# Outdoor sidewalk ATMs - common? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227 "2010-09-09T21:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/21 "2010-09-10T13:44:49Z")
Until about 5 years ago I’d say that virtually all the ones in the UK were ‘hole in the wall’ type. The only place I’ve seen ones in locked foyers was in Southern India. There are quite a lot in shops and garages in the UK now - which is odd because you have to pay to use them and I’m amazed that people are so badly organised that they don’t stock up using a free bank ATM to avoid the fee. It’s not as if there is any shortage of bank based ATM’s. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/22 "2010-09-10T14:20:34Z")
In a lot of places in Canada they’re relatively uncommon–again, as a result of the winter weather. If you’re wearing nine layers of clothing, you really don’t want to stand outside shivering and trying to fumble your PIN while wearing big fat gloves. But there are zillions of loner ATMs just inside the lobbies of restaurants, clubs, shopping malls, bus stations, etc. By loner I mean the kind that aren’t attached to any bank, but are ReadyCash or LaserCash or other white label ATMs. But in most places, they’re usually under cover. I’m also trying to envision a totally outdoor, uncovered ATM in January in some of the Canadian cities I’ve been to. It’s be either impossible to find–one of several white lumps–or impossible to operate, since the buttons or the screen would be frozen over in snow or ice or otherwise inoperable. Someday, I want to live somewhere where the ATMs can all live outdoors all year round…(and it rains candy, etc. etc.) ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/23 "2010-09-10T17:44:43Z")
Thanks for the responses. I guess I just live in an area which is relatively devoid of outdoor ATMs (just outside of NYC, which several people have previously posted that they saw mostly/only indoor ATMs), and since I grew up with ATMs inside bank foyers/lobbys (except of course the drive-thrus) I just accepted that as the norm. Not sure about the crime bit, as people mentioned outdoor ATMs in Washington and Detroit, and I never thought of those cities having an average crime rate lower than NY. Those ‘free-standing’ ATMs I have seen for years now in many stores, big and small, and I just consider their ubiquitousness to be the 21st century equivalent to the private Pay-Phone explosion of the 1980s. Interesting that Hollywood got the enclosed NY ATMs right in at least 2 popular shows - the Seinfeld episode where George has to give up his ‘Bosco’ pin-code to get a man trapped in a enclosed ATM out (OK, his sleeve was trapped in the machine, but it was still in an enclosed vestibule), and the Friends episode (The One With the Blackout) where Chandler is trapped with a beautiful woman in a ATM lobby during a power outage. Of course, here the indoor ATMs are plot-points, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/24 "2010-09-10T20:58:38Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > I’m also trying to envision a totally outdoor, uncovered ATM in January in some of the Canadian cities I’ve been to. It’s be either impossible to find–one of several white lumps–or impossible to operate, since the buttons or the screen would be frozen over in snow or ice or otherwise inoperable. Someday, I want to live somewhere where the ATMs can all live outdoors all year round…(and it rains candy, etc. etc.) Well, I’m not sure just how cold or snowy it gets in these Canadian cities, but ours work just fine outdoors in -30 C and with 60 cm of snow on the ground. Sure it might be a bit cold to operate it but if you just want to withdraw cash that hardly takes that long. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/25 "2010-09-11T00:04:40Z")
Be that as it may, I’m just saying that in my experience I haven’t seen many. Someone somewhere is making the decisions and opting against them. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/26 "2010-09-11T19:59:22Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And where would “here” be? > > I’ve traveled all over the US over the last 20-ish years. When I first encountered greater NYC’s ATMs in locked foyers I was surprised & confused. Then I remembered everything in NYC has to be armored against street crime to protect both the machinery & the patrons. Unlike 90+ percent of the rest of the US. Then it made sense. > > Bottom line, ATMs in foyers mostly follow the weather. If it snows there, you’ll see a lot more in foyers than if it never snows there. And in areas of high crime you’ll see what few ATMs there are are generally in foyers as well. NV, and yes, it snows plenty in the desert. The only indoor ATMs I can think about ATM (heh…) are the main branch skyscrapers. Every other one is outdoors on the wall of the bank or in a drivethru. Maybe the latter is made for weather considerations, although I think I’d be a little wary to drive through an area of questionable iciness upkeep when you have to inch towards heavy electronics. