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E7DD103BF937A35755C0A96E958260)

I'm sure, though, that it's only on specific higher-end machines. The firm I was interviewing with specialized in the refurb of older machines in primarily foreign markets.

[Steve MB]

It is in the best interest for the bank to have the ATMs up and running. Every transaction handled by the ATM is one less that is handled by a live teller. The live teller transactions cost a lot more. There is a charge the bank pays for transactions on other bank's ATM, but those are still less costly than using a teller. There was no way that the bank could have handled all their transactions via tellers.
I thought the bank charged the customer for using another bank's ATM.

[garygnu]

It is in the best interest for the bank to have the ATMs up and running. Every transaction handled by the ATM is one less that is handled by a live teller. The live teller transactions cost a lot more. There is a charge the bank pays for transactions on other bank's ATM, but those are still less costly than using a teller. There was no way that the bank could have handled all their transactions via tellers.I thought the bank charged the customer for using another bank's ATM.
My emphasis. The customer's bank pass that charge on to the user. There is also often a fee charged directly to the customer by the ATM's bank, too. Ain't it grand?

[danceswithcats]

They should NOT run out, if properly managed.

Any modern ATM is connected online (to check that your account isn't already empty, for example) and will send in a warning when it's getting low on bills. And, of course, the control room can query the ATM at any time to check on the remaining supply of bills, number & amount of deposits made, etc. A well-run bank ought to be monitoring their ATMs and dealing with this before they run out.

There can be occasional spurts of activity at an ATM where it will be emptied before a armored car refill can be scheduled, but when you hear "oh, that ATM is always empty by Friday", that's an indication of a poorly-run bank. Management issues aside, not all ATMs are live. When you go outside the banking facility proper (lobby, through-wall, and drive up kiosk) to convenience stores, bars, and such, the machines are often on a dial-up connection to the hosting network. Querying the machine wouldn't be necessary, if you think about it. Although the units I serviced and installed didn't have the feature, it would be more efficient to have the machine send a report when x$ have dispensed since last refresh, and use those accumulated reports to track usage trends.

[danceswithcats]

That's assuming the machine can read the bills and detemine their denomination, something danceswithcats said it did NOT do in post #14: In all fairness, my firsthand knowledge base is limited to the Olivetti, Docutel, and Inter Innovation machines on which I was trained. It is quite possible that technology has evolved to include that feature, as people doing stupid things is a given. ;)

[danceswithcats]

Ah, well, like I said danceswithcats would know more than I would, but it was explained to me that the IR sensors used to verify that only one bill is dispensed at a time can also be programmed to detect the bill's denomination, as is cited in a 1998 NY Times article here. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E7DD103BF937A35755C0A96E958260)

I'm sure, though, that it's only on specific higher-end machines. The firm I was interviewing with specialized in the refurb of older machines in primarily foreign markets. Interesting article, thanks. That sounds right for Diebold and Fujitsu-those folks were ahead of the rest of us from the get-go, which is why the companies I mentioned previously aren't in the game any more. Thickness, width, and sum verification (# of bills-not $ sum) were the values checked prior to the stacker/delivery module (the part that imitates Woody Woodpecker on Interbold ATMs) completing the dispense.

[Montgomery Burns]

A couple of weeks ago I was in Quito, Ecuador visiting my daughter (where the currency is US dollars and they use US paper money). She requested $100 from an ATM and $1 bills were included in the bills the machine dispensed.

[Plan B]

For a while a few years ago, Chase Bank in New York experimented with "check cashing" ATMs in some of their branches. There was no actual check cashing involved, but you could take out any amount of money from the account in increments as low as 5 cents (no pennies). I guess the idea was that a customer could deposit a check and withdraw the same amount (+/- a few cents). There was one of these machines among the half dozen in a branch near me (and none in the other branch near me).

Sometimes when I happened on that machine, I'd withdraw, for no particular reason, some odd amount of money, say $67.45 rather than $60.00. After a while, the machine still had the coin dispensing slot, but only dispensed $20 "yuppie trading stamps" like its sisters surrounding it.
I remember that, but a bit differently. I thought it was really check cashing; of course they'd hold the amount against your account. Also, I'm pretty sure they had pennies also.

My wife didn't believe me, so I waited for our next trip to NYC and showed her. In fact I think I withdrew $.01. Sadly, this was at the WTC branch. Never saw that feature again.

[Darryl Lict]

I've heard that in Las Vegas there are ATMs that dispense $100 bills, which doesn't surprise me in the least.
Heh, I only get cash out in multiples of $100 in Vegas so I know that every one I've used dispenses $100 bills. I was thinking that they only dispense $100 bills, but now that I think about it, they probably dispense $20 bills also. I recently withdrew $500 from the BofA machine at Albertson's. The bills were a bit ragged and actually jammed the slot. I managed to pry them out of the slot, but I wish they dispensed $100 bills.

