# Would you rather be given £300 a day for life, or unlimited £5 ATM cash withdrawals for life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972 "2017-02-27T19:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![guitario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@guitario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guitario)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/1 "2017-02-27T19:37:47Z")
Would you rather be given £300 a day for life, or unlimited £5 ATM cash withdrawals for life? The rules are that you can be given the £300 however you want, but the cash withdrawals can only be £5 at a time, and you can’t use that card for any other purpose. Obviously adjust from pounds to dollars or whatever currency suits your country. Option A is easy but limiting, whereas option B would require making 60 separate withdrawals for the same amount, so patience is essential… but there is scope for earning more! What would you choose and why? What would you do with this money? ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/2 "2017-02-27T19:43:02Z")
Option A, easily. Cash is more of an inconvenience these days, and there’s no guarantee it will even still be an option 20-25 years from now. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/3 "2017-02-27T19:44:50Z")
The lump. Who wants to keep running to the ATM doing multiple transaction? Not I!!! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/4 "2017-02-27T19:48:21Z")
I like this question! Doing a little math, today, the daily rate works out to an annual salary of about $140k. That’s a pretty nice salary for doing nothing, on which you could live pretty comfortably, but you wouldn’t be massively wealthy. I’m going to guess that it takes about a minute to do an ATM withdrawal if you’re pretty on-the-ball, so it would take about an hour to get up to that same amount, which is a pretty great hourly salary, but for fairly mind-numbing work. You could probably get it down to 30-40 seconds, which would make the rate much better. You also have to do something with the money. I guess you deposit it back into another account that you can withdraw from normally? So there could be some strange rate-limiting issues with that. I’m going to assume that this is some sort of weird bank-sponsored thing that’s on the up and up, so you can literally sit there and monopolize an ATM and just hit the “Another Transaction” button over and over, and no one’s going to give you flack. And probably you can find a relatively unused ATM so people waiting in line aren’t pissed at you. I’m also assuming you can’t farm out the ATM withdrawals to someone else (otherwise, the choice is very clear. Find a few trusted people and split the spoils with them.) I’d take the ATM card, with the goal of generating a lot more than $140k a year for a while and then coasting. Another interesting question is how low would the ATM payout have to be relative to the free payout before it’s not worth it. Like, I wouldn’t do 4 hours of mind-numbing work to equal the same amount, but I’d probably do 2 hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/5 "2017-02-27T19:52:20Z")
Unless there’s an unstated catch I’m missing, I’d do the 5-pound ATM withdrawals. This is unlimited per day right? I have the patience to do 100 or more withdrawals in one day - again, there isn’t a catch, like, “You can’t just stand in front of the machine, you have to let someone else have their turn first before you can use again? Or - you have to use a different ATM every time?” 100 withdrawals = 500 pounds a day, means I’m essentially being paid 200 extra pounds per day just to take the effort of making the withdrawals, each of which only takes a minute or two. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/6 "2017-02-27T19:57:08Z")
Lump sum, easily. The extra cash isn’t worth what would rapidly become a complete hassle. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/7 "2017-02-27T20:00:09Z")
Give me the $300 per day. I don’t have the patience to do 60 ATM transactions a day. That’s $2100 a week times 52 weeks for $109,200 a year. It’s almost like winning the Publishers Clearinghouse. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/8 "2017-02-27T20:00:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Unless there’s an unstated catch I’m missing, I’d do the 5-pound ATM withdrawals. This is unlimited per day right? I have the patience to do 100 or more withdrawals in one day - again, there isn’t a catch, like, “You can’t just stand in front of the machine, you have to let someone else have their turn first before you can use again? Or - you have to use a different ATM every time?” > > 100 withdrawals = 500 pounds a day, means I’m essentially being paid 200 extra pounds per day just to take the effort of making the withdrawals, each of which only takes a minute or two. And, just think of all the money you would save, standing in front of the ATM for 2 hours/day, while the people behind you stare at your back. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/9 "2017-02-27T20:12:40Z")
The daily lump sum. Money is no good if you don’t have time to spend it. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/10 "2017-02-27T20:44:35Z")
Y’all are weird. I’m taking the $5 ATM withdrawals, assuming that there’s an ATM well-enough stocked for my purposes. And here are my purposes: subcontractors. 50/50 split: you stand in front of the ATM and make as many withdrawals as you want to, the only deal is you have to put half of them in this bag for me. I figure I can find at least 24 people who will sign up for a salary of 150 pounds an hour. I put them on round-the-clock rotation at my personal ATM, and they pull in enough money to make it through each day with an hour’s work, and I pull in 3,600 pounds a day. Edit: I need security, don’t I? Okay, forget that split, sorry subcontractors: for every 50 minutes you put in at the ATM, you get 10 minutes of withdrawals for yourself. 20 minutes of withdrawals go to the security guards I hire. The rest is mine :). ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/11 "2017-02-27T20:56:20Z")
