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From: MCMAHON%GRIN1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (McMahon,Brian D)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: ATM at Retailers
Message-ID: <12139@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 14 Sep 90 15:25:53 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 644, Message 12 of 12


J. Philip Miller <phil@wubios.wustl.edu> writes:

>The proliferation of ATM terminals and retail stores using ATM type
>cards seems to be particularly popular in urban areas, but seems to be
>much less popular in small town America.  Now this may be because of
>attitude differences, but I have assumed that much of it is also due
>to the fact that connecting the terminal to necessary host equipment
>is also considerably more expensive and thus the amount of traffic for
>a particular location would need to be much higher for a rural
>location than an urban one.

It may also be that the need for point-of-sale systems is less
pressing in rural communities.  It's much easier to cash a check in
smaller towns.  Take Grinnell (pop. 9000) as an example.  Few of the
local merchants require identification even for out-of-town checks.
When I lived and worked in the Washington D.C. area, it was next to
IMPOSSIBLE to cash a check without producing an I.D. *and* a major
credit card.

Now, I did notice a POS machine at Iowa Book & Supply a while ago, but
that's in Iowa city.  You know, the big city.  :-) On the other hand,
Farm Service is installing one of their Fuel-24 (or whatever it's
called, the advertisment is at home) stations here, which are gas pump
that take a special credit card.  Open 24 hours, no need for an
attendant.  You just drive up, insert your card, and start pumping
gas.  This suggests that where the service meets local demand, it *is*
feasible to set up POS in smaller communities...


Brian McMahon  <MCMAHON@GRIN1.BITNET> Grinnell College Computer Services
Grinnell, Iowa 50112 USA Voice: +1 515 269 4901 / Fax:   +1 515 269 4936