Advanced and Not So Advanced ATMs

I waited with a friend at an ATM last night - a most interesting experience.  She was taking 3000 RMB out of her bank account, interesting because she had to take 1000 out at a time, each time re-inserting her bank card and re-inputting her PIN number.  Usually it seems the transaction withdrawal limit is lower than the daily withdrawal limit.  Maybe some day the bank will realise that this isn't actually very helpful, and causes longer queues.

 

Funnier still, was that having taken the money out, she then put the money back into the ATM!  She had taken the money out of her current account, and was then paying off her credit card bill.  Firstly I was amazed, because I didn't realise you could pay credit card bills at your ATM.  I guess I'd figured it would be like any other utility bill.  This is a good service, because it encourages customers to use their bank's credit card and not a competitor's.  Secondly though it was amusing that my friend had to take the money physically out of the machine (3 times), only to feed it back into the machine (thankfully in one go)!  Why not just have a 'transfer' function!

 

[Actually I guess a reason could be because the machine works off the back of whichever card you have inserted.  My friend will have started with her bank card, and then later inserted her credit card.  In the ATM's 'mind', they're quite separate affairs.  Oooh there's a process reengineering and system integration opportunity....]

 

Anyhow, my friend tells me that she loves that bank - China Merchants Bank, because its ATM system is more advanced than others.  It certainly seems that way, even if the functions haven't quite been 'optimised' yet.