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ATM business provides essential services to rural Alaska

November 19th 12:19 am | Jason Evans Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

In last week's popular show Flying Wild Alaska on the Discovery Channel, Kavik Peacock is shown delivering an ATM to Wainwright, Alaska. Kavik and his brother Lahka, who are both my brother-in-laws, own and operate five ATMs throughout rural Alaska. Their company is called Rural Financial Services (RFS).

They started their business to focus on villages where there are no banks, credit unions, or any of the normal financial services commonly found everywhere else. In most small villages, the local store acts in many ways as a community bank. They cash checks, provide cash to customers, and even take cash from other businesses and write them a check back, so they can mail in their deposit. But the stores are limited in their ability to provide all financial services because they always run out of cash.

RFS takes some of the burden off of the local stores by providing ATMs, which in turn provide thousands of dollars of cash each and every month into these communities.

There are a lot of logistics in this type of business. The cash must be shipped from Anchorage, travel through the hubs of Kotzebue or Barrow, and then is transported in a small plane to a village like Wainwright. A local agent must know how to load the cash in the machine, and keep the machine maintained, as a service technician is hundreds of miles away.

The ATMs then rely on phone lines which have to connect via satellite and are sometimes non-operable. The ATMs can also use an Internet connection, but in most cases a mostly reliable phone line is the best option due to slow Internet speeds.

These logistical hurdles, although complicated, are what make operating any business in rural Alaska a unique challenge. Additionally, employees of a rural business must be able to do tasks ranging from operations to technician duties in order for a business to be successful.

These services, whether it's an ATM business, a grocery store, the mechanic shop or any other business you find in rural Alaska, are essential to these communities. As seen in this popular national reality TV show, it takes a lot to run a successful business these days and it takes even more to run one in rural Alaska. To all those willing to take on the challenge of owning and operating their own business, we all benefit from your success.

 

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