Gold-Dispensing ATM Coming to a City Near You

Gold ATM machine - First it was Germany, then Abu Dhabi. Now it is going to Bergamo Airport in Milan, Italy, all major airports in Malaysia, one of Russia's biggest banks and an undetermined location in Turkey.

Gold-dispensing ATMs: Coming to a city near you (5/28/2010 CNN)

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As economic fears drive gold prices to new highs, the creator of a gold-dispensing ATM is attracting attention around the globe.

"Germany-based GOLD to go, which is currently churning out 50 gold machines a month to meet a recent jump in demand, launched its first ATM in Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace Hotel earlier this month and opened its second in Germany last week.

"The golden ATM's next destinations are the Bergamo Airport in Milan, Italy, all major airports in Malaysia, one of Russia's biggest banks and an undetermined location in Turkey.

"By making gold investing as easy as buying a candy bar from a vending machine, GOLD to go hopes to attract average buyers to the gold market.

""We are going to make gold public with these machines," said Thomas Geissler, CEO of Ex Oriente Lux AG, which owns GOLD to go. "The prices are so easy to control that we're going to de-mystify gold and make it easier for anyone to buy it."

"GOLD to go's ATM looks like a vending machine and dispenses gold coins and bars weighing up to one ounce at prices updated every 10 minutes based on the real-time spot price of gold." [The article continues.]

The article includes (almost obligatory) detractors; one of them is Jon Nadler of Kitco Metals. He is surprisingly a gold basher on the popular gold site. He doesn't do that openly, but his putdowns are hard to miss. He says it is a gimmick, not for serious (big-money) investors because you cannot "deposit" your gold. He also says the premium charged by GOLD to go may deter the investors.

According to the article, GOLD to go's gold could be had for $1284.13 per ounce, when the spot was $1214. That would be 5.777% premium. His employer, Kitco, sells $1243.80 for 1-ounce gold bar, when the spot gold is $1218.80, 2.051% premium. However, if you add shipping, handling and insurance fees plus $4 surcharge for $1000 worth of gold, then 1-oz gold bar from Kitco would cost $1277.80, 4.841% premium. For small investors, the difference in premiums, when they consider the total cost of acquiring gold, may be negligible.

Greeks have been buying British Sovereigns at 40% premium. The Austrian Mint almost ran out of gold after Germans started buying gold bars and coins in panic. (It mints one of the popular gold coins, Philharmonic.) Gold may just become de facto money, chosen not by the fiat-loving governments but by ordinary citizens of the world, no matter what the so-called experts say (that gold is just another bubbly commodity, that you can't eat gold, blah blah blah).

Who would you trust? The governments and their experts who didn't see any of the crises in the past 2 years coming? Or people buying gold to preserve their wealth?

Got gold?

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