[Tapioca Dextrin]

The local ATM here dispenses $10 or $20 bills. Local in this case means Baku, Azerbaijan. It will also spit out either Euros (not sure of the denomination) or the local currency (Manats) in 10s or 50s.

[OtakuLoki]

Locally most ATMs dispense only $20. However, some machines (specifically those at Wegmans) dispense $5 and $20. Since they're a 24 hour store, the money supply and personnel costs that danceswithcats mentioned don't really apply, though.

[Frosted Glass]

A few of the machines on my campus distribute everything in $1 increments. It is pretty useful when I just want a few bucks to buy some snacks at the campus store to not have to take out a $20. Reading the tech explanations clarifies why the machine rarely lets you pull ones on the weekend and instead increases to dispense 5's or 10's.

[Sage Rat]

As an American who has lived abroad for some years, personally my guess would be that due to the US's much lower population density, ATMs will be spread out less densely as well. This means you need to travel farther to get to one, and thereby you'll rarely be interested in withdrawing smaller amounts of cash. So you won't see many that allow for $5 or $10 withdrawals since its not worthwhile in comparison with the demand. But, at the same time probably most people still won't be withdrawing several hundred dollars at a time, nor do they want larger denomination bills since these are a hastle for stores to split, so a pack of $20s makes sense.

ETA: For the cite-minded, the USA has an average population density of 31 people per km2, while as the EU has 112 per. I lived in Tokyo and there was probably at least one ATM per three square blocks. Japan has a population density of 339 people per km2.

[Pushkin]

The smallest denomination note that most ATM's in the UK will give out is £10. This is limiting the supply of £5 notes in circulation

Its a flipping pain in the arse. I don't even get to walk past the only machine in the area that I knew would give you a fiver on the way home any more. Although I did go to it to get my rent money ready for the landlord once, only to have it spit out £150 in fivers :o

[Martini Enfield]

I've never come across an ATM in Australia that dispensed anything except $20 and $50 notes.

I'm told that some of the smaller Bank and Building Society ATMs used to dispense $10 notes, but I never encountered one.

The theory is, I believe, that most businesses have EFTPOS now anyway, and so if you're that desperate for $10 you could buy a stick of gum or some Tic-Tacs from somewhere and get cash out as well- otherwise, well, $20 doesn't last that long anyway these days, so that's the smallest denomination it's worth putting in an ATM.

[Dunderman]

Whereas I have seen in Europe they can come in in $5 increments?I'm assuming you mean the equivalent of $5 in local currency? Either way, where have you seen this? Here in Sweden, it's increments of 100 SEK (which is approximately $15) and in the Euro-using countries I've visited all ATMs I used gave out increments of 20 euros (approximately $28).

[danceswithcats]

Locally most ATMs dispense only $20. However, some machines (specifically those at Wegmans) dispense $5 and $20. Since they're a 24 hour store, the money supply and personnel costs that danceswithcats mentioned don't really apply, though. Look closely at that machine next time you're in the store. I very much doubt that Wegman's owns or services the unit. It is likely the property of a local banking chain, and is serviced at their behest by personnel from a local armored company. Wegman's may have worked a deal with the hosting bank, as did Wawa convenience stores in eastern PA did with PNC Bank, that PNC got the right to site an ATM in all Wawa outlets, but couldn't charge an access fee.

[OtakuLoki]

They may well have the deal with the armored company you're suggesting - but I really believe that the ATMs are not associated with any bank, nor part of any particular bank's network. I know that the disclaimer for the ATM is that Wegmans is the one which collects the fee, so I'm still inclined to believe that they own the ATMs, not just give/lease space to them to a bank. I just did my week's shopping, though, so it'll be a while before I head back.

[Mr. Slant]

The term you're looking for here is "ISO".
http://www.atmmarketplace.com/research.php?rc_id=13

Many ATMs ARE bank-owned.
Quite a few ATMs, especially in retail locations, are not bank-owned.

[SmackFu]

All things considered, I'll take all $20s over $20s and $50s. I usually take $100+ out at a time, to be spent over a week or two, and I hate machines that give me 2 $50s.

[Darryl Lict]

As an American who has lived abroad for some years, personally my guess would be that due to the US's much lower population density, ATMs will be spread out less densely as well. This means you need to travel farther to get to one, and thereby you'll rarely be interested in withdrawing smaller amounts of cash.
Boy, you have been out of the country for a while. ATM's are a dime a dozen. Every podunk retailer has one, or at least one on every block in the commercial district. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to suck down the ATM fees. Cheap bastard that I am, I just withdraw a wad of cash to minimize the percentage hit due to bank fees. Also the reason I bank at BofA is that there is a BofA ATM in damn near every cow town here.

