In order to meet the demands of customers who must make deposits during non-business hours, banks and similar establishments frequently provide night depositories for receiving such deposits, which may be in the form of packages or containers holding substantial amounts of checks, currency, coins and other materials. Since bank employees are not on duty during non-business hours, access to night depositories must normally rely on a key or similar device given to the customer by the bank. No other means of establishing customer identification is normally provided, nor is means for issuing a receipt to establish that such a deposit has been made.
Some banking transactions can be carried on during non-business hours by the use of customer-operated automated teller machines, which are capable of performing customer identification functions, receiving deposits, issuing currency and providing an internal record and a printed receipt to the customer concerning the various transactions made.
The use of an automated teller machine in combination with a night depository enables the functions of customer identification, record keeping and receipt issuing to be performed in connection with use of the night depository. For convenience in use, the automated teller machine and the night depository should be located in close proximity to each other, and the night depository should be capable of receiving and holding a relatively large number of deposit packages or containers in a relatively limited space.