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/27 "2010-09-11T21:31:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > A > I’ve traveled all over the US over the last 20-ish years. When I first encountered greater NYC’s ATMs in locked foyers I was surprised & confused. Then I remembered everything in NYC has to be armored against street crime to protect both the machinery & the patrons. Unlike 90+ percent of the rest of the US. St. Lois has a murder rate 8 times higher and a theft rate more than double that of New York City. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/28 "2010-09-12T10:43:25Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Those ‘free-standing’ ATMs I have seen for years now in many stores, big and small, and I just consider their ubiquitousness to be the 21st century equivalent to the private Pay-Phone explosion of the 1980s. I’m from the UK, where, as noted, the vast majority of ATMs are “holes in the wall” (which is a slightly old-fashioned slang name for them). Here’s [an example](http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.338389,-0.744573&spn=0,0.001749&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.338474,-0.744629&panoid=RKfru0pTIJTf-i0paDvwXw&cbp=12,97.79,,1,14.66) near me, which is actually in a glass-fronted bank - a more typical example would be set into a stone or brick wall. I remember on my first visit to the US finding it odd that if I wanted to get cash out I’d generally have to go to a free-standing ATM in a supermarket (and get charged for the privilege!) ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/29 "2010-09-12T11:02:35Z")
When I was in northern India the Bank of India ATM was just situated alone in a small room that I assume the bank leased from the store that owned the rest of the lot it was on. No real security, although it was fairly safe- sometimes shopkeepers or beggars would hang around outside the ATM to bug you for money, but the former were still pretty polite (for India) and the latter got chased away by police or military. There was an Indian Air Force base a few km away, so I always used to try and use it around noon on payday- a lot of the airmen would come to town to cash checks and make withdraws from the ATM, and the people who normally gave you trouble sometimes would stay away when the soldiers were around, so it was much less stress when you made a transaction. Another company (I forget which) had a second ATM at the busstop: that one was just a depression in a thick cement wall on one side of the big open garage where all the buses parked, but it was very safe- the only people that tended to go down there were bus drivers and travelers, so you never really worried and I never heard of the machines getting stolen or broken into. They broke down all the time, but were never broken INTO. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/30 "2010-09-12T11:16:39Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Not at all common here in Saskatchewan (in fact, I can’t think of any near me). Simple reason: our winter weather - there’s no way in the winter that I want to have to take my gloves off to get my card out of my wallet! The really cool part of all this is that Saskatchewan has ATMs. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/31 "2010-09-12T13:23:38Z")
Well of course we do - [Saskatchewan had the first ATMs in Canada](http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/automated_teller_machines.html). It took a while for the rest of the country to catch up. [QUOTE=Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan] The first automated teller machine and the first debit card transaction in Canada were developed by Saskatchewan credit unions. Under the direction of its vice-president, Ed Gebert, Sherwood Credit Union introduced its first Automated Teller Machine (ATM), also known as Automated Banking Machine (ABM), in 1977. Sherwood, now known as Conexus Credit Union, worked with Co-operators Data Services (now called CGI), CREDIT UNION ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION SERVICES (CUETs), and Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan to create the ATM system. Initially, the ATMs at the Sherwood Credit Union’s two branches in REGINA provided service eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, with a maximum withdrawal of $200. Since then the system has sprawled across the country, and over 36,000 machines are available from coast to coast. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/32 "2010-09-12T14:42:45Z")
That’s credit union communist propoganda. The CIBC opened its first automated bank machine on [1 December 1969](http://banknerd.ca/2009/10/06/canadas-first-abm-turns-40/), and I recall my dad using the Royal Bank of Canada’s automated bank machine in Streetsville as early as [1972](http://www.rbc.com/history/anytimeanywhere/self_service.html) as part of a test group. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/33 "2010-09-12T14:52:31Z")
