Bill counters can save you valuable time during your nightly counts. However, it might be overwhelming to attempt to buy the best bill counting machine for your company.
The different models, price tags, and features might confuse you, and you might be unsure of which machine is best for you. This guide will help you feel confident about your purchase, so here is what to look for when buying your cash counter.
Price of the Bill Counting Machine
The cost of a bill counting machine can tell you a lot about its functionality. Machines on the lower end of the scale will likely not have as many special features and functions and will possibly be manual. These cash counters will be priced lower, but could be the best option for a company that does not need to count a high volume of bills.
Counters with a higher price tag, on the other hand, will likely function on the latest technology and allow for a lot more flexibility when it comes to choosing which type of features you might want to get. These more expensive bill counting machines are designed for businesses that need to process thousands of bank notes each day, and really need to rely on automatic, high-speed operations.
Functions and Special Features
Cash counters vary widely per model and company. You can find the perfect features to fit your needs. Here are some typical functions that you might want to consider when buying your bill counter.
Feeding type: There are generally two feeding styles to choose from--front load and back load. Front load feeding is more user friendly if you aren’t too organized and neat with your bills. With a back load feeding machine, you need to ensure that your bill stacks are nice and neat in order for the machine to process the bills without getting jammed.
Hopper size: Your hopper size tells you how many bills can be loaded into the machine to be counted. If you intend to process many bills at a time you will want to look for a higher capacity hopper size. With a bigger size, you will have to spend less time reloading the machine once it’s done counting a batch.
Self-testing: With automatic self-testing, every time you turn on your counter, it will run a test to ensure it is running smoothly and accurately.
Bill thickness adjustments: This function allows you to adjust tension to allow for different thickness of bills caused by damaged and worn-out paper.
Speed: The speed of these machines’ processing abilities varies. High-end counters have quicker counting functionalities. Some machines also have a function that allows you to choose different speeds that you want to process your bills with, so you can adjust it depending on the day’s needs.
Counting type: You can usually pick between add, batch, and value counting. The add feature will keep the machine counting as you continuously add more bills to the input hopper. The batch feature allows you to pre-determine how many bills to count before the machine stops, and the value function lets you adjust the machine to count until a certain value of a denomination is attained.
Error communication: Different machines alert you to errors in different ways. You can choose a machine that has your preferred communication style.
Counterfeit detection: Ultraviolet, infrared and magnetic detection technology integrated into some bill counting machines alerts you to possible counterfeit bank notes.
When buying a bill counting machine, it’s best to do your research ahead of time to ensure you are buying the machine that best suits your business needs. The least expensive machine is not always the best and can need replacing long before a mid-range counter, so do your research and ask an expert if you have any questions.
