# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/81 "2017-03-01T15:29:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Using your figures, you’d have about $200,000 at the end of four months. That’s nice money but you’re working a full time job (and not a good one). I’ll make $36,000 during those same four months and I’ll be enjoying my life. If I quit my job, the daily payout is going to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, pay the bills, etc. And I can save some, but other than having a hell of a lot more free time (which is very valuable, I grant you) it’s not going to financially change my life. Or I can take that 300/day and keep my real job, which I do like but I also work my ass off, and sock away the additional daily payout and that would be nice. Let’s say for the purpose of this hypothetical I would be doubling my annual pay. So 219k/year. Or, I can work my ass off in front of an ATM for 90 days a year and make the same as if I kept my real job and the daily payout. Or, if I were so committed, I’d have the opportunity to make a million bucks in one year by working 10 hour days for most of that year. I kind of like the idea of being in control of my earning power. Of course, if I were 50+ years old and not in financial dire straits, I’d probably just take the daily payout. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/82 "2017-03-01T16:09:38Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Oh, man, this is a good point. The rules don’t specify which ATM to use; as I understand it, the person setting me up is just keeping an account stocked with money sufficient that an ATM connected to the network will always have enough money in it. > > So I’m designing my own ATM. > > It accepts my card, but no other. It has an express slot, where you swipe the card and put in your code, and it spits out five bucks (I know the OP says pounds, but I’ll take it in US dollars just to avoid the inconvenience of trying to type that weird little L symbol). I bet that we can get the whole process down to to 20 seconds, most of which is taken up by communication with the bank. > > I bet I can have that ATM designed for less than a quarter million bucks, but let’s set it at $250,000. > > Step 2: a robot. For $10,000, I’m pretty sure I can hire some engineering grad student to design a simple robot that swipes the card and types in the PIN and snags the fiver and puts it in a stack. Let’s figure the robot is crazy energy inefficient, uses $5 of electricity a day. The ATM uses another $45 a day in electricity–super inefficient! Boy, did you miss out on an opportunity. You’re designing the ATM! Screw buttons, screw robots. Slot the card and type the PIN once. The ATM carries out the entire transaction as fast as possible using the captive card and stored PIN, completely hands off, over and over, as fast as transaction cycle allows. Just stick a big enough basket under the dispenser slot and PROFIT. Since we’re mutating the hypothetical enough to eliminate the “rat in a skinner box” aspect that OP is clearly jonesing for, I’m sure it wouldn’t be allowed. Because rats. But dammit, if you’re going to automate, why settle for half-measures? 😃 ETA: What **Jophiel** [said](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20035137&postcount=78). ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/83 "2017-03-01T16:21:14Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > For people building robots, it seems like it’d be easier to just buy an ATM and have someone reprogram the firmware to (a) not require a separate card swipe each time and (b) spoofs the code entry, much like software that simulates mouse/keyboard actions. At that point, it would just spit out fivers as quickly as the cash dispensing mechanics allow. > > However, this pretty much assumes a magic ATM that is restocking itself. The OP makes no allowances for such so I assume you’re stuck using the one at the local bank or store. Did you see my post immediately above yours? ---
**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:** [March 1, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/84 "2017-03-01T17:19:51Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Did you see my post immediately above yours? You’re still pushing buttons unnecessarily. “Another Transaction?” -\> automated ‘Yes’ -\> Start from the top. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/85 "2017-03-01T19:22:13Z")
I would consider what lump sum I could sell the ATM card for, and the annual income that lump sum would generate for me. If it was greater than 300 per day, then taking and selling the ATM card is a better choice. That lump sum would probably need to be around 3 million at the lower end. Of course, that means someone has to think that paying 3 million for such a card is a good deal for them. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 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/780972/86 "2017-03-01T20:00:18Z")
If you can get your own ATM, it wouldn’t be very difficult to build a robot to attach to it that continually goes through the motions. I bet I could make one over a weekend with McMaster parts and an Arduino. Probably need to get it refilled every other day. If I had to physically withdraw the money, then definitely the 300. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/87 "2017-03-01T20:02:40Z")
