Date :
Monday 20 June2026

Category:
ATM ROI

Reading time :
5 – 6 min

ROI That ATM Providers
Don’t Want You to Calculate

How Fast Does an ATM Pay for Itself?

When you buy a Vault Note ATM, the return is simple: every withdrawal helps recover the machine cost. Once the ATM is paid off, it can continue generating cash flow from the same customer behaviour, without a lease or revenue-share mode

From purchase price to payback

You buy the ATM once, place it on-site, and earn income each time a customer withdraws cash.

You buy the machine once, place it on-site, and earn income every time a customer withdraws cash.

Here is the simple version:

Vault Note purchase price

Processing & network cost

Customer Surcharge

A$ 6,590

+ GST

A$ 6,590

per transaction& $45 p.m. comms fee

A$ 6,590

You decide (example used above: $2.80)

With a $2.80 customer fee:

Each transaction earns you $2.65 ($2.80 minus $0.15 processing).

This is the economic engine

Once the purchase price is recovered, the transactions continue to generate income month after month, year after year.

What one Vault Note ATM can return

Upfront cost:

$6,590 + GST

Typical payback window:

4–6 months

Atmwest processing fee

~$2.65

Typical annual net after processing:

~$10,000–$15,000

Once paid off, the ATM continues to earn from the same customer behaviour. No contract renewal. No revenue split. No complicated rebate structure.

How Transaction Volume Affects Payback Time

The table below shows simple payback before tax, assuming you keep the customer fee and only subtract the $0.15 processing cost.

Payback examples (before tax):

Formula used:

Payback months = A$6,590 ÷ [monthly transactions × (customer surcharge − A$0.15)]

Case Study: Fuel Site payback example:

Using one fuel site example, the ATM generated enough net return to pass the purchase price around month six

What this site looked like:

Note: This case study is based on the attached Fuel Case Study BUY spreadsheet. It shows net after processing only. It does not include other site costs (cash handling, downtime, insurance etc).

Two starting points

In both cases, the goal is the same:

Transparent economics and control.

What ATM income looks like in everyday terms

As a rule of thumb, each withdrawal is worth about $2.65 before tax when using a $2.80 customer surcharge and $0.15 processing cost.

You can also choose to set the surcharge higher or lower or even $0 - if your goal is customer convenience and site traffic rather than direct ATM income.