With ATM cash machines currently costing anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000, there is no doubt that buying one for your business is costly. If you arrange things right, however, buying an ATM can actually be a very sound investment.
Provided that you primarily manage the machine yourself, ongoing maintenance costs shouldn’t be too high. You’ll have to pay for the electricity to fun the machine, as well as around $40/month for a dedicated phone line, and $50 each time the machine is professionally re-loaded.
There may also be a monthly charge (usually $15 to $25 per month), which is required by some vendors but not others. It is important to take these fees into account when considering different machines and doing price comparison research.
Once you have paid all these little fees, however, it is possible to make money on your ATM by collecting a percentage of the surcharge. The average charge for an ATM transaction is $1.60, and as the owner of the machine, all or a portion of this money will go to you.
Depending on your contract with the ATM vendor, and how much of the maintenance work you do yourself, your share of the money can range from 35% to 100%. There is also the added benefit that customers will never find themselves short of cash when making a purchase at your store.
Therefore, installing an ATM machine not only helps your existing business, but can become a fully sustainable or even profitable business in itself.
Civil Forfeiture and the Standard of Proof
Unlike criminal proceedings, where an accused person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty and only punished once their guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, civil forfeiture proceedings operate on the balance of probabilities, meaning that the state must merely demonstrate that an individual has probably done something illegal in order to obtain forfeiture of their property.
The Right to Counsel in Canada
Section 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms preserves the right of a detained individual to contact counsel immediately upon arrest or detention, and simultaneously imposes a duty upon police to immediately inform individuals that they have this right.
Democratic Rights: A Broad Charter Guarantee
Democratic Rights, and specifically the right to vote in provincial and federal elections, enjoy broad constitutional protection in Canada, pursuant to Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This section states that “Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of the members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.”
