Was anyone this shocked when banks replaced tellers with machines?
Was anyone shocked when the music industry pretty much went digital, shutting down “music” stores by the score? (Pun intended)
The machines generally are less error prone and work for a lot less per transaction than people. Sure they break down, but for the price of one technician you can have them back up a helluva lot faster than someone comes back from being sick.
And, for the most part, they speak whatever language you want them to speak.
People under 50 might not remember this. But there used to be a time when if you wanted to draw cash from a bank account, you had to show up at the bank during their office hours. Usually 10 am to about 3:30 pm - this is where we got the term "bankers hours".
Once there, you had to fill out a withdrawal slip with a pen chained to a table. Hopefully you knew your account number because you had to fill that in. If you had a savings account, you usually had to have a passbook with you that it could get stamped with the amount of withdrawal and current account balance.
Once the paperwork was filled out, you had to get in a line and wait your turn. It was usually a long line. Think Registry of Motor Vehicles. And once you got to the front, if your paperwork wasn't completely in order, you got turned away so you could fix it and then you had to go back to the back of the line.
So you see, ATM's are a very under appreciated invention.