To ATM or Not to ATM- Is That a Question?

Just in case this got by you without your knowing it, June 27 was the big 40th anniversary of the first ATM. For those of you who are technologically backward like me, that stands for Automated Teller Machine. I must admit, I've seen 'em, but have never, ever used one.

A June 28th Chicago Tribune article from AP "Thanks to the ATM, 40 years of quick cash" by Raphael G. Satter.

It said that the day before, an estimated $28 billion was given out at those machines worldwide. You can find them almost everywhere these days. They are even in bars, and how long before they'll be in public restrooms. "Let's see, I'm sitting here, oh yes, I could use some dough...."

It said that one version was set up in New York back in 1939, but "the first recognizably modern one was placed outside the Barclays PLC branch in Enfield, a north London suburb (a place where it's hard to know where the city ends and the suburbs begin), on June 27, 1967."

Since I've never used one, you users will have to figure out if the money-getting process is similar today. The first "customers were given special single-use vouchers that they placed into a drawer. After a personal identification number was entered, a second drawer sprang open with a ten-pound note."

The man who generally is considered to be its inventor, John Shepherd-Barron, said he came up with the idea after getting locked out of his bank. Ah, Necessity, the Mother of Invention.

By the end of the 1960s, there were 781 world-wide, mostly in Britain. Today, there are about 1.5 million around the world, and almost 400,000 in the US. Almost 165 million withdrawals are made daily. Why, there's even one at McMurdo Station at the South Pole, in case any penguins need the money. Right, "Happy Feet"?

I wonder if this bit of technology is a good or bad thing?

How did YOU celebrate the birthday and how many times do you use one a week? --RoadDog