Human ATM will come and meet you with cash
Work & Lifestyle
Nimbl is hoping to make ATM-style transactions mobile, with human helpers that deliver cash on demand.
Carrying around plastic is a lot easier than wads of bills, but in those times when you need some cash, finding an ATM can turn into a Herculean task. Consumers can do all manner of banking activities on their phone, wherever and whenever, but taking cash out remains somewhat of an effort. Nimbl is now hoping to make ATM-style transactions mobile, with human helpers that deliver cash on demand.
Currently available in San Francisco and New York City, the iOS app offers a simple interface that will be familiar to anyone who's ever used an ATM before. They simply select the amount they want to withdraw and use GPS to log their location. Nimbl then gets one of its runners to offer an estimated time for delivery and users can accept. Their cash is then hand delivered at the agreed meeting place and the customer pays the equivalent amount via Venmo, a payments platform similar to PayPal. Runners are background checked, and Nimbl offers the first few transactions for free before applying a USD 5 charge for subsequent withdrawals.
While some may see Nimbl as a lazy way to avoid a trip to the nearest ATM, the company hopes to work with cash-only businesses that could refer customers to the app rather than send them away to find a machine and potentially a rival that accepts cards.
We've already seen Japan's Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank introduce palm-scanning technology to enable customers to withdraw cash without a card, but could a service such as Nimbl render ATMs a thing of the past?
21st October 2014
Email: info@nimblme.com
Website: www.nimblme.com