Not sure if this has been posted...interesting idea. "The gold-leaf-covered machine at Boca Raton's Town Center Mall sits outside a gourmet chocolate store and works just like the two cash ATMs beside it. Shoppers insert cash or credit cards and use a computer touch-screen to choose the weight and style they want. The machine spits out the gold in a classy black box with a tamper-proof seal. Each machine, manufactured in Germany, carries about 320 pieces of different-sized bars and coins. Prices are refigured automatically every 10 minutes to reflect market fluctuations." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101217/ap_on_re_us/us_gold_atm
Placing one of these Gold dispensing ATMs in a Florida market has been planned for months. This is by the same German company that began soliciting these around Europe and the Middle East back in 2008 and finally installed one in a high luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. Here are previous threads where we have discussed the Gold ATMs: Gold Vending Machines Coming America [09/2010] Gold ATM [05/2010]
What if it works like a snack machine: drops your purchase only to have it jam before reaching the access chute?
The armed guard standing next to the machine will break your arm if you try to reach inside or shake the machine to get your gold lodged inside. Otherwise, I'm sure there is someone nearby to deal with any technical difficulties.
i would like to try one piece. of course the cheapest and the smaller one. i hope it won't come out nick.
Boca Raton is a pretty upscale market, so I wouldn't consider it typical of what you see in America, but it is still interesting they finally placed one of these machines in the USA.
