***Online Exclusive -- Cash Machines***

Reducing backed up traffic at the scale and lessening interruptions at the scale house office are two worthwhile tasks for automation to accomplish in the scrap yard.

Some scrap recyclers are finding that an automated teller machine (ATM) set up within the scrap yard can help meet both these goals.

TransAct Payment Systems, St. Petersburg, Fla., has been customizing ATM machines for scrap yard use for several years. Ken Gruber of TransAct says the ATMs can be used as a piece of peripheral equipment for all scale software products.

“The use of the ATMs has grown exponentially,” says Gruber. “Customers who have purchased it—the larger scrap yards—they soon order additional ones for more of their yards,” he continues. “All my large companies have expanded [ATM usage] after they buy their first one. Once they get them in, they see the benefit, and a lot of the customers I deal with say they’d never go back to dispensing cash from the office.”

The benefits of the system can include computerized record-keeping and a secure cash handling procedure that means cash goes from an armored car directly to the ATM—thus eliminating or reducing incidents of miscounting, embezzlement and office robbery.