I’d probably choose the £300/day, but the unlimited £5 withdrawal does have interesting implications depending on the other rules that surround this magic ATM card. I could, for instance, hand the card off to friends and family to enjoy. Or, if it’s replaceable, to total strangers. The fact that it’s such an effort-intensive way of making money, and eminently traceable could make sharing this card kind of fun, if the ground rules are right. Two other notes: 1. There is a Chase bank in my area that dispenses both 20s and fives from its ATM. I also had a go-to WaMu ATM in Olympia Washington that did so (many moons ago, when I sometimes only had $15 in my account). But it’s rare. 2. That Chase ATM easily takes 90 seconds for a withdrawal, although I could probably bring that down a bit if I got a rhythm going, didn’t have to look at the screen, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/88 "2017-03-01T20:06:17Z")
You could keep the card, use it and hire it out on the days you can’t be bothered working. I think $1,000 daily rate seems reasonable - about 3 hours’ work, and the hiree keeps all the profits for the rest of the day ---
**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:** [March 1, 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/780972/89 "2017-03-01T21:11:05Z")
> [@guitario](#): > > **Robot problems!** > > Now, there’s something that’s baffling me… > > A lot of people are aiming to buy or build a robot to automate the withdrawal process - which seems logical, until you realise that building such a thing isn’t exactly simple. > > Single individuals with those skills aren’t going to come cheap, and are probably already in a highly paid position - so that’s a whole lot of manual ATM shenanigans just to afford someone. As I said, I’m figuring $10,000 would buy me this simple robot. It really doesn’t have to be very complex, and I seriously doubt I’d have trouble finding a grad student who could do it in a couple of weeks and be happy to walk away with $10,000. If I have a written contract with the magic donor to give me all the fivers I can withdraw, I also suspect I can find an angel investor to loan me that beginning cash wad. Hell, I could probably impose on my parents for part of that money, with the promise of a tenfold return. > [@](#): > > Once it works, who maintains it? The whole point is it is automated, so you don’t have to be there… but if it breaks, how will you know? Who fixes it? At seven and a half million a year, I can pay folks to fix it. > [@](#): > > **ATM problem!** > > And buying your own ATM? That’s great… but there’s a problem… > > If you own it, you put the cash in there - only to draw it out again. So just don’t put it in there to start with… > > Sure you can make money in fees, but no ATM company is going to allow this as it’s fraud - therefore it has to be free to use. As I see it, this arrangement needs Angel Donor, Megabank, and me. Angel Donor sets up the account that they keep infinitely refilled with cash. They’re paying all account fees. Megabank staffs the ATM. They need some motive to keep filling it with fivers. Again, these fivers are being deducted from the balance of Angel Donor’s account. They’re not gifts from the bank. As I suggested above, > [@me](#): > > Step 3: someone to refill the ATM. How much can it cost to keep the ATM in fives? Let’s be super generous and pay a company $550 a day to keep it stocked and to guard it (maybe I’m renting a closet in a bank). Who’s paying the fees? Me. Specifically, a daily fee of $550. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Oh, man, this is a good point. The rules don’t specify which ATM to use; as I understand it, the person setting me up is just keeping an account stocked with money sufficient that an ATM connected to the network will always have enough money in it. > > So I’m designing my own ATM. > > It accepts my card, but no other. It has an express slot, where you swipe the card and put in your code, and it spits out five bucks (I know the OP says pounds, but I’ll take it in US dollars just to avoid the inconvenience of trying to type that weird little L symbol). I bet that we can get the whole process down to to 20 seconds, most of which is taken up by communication with the bank. > > I bet I can have that ATM designed for less than a quarter million bucks, but let’s set it at $250,000. > > Step 2: a robot. For $10,000, I’m pretty sure I can hire some engineering grad student to design a simple robot that swipes the card and types in the PIN and snags the fiver and puts it in a stack. Let’s figure the robot is crazy energy inefficient, uses $5 of electricity a day. The ATM uses another $45 a day in electricity–super inefficient! > > At 3 transactions a minute, that’s $15 \* 60, or $900 an hour. The daily haul is $21,600. Minus costs, that’s $21,000 a day. > > Startup costs are paid in two weeks. After those two weeks, I’m earning $7,665,000 a year. > > I may decide after the first few months to use a couple million of my earnings to buy myself a nice house and move the whole operation into the house. > [@gnoitall](#): > > Boy, did you miss out on an opportunity. You’re designing the ATM! Screw buttons, screw robots. > > Slot the card and type the PIN once. The ATM carries out the entire transaction as fast as possible using the captive card and stored PIN, completely hands off, over and over, as fast as transaction cycle allows. Just stick a big enough basket under the dispenser slot and PROFIT. > > Since we’re mutating the hypothetical enough to eliminate the “rat in a skinner box” aspect that OP is clearly jonesing for, I’m sure it wouldn’t be allowed. Because rats. But dammit, if you’re going to automate, why settle for half-measures? 