Gold vending machines

[djbridgeland]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/business/global/18gold.html?_r=2

With in 3 months the Company, TG-Gold plans to have a "substantial  amount of gold vending machines "up and running" in Germany, Austria, and  Switzerland with about 500 planned around the world eventually. They would stock 1,5,and 10 gram  pieces of gold, as well as Canadian Maple Leafs and South African Krugerrand, each a 1/10 of an ounce of gold.  The machines will be a available on a franchise model for about $28,000 and a fee to service them. The system allows prices to be updated every couple of minutes. The machines would be explosives  tested, and would be outfitted like an armored truck.  Looks like it might be awhile before they hit the U.S. though.       

[John Edward Mercier]

Smart man. He'll franchise machines with his upfront costs covered and no downside risk should the early '80s collapse of gold prices happen again.

[Friday]

That's fantastic!!  We need to get one of those in the Shire.

[violence]

how easy would it be to steal it and all the gold inside

[Little Owl]

The article I read showed some pretty horrible mark-ups (~30%), but hey, people buy bottled water!

how easy would it be to steal it and all the gold inside

I'm sure this thought was central to the machine's design.

[violence]

The article I read showed some pretty horrible mark-ups (~30%), but hey, people buy bottled water!

how easy would it be to steal it and all the gold inside

I'm sure this thought was central to the machine's design.

it should be don't you think. a box sitting somewhere filled with gold? lol

[Lloyd Danforth]

Sometimes crooks get a box of cash (ATMs), but, not many considering their numbers.

[Pat K]

how easy would it be to steal it and all the gold inside

"The machines will be tested with explosives to make sure they are resistant to theft, Mr. Geissler said.

"They'll be outfitted like an armored vehicle," he said. "We're going to put them in places like Russia, and the boys are not exactly demure over there."

[Lloyd Danforth]

 

[John Edward Mercier]

Wait till they feed the explosive through the cash slot
Its not like anybody is going to buy an significant amount of gold with pocket change.

[Puke]

All they need to do is make it really hard to break open and it's good to go.
No way a machine full of gold will weigh less than a couple tons.

[John Edward Mercier]

I don't know... most vending machines are refilled periodically. And with the price of an ounce of gold at spot plus... might not even have a pound or two of gold inside.
$100 USD might buy something the weight of a dime.

[leetninja]

wonder if they will withstand THERMITE ... not much that can ...

[John Edward Mercier]

Pretty expensive way to acquire what will most likely be a limited product and currency value.
If you think of the average vending machine... the vendors keep a certain amount of product value, so the currency box will not be a target for thieves. Every time they restock the product, they refill the change vault and empty the currency box.

I noticed the currency exchange vending machines (change paper to coin) are really heavily built as compared to others. I would suspect this is because of the 'loss value' should the machine be robbed.

[KBCraig]

An article from TheLocal.de, an English-language German news source:

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090622-20101.html

Frankfurt airport offers 'gold to go' vending machine
Published: 22 Jun 09 08:18 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090622-20101.html

Tired of buying perfume or chocolates for your spouse while flying home? Looking for a special and safe investment in these turbulent times? AFP's William Ickes reports on Frankfurt airport's new gold vending machine.

Passengers who clear security at Frankfurt airport and fear inflation more than flying could soon find an answer with a machine that doles out a bright, shining answer: gold.

"The reaction by Asian people was fantastic," gold dealer Thomas Geissler said after his company, TG-Gold-Sper-Markt, tested a prototype dubbed "Gold to Go" in the airport's main hall last week. "A guy was delighted to get a piece of gold to bring back to his wife."

Geissler hopes to have a working model up and running within three months in a shopping area beyond the X-ray machines where check-in stress evaporates and passengers can kick back. And he is aiming big: Geissler wants to install 500 machines in airports throughout Europe, as well as in train stations, jewelers and up-scale stores in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

Germany, one of the countries worst hit by the global recession, is seen as a wise place to launch Geissler's machine because the economic crisis has driven up gold sales in Europe's biggest economy.

According to the World Gold Council, German investors - and consumers over the border in Switzerland - are hoarding gold at "levels not previously recorded."

In 2008, there was "a tremendous swing from trivial levels within Europe to very substantial levels" in gold sales, said Niel Neader, research director at GFMS, a London-based precious metals consultancy. "In the closing months of the year, Germany was the star performer."

While the rest of the world worries about deflation, German economists, bankers and politicians are warning huge government deficits could quickly re-ignite inflation once a sustained economic recovery gets under way.

This worries Germans sick because hyperinflation and two world wars wiped out many families' savings in the 20th century, Geissler explained. "Germans are frightened by inflation ... They are afraid to lose everything a third time in one century. Twice was enough."

Neader, meanwhile, said another factor driving consumers to gold was a "distrust of banks" after a credit crisis drove the global financial system to the brink of collapse last year.

Real time gold rush

Geissler's vending machine will sell packets containing from one gram for around €30 ($42) at present to five and ten grammes for about €245, along with Australian "Kangaroo" and Canadian "Maple Leaf" coins.

A gramme of the stuff will set customers back by 20 percent less than over the counter at a German bank, but his margin represented just "a nice and reasonable profit" compared with market rates.

Software developed by his firm updated prices every two minutes, he stressed, which meant "we will have nearly a real time price compared with the London gold market."

And in case police are worried about unscrupulous customers using machines to launder ill-gotten gains, the company is installing video cameras and some machines will be credit card only, he said. "We will pay maximum attention," he vowed.

The first machine is slated for installation in a Hugo Boss clothing store near the company's headquarters south of Stuttgart, once talks have been wrapped up.

He confidently predicts a brisk trade at the machines, which will each contain a maximum value of €50,000 ($70,000) - less than in most cash machines.

At sites like Frankfurt's bustling international airport, "I think you will have to fill up the machine every day," he forecasts.

A GFMS survey has forecast demand will "drive the bull market into a ninth consecutive year" and could propel gold prices to the $1,100 mark.

In Germany's financial capital, Geissler's machine attracted stares, and "some bankers couldn't believe what they saw," the gold dealer said.

"It will take a little time until everyone is used to the sight of a gold vending machine," he acknowledged.