Chewing gum machines are yesterday, today boxes spit out pure gold at the push of a button.
At least in four Volksbank branches in the Fürstenfeldbruck district and on the golf range in Germering.
But the service is also a clever business model and has its price.
Fürstenfeldbruck -
For a week now, a gold machine has been astonishing customers in the VR bank headquarters in Fürstenfeldbruck.
In addition to the two familiar ATMs, a man-high box in gold metallic was set up there almost overnight.
If you have 70 euros in cash in your pocket or have 1700 euros debited from your account using an EC card, you can exchange your money for the valuable precious metal at the push of a button.
Gold to go: Offer from a Swiss company
"Gold to go" is the name of the business idea with which a company of the same name, based in Switzerland, advertises its machines.
The slogan: “We are democratizing access to physical gold.” Volksbank boss Robert Fedinger found this so convincing that he had the first ATMs set up in selected branches.
With the campaign, Fedinger wants to expand the bank's range of services.
“Getting gold as well as money around the clock” is the motto.
Tempting, for example, for those who are looking for a quick present after business hours.
Even those who want to spontaneously access the TV show “Börse-vor-Acht” can do so.
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Gold for over 1000 euros
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One who has already used the new service in Bruck with curiosity is Sead K .: “I wanted to see what came out of it.” So he invested almost 70 euros in the small spontaneous gift for his wife and placed the still visual object into the virtual shopping cart at the push of a button and waited.
Gold to go: suddenly the machine flashes
“Suddenly the machine blinked like crazy. I felt like I was in a casino. After a few seconds, pure gold was elegantly packaged in the ejection chute, ”says Sead K. The papers come in different sizes and weights. The two, five, ten and 20 gram copies cost 127, 265, 558 and 1087 euros (at the time of the Tagblatt test). For the largest bar available at the machine with a weight of one ounce (28.3495 grams), 1676 euros are debited. The machine spits out the bars (the word Bärrchen would be more appropriate given the size) in the timely calculated value.
Fedinger compares this with the fuel prices at petrol stations, which are always adjusted to the current retail price.
According to the manufacturer, this happens every 60 seconds in the gold machine.
And indeed: 24 hours later, the slightly increased gold price also had an impact on the machine.
Only the cheapest offer has remained the same.
The golden service has its price: while a gram at the machine cost 69 euros in the Tagblatt test, it was also traded at 48.98 euros on the official gold exchange.
Gold to go is a business model
In addition to the Gold-to-go company, VR-Bank also has a share in the profit.
The first empirical values are still missing.
But estimates by the machine center in Zug, Switzerland, assume monthly sales of 30,000 to 40,000 euros in Fürstenfeldbruck.
Incidentally, Robert Fedinger has no safety concerns.
The machine, which works in a similar way to the usual cash dispensers, is monitored online, the threads come together in an office in Munich.
Nationwide, the machine network is still relatively manageable.
There are currently only locations in southern Germany (in addition to the greater Munich area, also in Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and Nuremberg).
The Fürstenfeldbruck district with its five gold stations currently has the densest “gold chain” in all of Germany.