😃 Hmm…maybe. I figure at some point it no longer counts enough to be an ATM. I was trying to make it resemble an ATM sufficiently that it’d be recognized as such. An ATM that only dispenses $5 is still clearly an ATM, and each transaction is still clearly a separate transaction. An ATM that scans the card once and then just keeps sending out $5s is possibly not an ATM, and it’s highly dubious that those count as separate transactions. But yeah, if those count, I’m going that way, baby. Minimize the time spent. If I can get away with these shenanigans, I’m definitely going this path. Sure, it’s a lot more work to begin with, **but solving a puzzle like this is awesome work**. It’s the kind of thing that I’m doing for free on a messageboard now instead of doing my real work (glares unhappily at the stack of math papers to grade). If I can’t engage in shenanigans–can’t subcontract, can’t build robots, etc.–then I’m taking the daily lump sum. I have zero interest in the actual act of typing my PIN over and over. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/90 "2017-03-01T21:26:11Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I have zero interest in the actual act of typing my PIN over and over. You astound me, sirrah! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/91 "2017-03-01T21:32:06Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Still thinking small. 😃 You’ve only shaved my 3 seconds down to 2 :). Remember, it’s about _throughput_, not _latency_. It doesn’t matter if a single transaction take a minute as long as you can have a bunch in parallel. Still, you have a point–we could reduce some of the steps with custom software. Not cheap, so you’ll have to build up the infrastructure slowly. So I’d still start with human button-pressers and expand that until the limits are reached. Then (and with millions saved) one could expand into robots and custom ATMs. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/92 "2017-03-01T21:35:17Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Or, I can work my ass off in front of an ATM for 90 days a year and make the same as if I kept my real job and the daily payout. Or, if I were so committed, I’d have the opportunity to make a million bucks in one year by working 10 hour days for most of that year. I kind of like the idea of being in control of my earning power. I still don’t feel the numbers add up. If you take the automatic pay option, you’re going to make $109,500 a year. If you take the ATM option and work for three months a year on a normal forty-hours-a-week schedule, you’re going to make about $156,000 a year. And you only get that if you work a full eight hours every day with no breaks. If you take a half hour lunch break and three other ten minute breaks every day, you’re down to $136,500. To make a million dollars, you’d have to make 200,000 transactions. Assuming a minute each, that’s 334 ten-hour days (with no breaks). That’s eleven straight months without a day off. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/93 "2017-03-01T22:16:27Z")
> [@guitario](#): > > **Robot problems!** > > Now, there’s something that’s baffling me… > > A lot of people are aiming to buy or build a robot to automate the withdrawal process - which seems logical, until you realise that building such a thing isn’t exactly simple. > > Single individuals with those skills aren’t going to come cheap, and are probably already in a highly paid position - so that’s a whole lot of manual ATM shenanigans just to afford someone. > > Not only that, but materials cost money, as does technology… and even then, anything bar the crudest of mechanical devices is more difficult to create than most people realise. > > Once it works, who maintains it? The whole point is it is automated, so you don’t have to be there… but if it breaks, how will you know? Who fixes it? It’s not nearly as hard as you think - you can more or less buy a thing off the shelf that will do it. Consider [this](https://youtu.be/OeswYL_EhH0?t=13s) pen-plotter, for example (I have one on order). All that needs to be done to make it press a sequence of buttons is to replace the pen with a plastic stylus and create a bit of gcode to make it think it’s drawing a dot where the buttons are. > [@](#): > > **ATM problem!** > > And buying your own ATM? That’s great… but there’s a problem… > > If you own it, you put the cash in there - only to draw it out again. So just don’t put it in there to start with… > > Sure you can make money in fees, but no ATM company is going to allow this as it’s fraud - therefore it has to be free to use. > > So it’s a completely pointless endeavour… unless I’m missing something? That’s not how private ATMs work - the standalone kind that you may see in convenience stores - they’re stocked by the bank, but owned or rented by the store - the bank puts in the money - the store gets a slice of the fees (and a supply of customers who have enough cash to buy more than they might otherwise) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 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/780972/94 "2017-03-01T22:31:25Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > $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. This was my first thought. But, most ATMs also allow deposits. It is a fairly easy software change to allow withdrawal from one account and then deposit into another, instead of getting the actual cash. (Which is a technical - but real - banking difference