I just graduated college and have nearly $20K saved up from family and friends gifts and my life savings. I have an uncle who owns alot of convenience stores in some pretty high traffic areas. He never wanted ATM machines bc he thought they would bring more opportunity for robbery and the money wasn't worth it. Anyways I've spoken to him and I feel I have enough money to put machines at his busiest 4 locations for around $7,200 and then load each one with $2k to start for a total of 75% of my savings......Im taking time off this summer before law school starts and Im wondering if they will be a worthwhile endeavour or if anyone here had any experience with them. I could potentially with enough money run 7 machines and 5 are very high traffic convenience stores. I saw the gas station across the street charging $3.75 per transaction. Thoughts appreciated...crunching numbers is one thing but i've personally never used an ATM but have been seeking a way to make passive income for law school years
Only problem you have is not enough capital to make this legitly passive income. Reason being is with 2,000 you're going to be running to the ATM to refill it and when you need to refill you need to withdraw, so not only will you have to run to the C-Store. but also the bank. So with 2,000 you get 100 $20.00 transactions, unfortunately for you, most transactions are not $20.00 so you're making less $ per load. But, if you did less locations and more capital in each location you can do it. Also where were you going to look to buy the ATM's for? Is your uncle located in Houston?
Yes all his gas stations are inner loop and 5 are very high traffic...one exxon near intercontinental airport i think is killer.I can do 3 and load more money but that's not the issue he was gonna have me open a bank acct at his bank and he would just pick up the daily money to refill when he did his business banking and have a worker refill the machine. He thought since I was being ambitious unlike his kids I could have a shot to do it
What other charges are there to you other than the initial $7200 machine cost? Assuming $2000 and an average withdrawl of $40, you will make less than $200 every time the machine 'turns over'. I assume you need insurance. Will you need to have a repair person on 'retainer' or is there a service from the comapny where you will purchase the machines? Do you own the, for the $7200 or is it some sort of rental deal. To me it seems pretty cheap for an ATM machine to go for $1800. What will it cost to run the communications to the institution that handles the various financial places that folks will communicate with. What are the individual bank fees? Are you charging $3.75 on top of their bank fees?
This seems like a great opportunity. I'm not a businessman, but I'm not really sure I see a way you losing money on this. You may not make enough money for it to be worth your time in the long run, but I can't imagine there's a way you wouldn't recoup the money invested (I guess they could be stolen and you not having insurance on them?). Also, even though it's a relative, I would definitely have a written agreement that writes out what you get and what the owner of the gas station gets.
The machines are $1,850 they are genmega 1900 I think? Pretty basic ATM, the running costs are nil bc he has phone lines and internet at all his shops, so ethernet cable is all that's needed. The thing that got me intrigued was a friend whose brother owns a pretty big nightclub on washington told me he made almost $2K/month of his and instantly I thought about my uncle and thankfully he had none at his stores. As for maintenance it comes with a 1 year full warranty and afterwards, from speaking to a few different people, the machines are pretty bulletproof. Really it's just an issue of how much do they get used, and Im just not sure if foot traffic equals usage bc his stations have tons of traffic but not so sure about the actual usage since its not a bar or anything.
One strategy might be to put a limit on how much a person can withdraw. Like 100.00 dollar limit per transaction and thus you will make, at the least 30.00 per 1000, up to 150.00 if you get a run of 20.00 transactions.
I assume that each transaction will cost at least $5.00. $3.75 to you and $1.00+ to the financial institution. I would have to be desperate to pay $5.00+ to withdraw $20.00. This would leave me to unscientifically think that: 1. Most transactions will be for more than $20.00 2. You won't get much repeat business. Are there other ATMs in the neighborhood that charge no fees? For instance, I can go to an ATM where I usually get gas and pay $0 to the ATM owner and $0 to the bank. Regardless, it seems as long as the things don't break, don't get vandalized and don't get robbed you will make somne sort of profit.
Whats the resell value on the machine? Gotta have a decent exit strategy. Have you looked into vending machines at all?
1)I dont know much about the interchange fee, but thats what the atm company gets, supposedly not out of my surcharge 2)resale value is decent, but reallistically I've done some numbers and if I can do all 7 locations with a little loan from bank or family and just 4 transactions a day per on average thats 28 transactions x $3.50 thats's almost $100/day and in law school I'd love to make $3k/month and be able to focus fully on school. 3)I was more curious about whether these machines are big money, from what I understand bob sura owns a giant atm company according to the company I would be purchasing these from and its a very lucrative business and since most of my uncle's friends own shops too, it's something I think I can quietly go into on a large scale with a little practice 4)I personally never use ATMs and was just wondering what percentage of people did
Fascinating topic. This kind of venture never occurred to me. Not surprised that DD would like a piece of the action! I would consider making the fees a little lower. Bobrek makes a good point (several, actually) about not getting repeat business because of high fees, although the one by the airport should be a goldmine, regardless. Do some research on fees charged by non-bank ATM's and consider putting your fees in the middle of their range, and hey, good luck! edit: I frequently use ATM's, but almost always they are connected to my bank and don't cost me a fee. When traveling, however, that's often not an easy option. need a partner? ;-)-
I used to do ATM machines and it's only BIG money once you get 20-30 locations. You make even more money when you get over 50, at that point you are able to start processing transactions, IE keeping more of that transaction fee. Also, the biggest challenge is finding good locations, if your uncle has some good locations, go for it. It's a no brainer. If you need help, email me through the board.
i consider a good location is in lower income neighborhoods. sorry, but the poor are usually poor for a reason...ignorance. that's why you see check cashing, title loan shops, and pawn shops in the poor neighborhoods. they don't understand fees and interest so they will pay $3.75 to take out $20.
Wise words, and even truer than that. But that's not to say that lower income neighborhoods are the ONLY good locations. If you've got a store with high traffic, that should do pretty well too.
Does he have "legal" 7 liners in these places too? You will get no-hoper gamblers pulling out the max they can withdraw sometimes multiple times. I've done it a couple times myself when I was buzzed and really, really stupid.