Make more than 60 withdrawals a day _for the rest of my life_? Absurd. Of course, I would take the daily lump sum, nearly CAD 175 a year. That would more than double my income. What would I do with it? I certainly couldn’t spend it all; I’m just not into things that much. Travel first class, visit some countries I never have and likely never will. Whatever. Move to a really nice condo. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/12 "2017-02-27T21:11:47Z")
300 a day; easy decision. I can live very comfortably on far less, so that’s instant retirement for me. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/13 "2017-02-27T21:19:10Z")
$300. I could make more money in the next 20 years doing the withdrawals but I couldn’t retire and god forbid I was incapacitated. My comatose vegetable brain could make $300 per day for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/14 "2017-02-27T21:24:49Z")
Who’s paying the ATM fees? I’m gonna bankrupt someone $3.50 a shot, withdrawing my $5 😉 Also, I’ll need an ATM that lets me withdraw five bucks. I haven’t seen one of those in years. Hypothetical fighting aside, I’d probably take the $300 'cause I’m lazy. I’d like to think that I could spend eight hours a day pushing buttons for $1,600 but the reality is that I’d give up that nonsense within a week and eventually probably slip under a $300 average. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/15 "2017-02-27T21:54:35Z")
Give me $500 a day. I’m special. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/16 "2017-02-27T22:08:40Z")
> [@guitario](#): > > option B would require making 60 separate withdrawals for the same amount, so patience is essential… but there is scope for earning more! Option B is a [Skinner box](http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html#positive). And I am not a rat. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/17 "2017-02-27T22:12:06Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > 300 a day; easy decision. I can live very comfortably on far less, so that’s instant retirement for me. Yup. Especially since I’m beginning to close in on retirement anyway. Extra cash is not worth extra hassle when the lump sum is enough. ETA: > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > And here are my purposes: subcontractors. 50/50 split: you stand in front of the ATM and make as many withdrawals as you want to, the only deal is you have to put half of them in this bag for me. > > I figure I can find at least 24 people who will sign up for a salary of 150 pounds an hour. I put them on round-the-clock rotation at my personal ATM, and they pull in enough money to make it through each day with an hour’s work, and I pull in 3,600 pounds a day. Dude. Managing that is way too much like a job. Take the 300 and go lay on the beach with a margarita :). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/18 "2017-02-27T22:13:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Y’all are weird. I’m taking the $5 ATM withdrawals, assuming that there’s an ATM well-enough stocked for my purposes. > > And here are my purposes: subcontractors. 50/50 split: you stand in front of the ATM and make as many withdrawals as you want to, the only deal is you have to put half of them in this bag for me. > > I figure I can find at least 24 people who will sign up for a salary of 150 pounds an hour. I put them on round-the-clock rotation at my personal ATM, and they pull in enough money to make it through each day with an hour’s work, and I pull in 3,600 pounds a day. > > Edit: I need security, don’t I? Okay, forget that split, sorry subcontractors: for every 50 minutes you put in at the ATM, you get 10 minutes of withdrawals for yourself. 20 minutes of withdrawals go to the security guards I hire. The rest is mine :). Great plan but, ugh. Humans. I’ll take a lump sum, knowing and accepting that it’s considerably less than the maximum that can be potentially extracted from the per-withdrawal option, but it also creates no hassle or drain on my time or attention. ---
**Author:** ![guitario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@guitario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guitario)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/19 "2017-02-27T22:31:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Y’all are weird. I’m taking the $5 ATM withdrawals, assuming that there’s an ATM well-enough stocked for my purposes. > > And here are my purposes: subcontractors. 50/50 split: you stand in front of the ATM and make as many withdrawals as you want to, the only deal is you have to put half of them in this bag for me. > > I figure I can find at least 24 people who will sign up for a salary of 150 pounds an hour. I put them on round-the-clock rotation at my personal ATM, and they pull in enough money to make it through each day with an hour’s work, and I pull in 3,600 pounds a day. > > Edit: I need security, don’t I? Okay, forget that split, sorry subcontractors: for every 50 minutes you put in at the ATM, you get 10 minutes of withdrawals for yourself. 20 minutes of withdrawals go to the security guards I hire. The rest is mine :). Haha, someone is getting into the spirit of things. The rules I created are the only rules that exist, so anything else goes. Thinking up ways to maximise earning potential is allowed. I think some people are thinking ‘can I do something 60 times in 60 minutes…’ and coming up with ‘nah, sod that for a laugh…’ but the effect of getting a physical reward every minute… a monetary reward in your hands… is quite powerful and addictive. There will be a day when you’d spend 24 hours finding ATM machines to see how much you can earn… and of course they’ll be days when you can’t be arsed to get out of bed… but that’s the beauty of it… every day is a different challenge. I’m now wondering if there is a correlation between how people choose between option A and B and those who prefer a safe hourly wage job compared to those who prefer commission based work… Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/20 "2017-02-27T22:36:00Z")
I’m kind of tempted to go to a bank and see how quickly I can withdraw whatever the minimum amount is. I wonder if that would set off any “weird behavior” detection somewhere… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972.md?page=2)