Kwik Payday

In a world before quick cash

Even those of us of advancing in years find it difficult to remember what life was like without much of the technology we take for granted today.

If you’ve ever mislaid your mobile phone, lost your internet connection or even when your iPod powers down, you start wondering quick enough how we survived without these things.

And what about cash point machines? Those handy holes in the wall that dispense quick cash to buy lunch, pay for a round or just put a few quid in your purse or wallet.

Sure, we complain if our local cash machine is out of order and we’re forced to move to the next closest one. Then they don’t seem like such a quick or convenient way to access your cash. But imagine what the world was like prior to the quick spread of cash machines, before every high street had at least 3 or 4 ATMs jostling to dispense a quick quid or more to UK consumers.

Space invader machines that dispense quick cash

The worlds very first cash point machine was installed in the Enfield branch of Barclay’s Bank in 1967. Slowly these dispensers of quick cash spread during the 1970s but didn’t really become an everyday feature of financial life until the 1980s. Before then, it was necessary to queue in a bank, with a little account book in hand and it was anything but fast and easy.

To avoid having to do this repeatedly you needed to estimate how much money you would need for the week, or until your next payday, and withdraw the lot on the spot.

Once cash point machines took off throughout the UK the way we spent our cash changed as quick as the way we got it. We soon adapted to getting cash quick and started spending it faster.