Guides
ATM route inventory management for owners
How much cash an ATM route machine needs, in named terms: load size, the settlement float nobody counts, cassette limits and when to redo the arithmetic.
What to take away
- The load is not the whole answer. Cash already dispensed but not yet settled is also yours and also unavailable, so a machine ties up more than it holds.
- Work it out per machine from that machine's own dispense record. A route average will overstock the quiet sites and starve the busy ones.
- Two costs pull against each othercapital sitting idle if you load too much, and lost withdrawals plus an extra trip if you load too little.
- Denomination and cassette capacity can make the arithmetic impossible before your budget does.
- Redo the calculation after any change to visit frequency, settlement timing or the venue's own hours.
Nobody can tell you how much cash to put in a machine, and any page that gives a figure is describing a different venue. What can be given is the arithmetic. Below is a model in named terms, with the two costs it balances and the traps that break it.
The terms
For one machine:
The terms, defined
- Baverage value dispensed per day
- Gdays between planned visits
- Xsafety margin as a fraction
- Sdays until money reaches your account
- B
- is the average value dispensed per day at that machine, taken from its own records over a period long enough to include a weekend and a payday.
- G
- is the number of days between planned visits.
- X
- is the safety margin, expressed as a fraction, that covers a busier than usual stretch.
- S
- is the number of days between a customer withdrawing and the money reaching your account. Ask your processor for this in writing.
- d
- is the denomination the machine dispenses.
- n
- is the number of notes a cassette holds.
The load
The planned load is:
Checking the planned load
- Compute L = B x G x (1 + X)
- Is L over n x d?
- Yes -> shorten visit interval or raise denomination
- No -> is B from this machine?
- Yes -> accept the load
- No -> pull B from this machine's records
L = B x G x (1 + X)
That is the cash the machine needs to reach your next visit without running dry, with a margin for a heavier week.
Check two things before accepting the number. First, L cannot exceed n x d, the cassette's physical capacity at that denomination. If it does, shorten the visit interval or raise the denomination.
Second, B must come from that machine. Sites differ more than most operators expect, and the venue calendar matters. A bar near a stadium is not the same machine on a match day.
The part everyone forgets
The load is not the total capital the machine consumes. At any moment you also have cash that customers have taken but that has not yet come back to you.
Total capital per machine
L + F | total capital committed to one machine
F = B x S | settlement float, cash taken but not yet returned
Route total | add L + F for every machine
Limit | compare against money you actually have
Call that the settlement float:
F = B x S
Total capital committed to that machine is roughly L + F. This is why a busy placement is a heavier call on your working capital than a quiet one, the reverse of what people assume when chasing high traffic sites.
Across the route, add L + F for every machine and compare it against the money you actually have. That total, not the machine price, is usually what limits how fast a route can grow, as the material on scaling a route sets out.
Where the cash is borrowed, the interest on L + F is a running cost of that placement. Where it is your own, the cost is what else it could have done. Neither is zero, and the classes of stock that sit alongside cash are set out in the inventory and sourcing guide.
The two costs you are balancing
| Loading too much | Loading too little |
|---|---|
| More capital idle in the machine | The machine runs empty before the next visit |
| Higher exposure in a single location | Every missed withdrawal is revenue that does not come back |
| Fewer trips, lower travel cost | An unplanned trip, which costs more than a planned one |
| Slower to notice a demand change | The host notices before you do |
The asymmetry matters: overloading costs you the use of money; underloading costs revenue and your standing with the venue.
Overloading versus underloading
Loading too much
- Capital
- idle in machine
- Exposure
- higher per location
- Trips
- fewer, cheaper
- Demand signal
- slower to notice
Loading too little
- Capital
- runs empty early
- Exposure
- lost revenue
- Trips
- unplanned, costly
- Demand signal
- host notices first
A host who watched an empty machine turn customers away will remember it at the next commission talk.
So the host relationship material treats uptime as a sales matter, not a technical one.
Choosing the safety margin
X is a judgment, and it should differ by site. Raise it where the venue's traffic is spiky, where a busy day is unpredictable, or where an extra trip is expensive because the site is far out. Lower it where the site is steady, close, and easy to top up on a normal round.
Setting the safety margin X
Is venue traffic spiky or unpredictable?
raise X
is the site far out?
Do not set one margin for the whole route. That is the same error as one load size, arriving by a different door.
Sizing the visit interval instead
Sometimes the load is fixed by the cassette and the real variable is G. In that case, turn the model around: the visit interval you can support is roughly
G = (n x d) / (B x (1 + X))
If that comes out shorter than your route can practically manage, the choices are a larger denomination, a second cassette if the machine takes one, or accepting that this site needs its own trip. Working the schedule around that answer is covered in the operations and workflow material.
When to redo the arithmetic
Recalculate after any of these: a change in visit frequency, settlement timing, or the venue's opening hours or trade; a nearby machine appearing or disappearing; or three consecutive periods where the machine emptied early or came back nearly full.
Keep the working. It is a business record, and the IRS guidance on the records a business should keep covers the documents supporting your books.
Cash movements fall under the reporting and account expectations in the FinCEN statement on independent ATM operator banking. What you owe there is summarized in the licensing and compliance overview.
Common questions
What if I have no dispense history yet?
Then load conservatively, visit sooner than you plan to long term, and treat the first eight to twelve weeks as measurement rather than operation. Guessing high on a new site risks a lot of capital on an assumption.
Does a higher denomination always mean fewer trips?
It means fewer trips for the same value, but it can also mean fewer customers served, because a person who wanted a small amount will leave. Watch the withdrawal count, not just how long the load lasts.
Should every machine on the route hold the same amount?
No. A common load is an administrative convenience that quietly overfunds your quiet sites and underfunds your good ones.
