Fun_People Archive
12 May
The ATM Index

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Mon, 12 May 97 11:56:02 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: The ATM Index

Forwarded-by: <KevyBaby@aol.com>
Excerpted-from: Fast Facts about ATMs
		by Leilani Nisperos
		(from the LA Times Magazine, 5/4/97)


ATM cards were once relied on mostly for the oh-my-God-it's-the-weekend
withdrawal. Now with help from point of sale terminals, which allow
merchants to remove funds electronically from a customer's bank account,
ATM cards can buy anything from pot-bellied pigs to a fifth of whiskey.

* Number of P.O.S. terminals in the U.S. in 1991: 70,000
                             in 1997 (estimated): 1,000,000

* Number of P.O.S. transactions nationally in 1995: 9,689,000

* First fast food restaurant to use P.O.S. terminals: Carl's Jr.

* Percentage of Carl's Jr. transactions made with P.O.S. terminals: 25

* Some L.A. establishments that accept ATM payments:
  * Brothers Collateral Loans
  * Pleasure Chest (a VERY adult novelty/book store)
  * Goldilocks Bakery
  * For Pets Only
  * Los Angeles Nut House (Isn't that a kind of oxymoron?)
  * Golden Rule Liquor
  * David Matlock, M.D. Cosmetic Surgeon -- "My customers use it
    for large items like liposuction."

* First local (So. Cal.) grocery chain to use P.O.S. terminals: Lucky

* First debit card transaction; Dahl's supermarket, Fleur Drive,
  Des Moines, Iowa, 1977. Purchase: carton of Kools

© 1997 Peter Langston