Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Total monthly cash cost
$180.00
Opportunity/vault carrying cost
$40.00
Loading logistics cost
$140.00
Annualized total cost
$2,160
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How to use this
- 1Enter average cash balance held ($).
- 2Enter opportunity cost / vault-cash rate (%).
- 3Enter cash loads per month.
- 4Enter cost per load trip (labor/armored service) ($).
- 5Read your total monthly cash cost on the right — it updates as you type.
- 6Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Cash sitting inside an ATM isn't free — it's either your own capital or a vault-cash line of credit, and either way it has a cost: opportunity cost if it's your money (what it could otherwise earn or the interest you're paying on a loan used to fund it), or an explicit interest rate if you're using a third-party vault-cash provider who fronts the cash for a fee. This calculator takes your average cash balance held in the machine, load frequency, and either your opportunity cost rate or vault-cash provider fee rate, plus per-trip loading/logistics cost, to compute total monthly cash-carrying cost so you can size it against surcharge revenue.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Average cash balance held: 6000 $
- Opportunity cost / vault-cash rate: 8 %
- Cash loads per month: 4
- Cost per load trip (labor/armored service): 35 $
Results
- Total monthly cash cost: $180.00
- Opportunity/vault carrying cost: $40.00
- Loading logistics cost: $140.00
- Annualized total cost: $2,160
What each field means
Inputs
- Average cash balance held ($)
- The average cash balance held used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 6000 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Opportunity cost / vault-cash rate (%)
- The opportunity cost / vault-cash rate used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 8 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 1–30 %.
- Cash loads per month
- The cash loads per month used in the calculation. Starts at 4 so you have a working example on load.
- Cost per load trip (labor/armored service) ($)
- The cost per load trip (labor/armored service) used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 35 $ so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Total monthly cash cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Opportunity/vault carrying cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Loading logistics cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Annualized total cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
What rate should I use for opportunity cost if it's my own money?
Use whatever your next-best use of that capital would return — if you'd otherwise pay down a business loan at 9% or invest it elsewhere at 7-10%, use that rate. Using too low a rate (like a savings account yield) understates the true cost of tying up capital in vault cash.
What do vault-cash providers typically charge?
Third-party vault-cash services (where they own and front the cash, you just operate the machine) commonly charge 6-10% annualized on the average balance outstanding, sometimes bundled with the processing fee rather than billed separately — read your ISO contract carefully to find the effective rate.
How do I minimize cash carrying cost without running out of cash?
Right-size the load amount to demand — loading exactly enough to last until the next scheduled visit without excess buffer cuts average balance without increasing run-out risk, as long as you're monitoring balance remotely via the machine's reporting.
Does more frequent loading always cost more?
It trades off — more frequent, smaller loads lower average cash balance (cutting carrying cost) but raise total logistics cost from more trips. Run this calculator at a couple of loading frequencies to find the combination that minimizes total monthly cost for your specific balance and rate assumptions.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
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Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). ATM Cash Load & Vault Cash Cost Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/atm-cash-load-cost
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/atm-cash-load-cost" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ATM Cash Load & Vault Cash Cost Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [ATM Cash Load & Vault Cash Cost Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/atm-cash-load-cost) (2026).