[Sage Rat]

Boy, you have been out of the country for a while. ATM's are a dime a dozen. Every podunk retailer has one, or at least one on every block in the commercial district. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to suck down the ATM fees. Cheap bastard that I am, I just withdraw a wad of cash to minimize the percentage hit due to bank fees. Also the reason I bank at BofA is that there is a BofA ATM in damn near every cow town here.
Downtown, certainly. But Japan is downtown from ocean to ocean. And one Bank of America to a town isn't impressive in terms of geographical proximity.

[Enright3]

IIRC, early ATMs used to give out $5s, $10s, and $20s; I remember that you could enter amounts in $5 increments. Before dispensing your money the ATM would tell you what bills it was going to give you, and you could request smaller bills.

I've heard that in Las Vegas there are ATMs that dispense $100 bills, which doesn't surprise me in the least.
This is just what I came in here to say. The last time I was in Las Vegas, which was over 10 years ago, the ATM at the casino I was in only gave out Ben Franklins.

[Cartooniverse]

My ATM's in town, depending on which one I hit up, will give me 5, 10, 20 and 50's.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Boy, you have been out of the country for a while. ATM's are a dime a dozen. Every podunk retailer has one, or at least one on every block in the commercial district.Just as an example, I live in a town with a population of 2,300. We have three banks, a separate bank drive-through facility, and a credit union. Each bank/CU has an ATM. There are two more on the street downtown (our "downtown" is only 6 blocks long), and I know of at least four bars with ATMs in them. That's ten of them, and there are almost certainly more in the bars I don't frequent. I think both gas stations have ATMs, but I'm not sure (I never go inside). I seem to recall someone mentioning ATMs in one or more of the hotel lobbies. All in all, I'd be surprised if there were less than 15, which is certainly a pretty high density.

Even the town I just moved from (population 209) had three ATMs.

Sage Rat, you don't have a very good mental picture of ATM distribution in the U.S.

[robcaro]

A couple of weeks ago I was in Quito, Ecuador visiting my daughter (where the currency is US dollars and they use US paper money). She requested $100 from an ATM and $1 bills were included in the bills the machine dispensed.
They are probably just getting rid of the 1's because they don't have any other use for them.

[garygnu]

They are probably just getting rid of the 1's because they don't have any other use for them.
Maybe there's a strip club nearby.

[Sage Rat]

Sage Rat, you don't have a very good mental picture of ATM distribution in the U.S.
I think you don't have a good mental picture of ATM distribution in Japan. Unless you can tell me that there is an ATM within three to five minute walking distance from the front door of a vast majority of residences in the USA, then by vast majority Japan has ATMs that are significantly easier to get to.

The issue isn't the number of ATMs per person, but how far people have to go to get to it. If most people have to get in their car to go to the ATM--even if it's not a long drive--that's still a significant difference from Japan.

[Montgomery Burns]

They are probably just getting rid of the 1's because they don't have any other use for them.

No, just the opposite. One dollar bills are very useful in Ecuador. In fact the $1 US coin is very popular in circulation there. It is the $20s that are the problem. Many places can't make change for a $20, even places you would think it wouldn't be a problem.

[Montgomery Burns]

Maybe there's a strip club nearby.

The ATM that was giving out $1 bills was in a grocery store in an upscale mall (Que Centro in Quito). We were surprised to see a grocery store in a mall. We would have been really surprised to see a strip club there.

[Gary "Wombat" Robson]

Sage Rat, you don't have a very good mental picture of ATM distribution in the U.S.I think you don't have a good mental picture of ATM distribution in Japan.I have no mental picture of ATM distribution in Japan at all; I haven't been there since 1980. On review, by the way, the statement you were responding to sounded pretty snarky. Sorry. I didn't mean it that way.

I was responding specifically to this: As an American who has lived abroad for some years, personally my guess would be that due to the US's much lower population density, ATMs will be spread out less densely as well. This means you need to travel farther to get to one, and thereby you'll rarely be interested in withdrawing smaller amounts of cash.I pointed out that in a small town of 2,300 people, our ATM density is about one per 200 people.

Unless you can tell me that there is an ATM within three to five minute walking distance from the front door of a vast majority of residences in the USA, then by vast majority Japan has ATMs that are significantly easier to get to.

The issue isn't the number of ATMs per person, but how far people have to go to get to it. If most people have to get in their car to go to the ATM--even if it's not a long drive--that's still a significant difference from Japan.I really don't think the distance from one's home to the nearest ATM matters. People don't need cash at home (unless you're paying for a delivered pizza, and they're happy to take a credit card number over the phone). So what if there isn't an ATM within a 3-5 minute walk of most ranches around here?

What matters is how far the ATMs are from where you're actually going to spend money. That's why I pointed out the size of our downtown area in my post. A density of > 1 ATM per block means it's a very reasonable walk from anywhere downtown to an ATM.