HOUSTON -- Cardtronics will become one of the first Tidel Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATMS) distributors to deploy Tidel's multi-function Chameleon ATM when it installs 40 of them at Tetco Stores, a petroleum retailer and convenience store operator with 335 locations in Texas.
The roll out, slated for the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, begins this month and may expand to more Tetco locations in the future, according to Brian Archer, senior vice president of Cardtronics.
While the terminals will feature only cash dispensing at first, Archer said advanced functionality will be added quickly. The Tetco units will "serve as kind of a beta platform" for enhanced applications, with advertising and check cashing the first to appear.
Gerry Telle, president of Tetco Stores, said, "The features and services to be offered on these terminals, such as check-cashing, should help strengthen our existing customer base and draw new customers into our stores. In addition, the incremental revenue to be provided from broadcast quality advertising from Ten Square is very attractive to us."
Michael Hudson, executive vice president of Tidel, said, "The new Chameleon allows retailers like Tetco to maximize their investment by adding new sources of revenue to the traditional ATM. The advanced features to be offered by Chameleon, like money order issuance, help streamline traditional convenience store operations by unclogging the counter and moving foot traffic to another part of the store."
The Chameleons will replace Tidel is1000s at the Tetco sites. Archer said deployment will be simplified because of the recently reduced footprint of the Chameleon. "Nothing is more simple than taking one off the bolts and putting another one on," he said.
Cardtronics, which has sales and service representatives in 40 markets, expects to nearly double its installed base of about 4,000 ATMs this year as it continues to expand into new metro markets. The company recently appeared as the 13th fastest-growing company in the Houston 100 Report on Private Companies, with estimated revenues of more than $27 million in 2000, an approximate increase of 100 percent over 1999.
