Simple question. At what moment ATM machines that are in need of a refill stop delivering money? I dont suppose they deliver it to their very last bill, so when are they supposed to say “sorry, cant deliver money right now”?
I have no idea for sure, since I don’t know anything about the inner workings of ATMs, so I probably shouldn’t answer… but is there any reason it couldn’t just continue working until it couldn’t meet requests anymore? Like, I try to withdraw $200, but there’s only $80 left in the ATM, so I’d get a “unable to do this” type message. But then I try again and this time I only request $60, so it spits it out.
Again, I’m no expert, but why do you suspect they wouldn’t be able to dispense until they’re all out? Seems trivially easy for the ATM to know exactly how much money it has, and to make a decision when someone tries to withdraw based on that.
Why not? I’ve been to more than one that whirrs multiply, as if searching all its pockets for bills, and then gives my card back with an embarrased “Out Of Service” message.
Now, I’m not sure whether the machine had some banknotes on hand, just not enough. If so, why didn’t it say it couldn’t handle my request, and then go back in service hoping for someone to request a sum equal to or less than what it had left?
I don’t think I’ve ever had a machine give me a part of what I requested.
I dont know, maybe it works differently here than where you live, or it is just plain random luck, but I have never had a ATM machine refuse me a sum of money for lack of funds. On the other hand, just as today (hence the question) I was at my nearby ATM corner (two machines). And both had the “no more money” style notice. It’s a corner with a lot of circulation (I mean many people pass by it). They are out of cash (more correctly I happen to use them at the moment they’re out of cash) something like once every two months or so.
From that I must have assumed that they dont deliver to the last bill. Maybe they do, but in my lifetime I have never witnessed it. Maybe you’re entirely right and my premise is dead wrong. But I’d like confirmation, still.
Good question. I’ve seen general out-of-order messages, but I’ve never been unable to get cash unless the problem was with my account. If the machine was out of cash, it shouldn’t give a generic “out of order”, because that would prevent people from making deposits or getting balances. This evidence suggests that either they put so much cash in the machine that it has never run out when I needed some cash, or that they do shut down entirely when the only problem is lack of cash.
I have no confirmation to give, but yes, to me it makes sense that if a machine usually has a $500 limit per transaction, and has $480 available, it would be programmed to go out of service rather than let somebody attempt a transaction. This would be hard luck for the people who just want to make deposits. (On machines that offer such functions.)
It would be a weird experience to get your money and then notice that the machine has gone out of service. Especially if there are other customers waiting in line.
Yep, so the check must happen at the actual point of selecting an amount (even though it probably doesn’t depend on what amount you select).
In fact, I think it’s happened to me. An apparently working ATM, then at the point of choosing, say, £50, it says it cannot complete the request. It spits my card and then displays something like “service temporarily unavailable”.
On a few occasions I have had the ATM give me less money than I requested, so I think it is to the last bill. I requested $200, it gave me $120. The receipt (and my bank records) show the ATM deducted $200 from my account, then credited me with $80. You can hear it whirring and whirring and it sure sounded like it was completely out of money.
‘Automatic Teller Machine machines’? 
One time I requested $200, but only received $160 because the ATM ran out of money. My receipt showed $160 dispensed.
I’ve seen message from TCF that said, “This ATM is currently only accepting deposits”
So I assume at that point it is out of money.
That wasn’t what I was talking about. I was suggesting that you get the money you asked for, and then the ATM goes “service temporarily unavailable” for anybody else.
I doubt very much if there is a single answer for all ATMs out there. There are several different ATM manufacturers, each with their own hardware/software interface, and I wouldn’t be surprised if individual banks/ATM owners have the ability to set parameters on when to stop dispensing. So what is true at one ATM might be completely different a block away.
If an ATM is out of money, it does not mean that people withdrew the thousands of bills present inside the machine. The ATM has a large “discard” tray, and will collect any bills which are out of tolerance. Sometimes it seems it discards some due to a fluke or its tolerances are set too high, as they will work fine a second time.
I have seen ATMs displaying a message along the lines of ‘this machine will only dispense in multiples of 20’, indicating that it is out of lower denominations but will keep working until it has practically run dry across the board.
Most ATM’s these days print money on demand so they may run low on ink but never out of money itself. You can easily identify the machines that print money on demand. They produce stiff, unwrinkled bills that are crisp and rough in texture.
These are especially handy because when they run out of money they just spit out another ATM.
I know some of them do, but I’ve never used an ATM machine that gave anything but 20 dollar bills, full of money or not. The message might be about its standard mode of operation, not its status.
I had it happen once. Tried to withdraw $60, it only debited and dispensed the last $40. I told the merchant what happened and she brought out a brick of $20s and reloaded the thing. It looked completely empty.
Why not? What would be the point of holding back some quantity of “undeliverable” bills?
Back in the late 80s, I worked as a teller. One of our duties was reconciling and refilling ATMs. On long weekends, especially during the summer, they could run out of money ($0 left). We had two, and I never saw both empty at the same time.
Oh, and before anyone asks, yes, we were authorized to put in extra cash on long weekends, and we did.