Dikran Masis Who Brought ATMs and Money Counting Machines to Turkey

Nowadays many money counting machine actively used in the company or bank, It officially ranks first among those that make our lives easier. Otherwise, perhaps we would still be living the gold counting scene in Kemal Sunal’s famous movie Köyden İndim Şehire, day by day.

Both ATM and money counting machine The name of the person who brought it to our country is not well known, but he is actually a very important person.

Banks, which emerged after the invention of money, have always been important throughout human history. Another innovation would take this radical change to a different level.

It was obvious that many people, who wanted to minimize waiting hours for bank transactions, were tired of having to comply with banks’ working hours and wait in long queues. Although the first steps towards solving this problem were taken in the late 1930s, it did not attract enough attention and was removed from use in a short time. In order to actually invent a widely used ATM, We had to wait until the 1960s.

Focused on making banking transactions easier British engineer John Shepherd Barron Considering that people could even buy chocolate from automatic machines, he wondered why they could not withdraw money. He implemented this idea in 1967 and designed an ATM, and this device began to be used in the town of Enfield, England.

Shepherd-Barron’s ATM, unlike today’s ones, only had the ability to withdraw cash and not modern plastic debit cards. marked special checks was being used.

Although John Shepherd Barron is credited as the inventor of the ATM, some sources claim that James Goodfellow invented the world’s first ATM a year before Barron.

Cards began to be used at Goodfellow’s ATM, as they do today. However, because Barron’s ATM was introduced later than Goodfellow’s, Goodfellow is generally considered the inventor of the ATM today. Not thinking of getting a patent Shepherd Barronstated in an interview that he did not receive a patent because he did not know how the system worked.

The first ATM in our country Dikran Masis It was put into service after it was imported by İş Bankası on 25 December 1987.

Before getting to the details about Dikran Masis, it is useful to mention the invention of the money counting machine that he brought to Turkey.

in the 1920s, Money counting machine appears in the USA. The aim was to reduce the possibilities of error in the US central bank to a minimum, or even to zero.

In those periods, it stopped when the desired amount was reached. While the bundles are separated from each other with a wooden stick Today, in its digital form, this process is done many times in a very simple way. Digital ones are also produced in 1962.

It spread quickly without taking much time.

Machines that are computer-based and much more advanced than before It is produced in 1981. This money counting machine, which has become the apple of the eye of the financial industry, manages to be the best in the market with its feature of counting countless banknotes per hour. Its ability to detect even fake and damaged items was one of the features that marked its period.

Unfortunately, with the world in this state, we cannot be introduced to this invention that early.

When the digital one comes out, so It was only newly used in our country in the 1980s. started money counting machine. So how did Dikran Masis manage to become a pioneer in this machine, as in ATM?

Dikran Masis, who is known for the many innovations he brought to Turkey, is the person who brought the money counting machine to our country.

Dikran Masis, born in 1964, is a businessman of Armenian origin. It can also be said that the two most important machines that Masis, known for being a famous auctioneer, brought to Turkey were ATMs and money counting machines.

His commercial acumen also reveals itself with the firsts he brought to our country. Masis, who knows how to evaluate the money he has, talks about how he made such smart moves in many of his interviews. He gave the last remaining money he had to such businesses. and he says he never regrets it.

So how did he do this?

He tells the story of what he went through before bringing the money counting machine to the country and what led him to this initiative. Dikran Masis, He starts by expressing how he witnessed the difficulties in banks. One day, he went to an employee at Ziraat Bank who couldn’t finish counting the stack of papers containing old and torn money. “Doesn’t this have a machine?” When he asked the question, he received the answer that there was such an invention, but torn coins were not put into it, and he was not developed enough to count them.

Upon this He told his sister in America to find a factory where he could develop machines. When he found a factory where he could develop this idea, he became the only fortune he had. 130 thousand dollars spent for this machine. Masis says that this is how he earned his first million dollars by introducing a money counting machine into the country.

He is known as the ‘Native Robin Hood’.

Especially during the Covid epidemic, many operators and tenants were unable to pay their rent. Dikran Masis became a name that was on the agenda with these news at that time. Because Not collecting rent from 1447 tenants He performed a charitable act that set an example for the country’s agenda.

In a program he attended The things he said about his work in Istanbul are enough to give an economics lesson to everyone:

“If I had 100 thousand dollars today, I would turn it into a million again. I take on any job with an open mind. If I sell lemons, I will become the lemon king in a year. The secret to this is not money, but calculating success. Money comes later. When you are honest and trustworthy and try to do your job successfully, money comes. Türkiye is a slippery slope. In this country, statues of honest people who have earned money with honor in the last 50 years should be erected. Because I have always been honest, my credibility has never diminished.”

The arrival of ATMs and money counting machines in Turkey is based on such a story. Calculating success, not money Dikran Masis, He is a name that has achieved economic success that will set an example for everyone.

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