from a transfer.) So, I’d use the external ATM until I had enough set by to buy my own, and have it custom configured to automatically withdraw and re-deposit $6.15 with every swipe of the card. No need for the PIN because it is auto-deposited into my own account. And the faceplate would be removable, so I could sit in my comfy armchair while I swipe. I’d let me friends have a go whenever I was doing something else, and transfer to them whatever money they garnered. In a way, this would be better than winning the lottery. Because any friends or family who needed money could get their own without my having to lose anything, but they have to put in some effort to get it. Fun fact: I actually purchased thousands of retail kiosks this year, so I actually know who to call to make this happen. It should only cost about $30k, and that’s including making the housing look nice in my living room. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/95 "2017-03-01T22:39:03Z")
Yeah, when I said 90 days I didn’t mean 3 months at 40 hours/week. I meant 90 days at 8 hours/day. Regardless, the extra earning power of the ATM option is still more appealing to me because you can more quickly obtain seriously life changing money. Granted, there is a lot of mind numbing work required, but others have come up with some creative ways around that. I’d probably just hire a few people to swipe all day. Each one deliver 80% of their withdrawals to me and keep 20%. I imagine I’d rake in at least a few thousand a day. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/96 "2017-03-02T00:46:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > If installation of a private ATM is an option that doesn’t break the hypothetical, Frankly, I think that even though it was encouraged by the OP, the idea of hiring people to withdraw the money for you, or building a robot, etc…make the hypothetical totally uninteresting because then it basically becomes : “would you prefer to get £ 300/day doing nothing or £ 1 500/day doing nothing?”. Which is hardly a difficult choice. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/97 "2017-03-02T00:46:32Z")
[quote=“guitario, post:75, topic:780972”] T You can’t imagine how you could spend $2,600 a week? Buy a guitar, a car, a big TV, whack it on a horse, give it to a hobo, burn it… the possibilities are endless! I pretty much do everything I want to do already. We travel a lot so the only difference would be no more flying coach. No matter how much I had would I be for wasting it just to see it go out the door. That’s pretty much how we got to the position where we can do what we want. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/98 "2017-03-02T01:10:20Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Frankly, I think that even though it was encouraged by the OP, the idea of hiring people to withdraw the money for you, or building a robot, etc…make the hypothetical totally uninteresting because then it basically becomes : “would you prefer to get £ 300/day doing nothing or £ 1 500/day doing nothing?”. Which is hardly a difficult choice. It isn’t quite that easy. If you find a way to hire it out, you are effectively running a (fairly lucrative) small business and there will be problems. You will either have to figure out how to deal with equipment and personnel failures yourself or hire a good manager which adds another layer. The tax implications alone could be a nightmare if you don’t set it up correctly. Granted, this is one of the lowest risk businesses possible but there are still plenty of ways to screw it up. I think the question is really about how much hassle and risk someone is willing to go through to maximize gains and there are a lot of potential answers. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/99 "2017-03-02T03:14:07Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > You astound me, sirrah! I am an international man of mystery when it comes to ATM cards. > [@TruCelt](#): > > This was my first thought. > > But, most ATMs also allow deposits. It is a fairly easy software change to allow withdrawal from one account and then deposit into another, instead of getting the actual cash. (Which is a technical - but real - banking difference from a transfer.) So, I’d use the external ATM until I had enough set by to buy my own, and have it custom configured to automatically withdraw and re-deposit $6.15 with every swipe of the card. No need for the PIN because it is auto-deposited into my own account. I dunno about this. If you’re not actually withdrawing cash, I don’t think it matches the OP rules. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-given-300-a-day-for-life-or-unlimited-5-atm-cash-withdrawals-for-life/780972/100 "2017-03-02T03:24:16Z")
The issue still remains that no bank is going to install and maintain an ATM that nets them zero dollars in fees. And finding a public ATM stocked with $5s is close to impossible and trying to monopolize it is going to just get you chased off especially since, again, you’re not making them any money in fees. Granted, this is all hypothetical but dream scenarios of sitting on your couch pushing a button or paying hobos to run your card for eight hours a day aren’t ‘realistic’. I suppose if the mystery provider WAS willing to pay $3-4 a pop in fees, you should just negotiate with them to give you $1000 a day instead of paying out $1400 daily in $5s and fees. [Previous 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=4) [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=6)