Access to Money Inc. yesterday announced that it has renewed an agreement with The Pantry Inc. that will bring surcharge-free ATM access to the Cary, N.C., convenience store chain.
Access to Money, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based ATM ISO, will install approximately 1,400 Select-A-Branch enabled ATMs in The Pantry Inc.'s Kangaroo Express stores in 11 states, said Douglas B. Falcone, Access to Money chief operating officer. The Pantry Inc. is the parent company of Kangaroo Express, which operates 1,650 stores in 13 states throughout the Southeast.
Customers of participating financial institutions associated with Select-A-Branch will be able to withdraw funds surcharge-free from the ATMs, said Falcone. Four thousand financial institutions, representing more than 50 million cardholders, are associated with Select-A-Branch. When a cardholder of a participating bank or credit union swipes his card at a Select-A-Branch ATM, the machine's monitor displays the name and logo of the cardholder's financial institution.
The goal of Access to Money and Select-A-Branch is to encourage more consumers to visit Kangaroo Express stores and withdraw funds from the ATMs. Hopefully, once cardholders have withdrawn funds, they will spend some of the money with the retailer, Falcone said.
"I can't share the numbers with you, but there is lift in sales associated with surcharge-free ATMs," he added. Kangaroo Express stores sell hot and cold beverages, snacks, fast food, tobacco products, gasoline and other products.
John Fisher, The Pantry's senior vice president of marketing, said the new ATMs will offer greater value to store customers.
"The agreement represents a strong vote of confidence in our proprietary software solution," said Daniel Gardner, president and CEO of Select-A-Branch, which is based in King of Prussia, Pa. "It allows ISOs and merchants to deploy ATMs that are capable of delivering individually branded transactions to the cardholders of an unlimited number of different financial institutions."
Each ATM will be equipped with a full-motion video topper for advertising, and the machines will be capable of delivering coupons. Access to Money is scheduled to begin installing the ATMs in the first quarter of 2011, Falcone said.
