STRATEGIC PARTNERS
The city of Austin, Texas hopes to reduce ozone levels and increase convenience for its residents with 20 eca$hier terminals manufactured by AmStar Systems. The terminals will offer money order issuance, wire transfer, prepaid local phone time and electronic bill payment, in addition to standard ATM functionality.
December 25, 2001
The goal of most ATM placements is a healthy ROI – or return on investment. But an Austin, Texas rollout of eca$hier multi-function terminals will be a success if it helps achieve the right NAAQS – or National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
"I've certainly never closed a sale that way before," said Dick Adams, vice president of sales and marketing for AmStar Systems, manufacturer of the eca$hier terminals, explaining that the city of Austin is intensely interested in keeping ozone, carbon monoxide and other pollutants within the acceptable, federally-mandated levels.
The city plans to use the eca$hier terminals, which support advanced functionality such as money order issuance and wire transfer, to allow its residents to pay utility bills, traffic tickets and possibly some taxes.
Barbara Nickle, the city's controller, said the idea is to reduce the number of people getting into their cars and driving downtown to settle these accounts. Less traffic on the streets means less emissions in the air.
"When it comes to air quality issues, every small step you take puts you in a better position," she said.
Another reason the terminals were attractive to Austin, Nickle said, is because they are outfitted with cash acceptors and are thus accessible to a wider group of residents, including those who don't carry bank cards. "They provide a mechanism for the unbanked to make payments," she said.
Also, Nickle said, the electronic bill payment program will fit right in with Austin's well-publicized fondness for technology. (The city was named one of America's "Most Wired Cities" by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.)
The terminals will offer standard ATM functionality, money order issuance, wire transfer to Mexico and prepaid local phone time in the initial rollout, which is set to occur later this summer at 20 municipal buildings. Bill payment and other functionality will be added in September, Adams said.
Municipal transactions will be switched through AmStar Systems to the city's database where they'll be settled in real time, Adams said. "You'll receive a receipt that shows you paid your ticket or your bill."
In addition to bill payment, Adams said another possible "killer app" for the city is electronic payroll distribution for its 13,000 employees. Adams predicts that electronic payroll distribution will be popular in the future with any company with a large workforce, particularly those that employ a significant number of unbanked workers.
"Imagine being able to go to a home improvement chain with 300,000 employees, with maybe 100,000 of them unbanked, and tell them they can pay their employees at the machine," Adams said.
Adams said that the eca$hier terminals, which cost approximately $29,000, were purchased from Carrollton, Texas-based AmStar by a private investor, who will also pay installation and operating costs. AmStar will collect switch fees on all transactions. All other revenues will be split among the investor and the site owner.
The terminals will carry the Austin Metro Financial Credit Union brand. Inexchange for offering its customers surcharge-free access to the 20 terminals, the credit union will pay AmStar a flat monthly branding fee. It will also provide vault cash for the machines.
Like 7-Eleven, which has partnered with Equifax, Western Union and others to offer a variety of financial services on its in-store Vcom terminals, AmStar is forming strategic alliances with several companies. An agreement has already been inked with Dolex Dollar Express, a subsidiary of the Ixe Bank that, according to Adams, does more than $1 billion annually in money transfers from the U.S. to Mexico, for wire transfer services.
Adams said other agreements are pending.