Make that Cooksville, not Streetsville – the ABM he used was on #5 at the corner of #10. (I had Streetsville in my head as that was a popular place for paddling in the spring. Streetsville is a few blocks north of Cooksville.) ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/34 "2010-09-12T15:07:40Z")
They’re very common here in Australia - in fact I’ve only ever seen one ATM purposely built inside an enclosure, all the rest have been sidewalk ATMs or stand-alone in shopping centres. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/35 "2010-09-12T16:25:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve traveled all over the US over the last 20-ish years. When I first encountered greater NYC’s ATMs in locked foyers I was surprised & confused. Then I remembered everything in NYC has to be armored against street crime to protect both the machinery & the patrons. Unlike 90+ percent of the rest of the US. Then it made sense. There are plenty of street ATMs in NYC as well. [Here](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4th+street,+nyc&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=33.984987,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=E+4th+St,+New+York&ll=40.732023,-74.000258&spn=0.007935,0.01929&z=16&layer=c&cbll=40.733189,-74.00239&panoid=ouwXQheO6d4TixUX2NqLCw&cbp=12,276.35,,0,5) is a guy using one on W. 4th St in the West Village. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/36 "2010-09-12T16:58:42Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I remember on my first visit to the US finding it odd that if I wanted to get cash out I’d generally have to go to a free-standing ATM in a supermarket (and get charged for the privilege!) You got ripped off! It’s best to pay for your groceries with your debit card, and then ask for cash back. There’s no charge for that. If you didn’t have any groceries to buy, I don’t understand why you didn’t just go to an ATM attached to a bank? The free-standing ATMs in grocery stores and the like are just for people in a hurry who are valuing convenience over time. I admit I’ve used them a few times when I really needed some cash and didn’t have time to look for a better option, but it’s really kind of a last resort. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/37 "2010-09-13T03:06:05Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > > [@apollonia](#): > > > > I’m also trying to envision a totally outdoor, uncovered ATM in January in some of the Canadian cities I’ve been to. It’s be either impossible to find–one of several white lumps–or impossible to operate, since the buttons or the screen would be frozen over in snow or ice or otherwise inoperable. Someday, I want to live somewhere where the ATMs can all live outdoors all year round…(and it rains candy, etc. etc.) > > Well, I’m not sure just how cold or snowy it gets in these Canadian cities, but ours work just fine outdoors in -30 C and with 60 cm of snow on the ground. Sure it might be a bit cold to operate it but if you just want to withdraw cash that hardly takes that long. I spent 9 years working for a company that manufactures ATMs. They offer internal heaters for units deployed in cold-weather climates. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/38 "2010-09-13T03:09:16Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Make that Cooksville, not Streetsville – the ABM he used was on #5 at the corner of #10. (I had Streetsville in my head as that was a popular place for paddling in the spring. Streetsville is a few blocks north of Cooksville.) For the record, in the US we call them ATMs. In Canada, ABM (Automated Banking Machine) is sometimes used. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/39 "2010-09-13T03:22:01Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > > [@Muffin](#): > > > > Make that Cooksville, not Streetsville – the ABM he used was on #5 at the corner of #10. (I had Streetsville in my head as that was a popular place for paddling in the spring. Streetsville is a few blocks north of Cooksville.) > > For the record, in the US we call them ATMs. > In Canada, ABM (Automated Banking Machine) is sometimes used. Yup. That’s how Saskatchewan is able to make its claim, for the banks called theirs ABMs, but the credit unions could not call theirs ABMs because credit unions are not banks, so instead they called their ATMs, and thus can say that they had ATMs before the banks did (despite the banks’ earlier ABMs and credit union’s later ATMs all being the same thing, whatever the name). ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227/40 "2010-09-13T03:31:26Z")
Very common out here in the hinterlands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdoor-sidewalk-atms-common/553227.md?page=3)