This post is a special first appearance by our in-house money counter expert, Greg Jensen.
In today's world, the old cliche "Time
= Money" couldn't be more valid. For the small business owner,
an automatic money counter can be a simple cost-effective way to save
time and make the tedious chore of counting your cash a breeze. With
so many different bill counter models and brands to choose from, selecting the
right money counter for your needs may seem like a daunting task.
With basic money counters beginning around a hundred bucks, and advanced
models going up into the thousands of dollars, selecting a bill
counter may seem like a confusing job, but with a little forethought
it doesn't have to be.
The first step in deciding which
counter is right for you is to think about you or your business'
specific needs. How often will you be using the machine? What volume
of bills do you regularly need to count? Do you need counterfeit
detection? Is it important for the machine to display the count to
you in dollar total instead of a simple count total? What is your
budget? Once you've answered those questions you can use the chart
below to help match a machine to your requirements.
Photo source: hickoryhollow113
(Click the charts for a full size view)
MachineRunner Bill Counters Comparison Chart
Glossary of Terms
Batching --
Batch Counting allows you to count bills in predetermined set
batches. If you want to sort into piles of 100 bills, the machine
will count 100 bills, then stop. Once you remove that batch, it will
continue counting the next batch of 100 bills, then stop
again.
Adding -- Adding
allows you to count multiple runs of bills and add them to the
previous batch to keep a running cumulative count. For example, you
run through a batch of 100 bills, then stop. With adding you can then
run another batch and add that total to the first batch.
Hopper
-- The part of a money counter
that receives the bills to be counted
Stacker -- Where counted bills are deposited by the
machine.
Display -- Where the count total is shown on the machine. Contrary to popular
belief, 95% of money counters only display the total number of bills
counted and not the actual dollar value.
Discrimination
-- Refers to a machine's ability to automatically tell the difference
between denominations. The majority of bill counters do not have this
feature.
UV Detection -- US bills have certain marks
and colors that are revealed under UV light. Counters with UV
Counterfeit detection utilize an Ultraviolet light source to check
the bill for these marks automatically and sound alarms when they are
not present.
MG Detection -- US bills are printed with
a special magnetic ink. MG detection uses magnets to sense this ink.
Counterfeiters will often take a 1$ bill and wash the ink off with
chemicals and then reprint the bill as a higher denomination. MG
detection will spot these "washed" counterfeit bills
whereas other traditional deterrents like counterfeit pens will
not.
Size Detection -- Many bill counters can sense the
dimensions of the bills adding another level of counterfeit
detection.
Error Detection -- Machines with Error
Detection can automatically sense common errors such as double notes,
chain notes and half notes.
