With an Estimated 90 Percent In-House Spending
Pattern, ATMs are a Bar's Best Bank

Envision being in a bar    –– but as a guest this time. The band is rocking, the crowd is at a comfortable capacity, your friends are all with you ... and you’re out of money. Should you start a tab? You’ve had some bad experiences at clubs in the past, and you don’t want to wait in the mob to close down at the end of the night. It seems you might be out of luck. Now, realize that you are the owner of that bar. What if there was an easy way to put $20, $40 or even $60 more into that customer’s hand. What if there were dozens more in his same predicament? You could be missing out on a significant amount of money every open night –– simply by not having an ATM machine.

The Decisions
    There are several questions pertaining to the addition of an ATM machine: the kind of machine, the company to go through, the method of cash-loading, the surcharge and the location.
    Stephen Johnson, marketing director for Texas-based International Merchant Services (IMS), has some good advice for ATM prospectors. He says there basically are two directions you can go as an owner or operator. Either you buy your own machine, or you let a company furnish a machine for you. If you purchase your own machine, you are responsible for loading the cash into it, but you keep some or all of the surcharge. That can be beneficial when it comes time to pay the networking fees tied to the ATMs.
    If you choose to have a machine placed in your venue, you will have the option of loading your own cash or having the machine’s cash vaulted.

The Machines
    While any ATM machine on the market will produce cash when working properly, Johnson says there is more to it than just that. Many customers opt for IMS’ prepaid maintenance program in addition to the standard sales and service warranties  because, after all, no one makes any money with a broken machine. With a prepaid maintenance program, you get the peace of mind of knowing that your machine will be promptly serviced by knowledgeable technicians.
    Johnson also stresses the importance of the company through which you obtain your ATM. He advises using a company that is registered with all of the major networks. Some companies may be registered with only a minimal number of networks, which can lead to complications causing numerous card declines over the course of an evening.

The Possibilities
    An ATM machine is any easy way to bolster nightly revenues in your bar provided you use some common sense and do a little research before deciding upon a company to provide you with a machine.
    Also, consider the technological possibilities of today’s ATM systems, many of which feature credit card cash advance options, electronic fund transfers and even payroll cashing programs in which a debit-styled card is issued for use on certain networks’ systems. Las Vegas clubs, to cite one locale, have been utilizing this for years with the casino-supported (and vice versa) club traffic.
    Remember that your decisions should be based on a well-thought-out estimation of the volume of your possible ATM transactions, so be prepared openly discuss your business capabilities –– and even promotional possibilities –– with your ATM representative. With a little help, you can be making more money by simply making more money available to your customers. NCB