An ATM would be enclosed in a booth made of one-way viewing glass so the user could see if anyone was outside. The door would lock when occupied, and a light outside would come on outside to indicate that it was "In Use". If it was free, you could then safely walk into the booth, enter in your PIN, retreive your money, and have it hidden in your wallet/purse/hat/socks while you were still in the privacy of the booth. If you saw someone outside who looked suspicious, you could press a panic button which would summon authorities, and even perhaps have a pepper spray nozzle outside the booth. Ideally, the booth would be in a public area so someone would notice if a theif had a gun pointed at the booth while someone was inside.-- BinaryCookies, Aug 08 2002 Baked. Bank Of Queensland has booths for its ATMs. You have to swipe your card to enter and leave the booth. Sorry, no pepper spray.-- UnaBubba, Aug 08 2002 This is sort-of baked in that quite a few banks in the UK have their ATM machines in a small lobby; when the bank is closed, you gain access to the lobby by swiping a valid ATM card through the door lock. Then the door closes behind you. Then you can use the ATM in a modicum of privacy. You can stash the cash in safety before exiting. The lobby is protected by CCTV surveillance, and you need a valid card to gain admission. An extension of this idea could be a drive-through ATM with a door at each end which closes while the ATM is in use. I'll give this a croissant anyway....-- 8th of 7, Aug 08 2002 I haven't seen anything like this in the states,but it would probably be better suited to major metropolitan areas where I don't live anyway.-- BinaryCookies, Aug 08 2002 I would quite like the idea of an "Everything Booth" that, on insertion of an ATM card, dispensed cash, cans of beer or soft drinks, chocolate bars, tissues, paperback books, greetings cards, or anything else you can think of, during "out of hours" periods (we don't yet have much of a 24/7 culture here in the UK).
I bet they have them in Japan already ...-- 8th of 7, Aug 08 2002 I understand they have "everything booths" in Scandinavia, except they work off your cell phone not your ATM card.-- DrCurry, Aug 08 2002 I think that's where I got my "everything bagel".
No changing into superhero costumes in the booth, please.-- Mr Burns, Aug 09 2002 halfbakery