I have a follow-up of sorts to this question: Why do most teller machines that spit money out in increments of twenty dollars require you to enter the cents when making a withdrawl? e.g. If you want forty dollars you must type 4-0-0-0 to get $40.00. Very strange.
On the same ATMs you can make deposits and can transfer money between accounts. In those cases you might want to include cents, and it would be confusing to have two different ways of entering amounts of money.
In addition, if you make a mistake and enter (say) $2.00 meaning $200, the machine can respond with an appropriate error message. The cases when it won’t be able to identify the error would be when you are trying to withdraw a multiple of $1,000 (if it has $10 notes) or $2,000 (if it has just $20 notes), and attempts to withdraw $1,000 or more would be rare.
Also, some of the early machines from IBM could dispense exact change, and – who knows? – it might be tried again in the future. Best to define it one way and keep it that way.
They probably have braille cause you know blind people might get rides to the bank with a friend, and then have to use the machine.
I heard a econ prof hyping his book, a la Freakeconomics, state that the reason was that it cost very little if anything more to have braile on the buttons and then pay for one set of buttons for all machines everywhere. The Braile buttons do nor inhibit the utility to the sighted. Sort of, one button fits all.
Which is pretty plausible and actually a more interestingly explanation, whether true or not, because it presents a solution by rethinking the question, instead of actually knowing something.
Ouch my brain hurts.
What about the fact it may make manufactoring cust cheaper to keep as many just to make 1 set of keyes that can be used on both the drive throught and walk up machines.
Hey, guys (the last three posters), this thread isn’t about Braille on the machines… :smack:
Welcome to the SDMB, wadems.
I’ll move this thread to General Questions (our forum for miscellaneous queries) since this question is only tangentially related to Cecil’s column on Why is there braille on drive-up teller machines?
I’ll also change the thread title to make it clear that your question isn’t about braille.
bibliophage
moderator CCC
You’ve been given some answers, but I’ll note that not all ATMs do. The one at my former bank expected you to enter cash withdrawals without cents; i.e., if the first number you typed was 3, it showed $3.00. If you then typed 5 it showed $35.00. Cents were expected for deposits however.
My bank has since been acquired by Bank of America, and the new ATMs do expect cents on withdrawals. It may in fact be the same machine with just new software.
Most ATMs in the UK don’t require you to type in the pennies. In fact you rarely have to type in the amount at all unless you require an unusual amount. You usually get a choice of four or five amounts on the screen (say £10, £20, £30, £50, £100) and you press the button next to that amount at the side of the screen. There’s also an option for “Other Amount”, and if you choose that then you only have to type in, say, 7 0 for £70.
There are ATMs in current production with coin dispensers.
One model I am aware had an option kit that would allow it to accept your paycheck, charge a 2% fee, and then spit out the remainder of your paycheck in US greenbacks and coins.
I’d be happy to get anything out of my local ATM smaller than a €50 note.
You think that ATM’s are the only inane place for Braille???
I was an Air Traffic Controller for 20 years. Recently retired. All federal buildings have very strict “codes” that must be followed when renovated; a new tenant takes over etc…
Taking a tour of the new Air Traffic Control School in Pensacola FL, I noticed Braille on all the doors. Why, I asked?
I was told that it is the federal code and something that we must live with. I looked this up, thinking, well that doesn’t make sense. But it is the code, but there is more. These “requirements” must be met each and every time someone moves in, or has a new requirement, or just preparing for an inspection etc…
OK, I thought. But, wait a minute if this should need to happen if someone should take over that building, just what does it matter if it is there (or not) RIGHT NOW.
I can’t help but wonder just how many blind Air Traffic Controllers we actually have. Boggles the mind!
Yeah. And there is a wheelchair ramp for access to the local square dance hall.
In fact, when the inspector was there, he came very close to insisting there was an elevator up to the loft, where the tables and chairs were stored. Because… uh… wheelchair-bound people frequently help carry tables and chairs around. Up stairs.
And we would have been able to fit a massive table into an elevator. Or something.
Have we forgotten Y2K? Lazy coders and/or the need to save space. If you have a sub routine to enter dollar amounts and change, it’s easier to put in a call for that sub routine or copy and paste it into another section of the program than it is to write a new one.