Last month we introduced you to Gold to Go, the gold-dispensing ATMs made by German company Ex Oriente Lux AG. The company installed its first machine at the Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel in Dubai, and has since installed several in Germany, Spain and Italy.
But on Friday, Gold to Go came to U.S. shores, with the first machine installed at the upscale Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, Florida.
Dave Jones, a consultant with PMX Gold in Boca Raton, brokered the deal to bring the machine to Florida. He told TPM in a phone interview that he saw a photo of the machine in Dubai and said, “this has to come to the U.S.”
“People seem to be fascinated with gold,” he added. “Here, you can’t go more than two miles without seeing somebody who wants to buy your old gold.”
Thomas Geissler, the inventor of the Gold to Go machines, told the AP that consumers will be drawn to the novelty of the machines.
“Instead of buying flowers or chocolates, which is gone after two or three minutes, this will stay for the next few hundred years,” he said. Coincidentally, the Gold to Go machine in Boca Raton sits right outside a gourmet chocolate shop.
Jones told the AP he thinks gold will become a parallel currency in the next five years, and he plans to install up to 40 more machines around the U.S.
Prices are adjusted every 10 minutes, depending on the market value, and you can buy up to an ounce — which is actually only a little larger than a quarter. But rest assured, if you’re unsatisfied with your gold purchase for any reason, you can return it for a full, market-adjusted refund within 10 business days.
Will the gold-dispensing machine prove a success? “The jury’s out,” Jones told TPM, who said people were starting to buy it Friday.
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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