When William Butterton discovered ATM placements on Instagram and TikTok, the side hustle seemed relatively low-stakes.
“The more I looked into it, the more I thought, ‘Okay, other than the basic financial obligation of $2,500 to buy an ATM, there’s really no risk in trying this,'” the full-time electrical engineer told Business Insider.
Butterton, who started considering a side hustle after the birth of her first child, is skeptical of the term “passive income.” But setting up and reloading ATMs has become the closest thing to idle work they’ve found.
“You’re only there for 10 minutes to load it, and then you’re on your way,” he said. “It’s essentially your employer who doesn’t have to pay you.”
He and his business partner started viking salesman in Silverdale, Washington in 2022. By March 2026, They have five ATMs and three vending machines. Vending machines are less idle, he said, because transporting and loading food and beverages is more cumbersome. They split about $1,500 in monthly profits, according to terminal activity summaries seen by BI.
The income isn’t a show, he said, but it helps cover expenses like car payments and day care, while allowing him to spend time with his family and pursue other projects.
Here’s what Butterton says about how an ATM business works, what it costs to start one, and the biggest challenges to look out for.
Expect about $5,000 in startup costs
When Butterton launches in 2022, each machine will cost about $3,000 after taxes. Beyond the purchase price, he needed about $1,000 cash to stock the machine and an additional $1,000 for a total upfront cost of about $5,000 per machine.
He and his business partner put up about $5,000, which gave them enough money to order two machines.
That said, there can be many ways to get into business at very low cost. Butterton said she expanded her third and fourth machines by purchasing two idle ATMs from a nail salon for $1,000 each: “It was like two for one.”
The salons themselves had the machines, but they could no longer operate them after the bank stopped allowing that type of account. Butterton said one of the hardest parts of the business is finding a bank account that will work with an ATM company, as many big banks are wary of ATM operators because of the industry’s ties to fraud and money laundering. Eventually they found a small local bank that was willing to work with them.
How to earn money from ATM
With ATMs, the main source of profit is the surcharge fees customers pay to withdraw cash.
When a customer agrees to pay an out-of-network fee to withdraw cash, “100% of it goes into our business bank account,” Butterton said. “That’s your profit, and it’s completely location-based: how many transactions is that machine getting per day, and what’s the surcharge fee you set?”
He does not have to share profits with the businesses where he installs ATMs because the owner already benefits from this arrangement. For one thing, customers who withdraw cash often spend it immediately inside the establishment. This machine can also help businesses reduce credit card processing fees. In many cases, the host business only needs to provide electricity; Butterton handles cash loading, maintenance and servicing.
Determining the fee requires some trial and error and depends on the location, he said. The goal is to achieve the highest possible price while maximizing the number of transactions. For example, if a machine got the same 100 transactions at $3 that it did at $2, then $2 was probably too low.
Butterton said he started at $2.50, but discovered that about $3 was the norm in his market.
His goal was to earn approximately 10% monthly returns on each machine. At a $3,000 ATM, this would mean bringing in about $300 per month in surcharge fees, or about 100 transactions at a $3 fee.
“If you have good locations, it’s a very achievable number,” he said.
where to find atm
According to Butterton, location is the most important factor in whether an ATM will be profitable or not.
First and foremost, it only targets cash-rich businesses. Next, he’ll look for businesses where customers are more likely to use cash, including barber shops, convenience stores and nail salons. Businesses where tips are common can also be lucrative because customers may need cash on the spot.
In Washington state, where he is based, cannabis dispensaries are some of the most profitable ATM locations, but they are also the hardest to break into. If you stay in one location, expect to share profits, he added: “If you want a high-profile location like a dispensary, you have to offer more than other people who are already sharing profits. There’s a 0% chance you’ll get into a place like that without sharing any money.”
No matter where you keep your machine, you’ll want to draft a contract with the business. This matters for day-to-day operations and the long-term value of the business. He said that if he ever wanted to sell his ATM route, having the contract would make his business more attractive to a buyer.
She found a contract template online, revised it, and had a lawyer review it. Their standard contract states that Viking Vendors will serve as the business’s ATM provider for two years, but either party can cancel with 30 days’ notice. It also tells who is responsible for this.
Overlooked Challenges: Theft and Insurance
Once the machines are up and running, the work is less passive – he spends about an hour a week on the business – and operating costs are lower.
However, theft and vandalism can reduce profit margins. Butterton said she struggled to find affordable insurance at first. The coverage they got initially cost about $2,500 a year, which was hard to justify when they only had two machines. He said he has since found cheaper insurance, and because the cost is about the same whether covering two machines or 10, it becomes easier to absorb as the business scales.
In four years of business, one of its ATMs has been stolen. Eventually it was found abandoned along the highway, and, while it was not working, he was able to sell parts of it.
He said, “When that happens, it’s a shock, and it can throw you off the path you were on, but if everything is set up correctly, you’re going to be fine.” “It’s part of the business. You have to accept that it’s going to happen at some point.”