ATMs Turn 40, Celebrate by Charging Me $2 For My Own Darn Money

Katherine Mangu-Ward | June 28, 2007

Forget about the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, this week marks a far more important milestone. In 1967, the first ATM was installed outside Barclay's near London. This marvelous invention freed us from teller lines, relieved the strain on many mattresses, and blessedly reduced the number of human interactions necessary in any given day. ATMs dispense $25 billion a day worldwide, so celebrate by grabbing some cash of your own.

Read a neat paper on the effects of surcharges on ATM convenience, which Tyler Cowen dubbed the Anti-Market Paper of the Month a while back.

FYI: This fact came to you courtesy of the fine trivia night hosted at Dempsey's in Manhattan, but was confirmed by the fine folks at CNET.

If you prefer love to cold hard cash, check out this month's cover story about "how left-wing hippies and right-wing fundamentalists created a libertarian Ameria."