You’ve decided to take the great leap and purchase a bank note sorter. The advantages outweigh the cost. You’ll reap a good ROI from this investment, so long as you pick the right machine to meet your needs.
There are several options out there when it comes to selecting a bank note sorter. What features should you look for when you decide to purchase one?
Banknote Sorter Hopper Size and Type
A bank note sorter can be a great way of increasing productivity and reducing the time you spend on cash management. If you’re really hoping to get the most out of your new machine, however, you need to pay particular attention to the size of the unit’s hopper, as well as the type.
Remember, you or one of your employees have to manually load bank notes into the machine’s hopper for sorting. If the hopper is small, you’ll have to load it up more frequently. This situation is particularly acute if you purchase a speedy model with a small hopper: It’ll fly through whatever you’ve loaded, forcing you to reload it in short order. You could end up sitting there “babysitting” the machine!
A larger hopper will allow you to put more notes in at one time. The type and location might also affect your decision. Some hoppers require pristine stacks of bills to operate efficiently, while others can deal with a little more unruliness.
Think about the volume of notes you have to count and the condition of the notes you usually receive.
Counting Abilities
One limitation of some bank note sorters is they do one thing and one thing only: They sort. They don’t count.
Obviously, this limits the machine’s usefulness to your business. You may want to consider a multi-functional unit, which includes both a sorting and a counting feature. The machine can then sort the notes as well as tally them up for you.
Bill Types
Do you handle strictly Canadian cash? If not, you may need to rethink your bank note sorter purchase.
Some units will be able to tell different currencies apart, whereas others will only be able to sort one type of currency. This could present a problem if you accept both Canadian and American cash, or if you handle a number of different currencies in your business.
Additional Functions
You may not want your bank note sorter to have all the bells and whistles, but before you rush out and purchase one, you should think about which features you really do need.
If you receive a large number of counterfeit notes, for example, you may want to invest in a sorter that has counterfeit detection capabilities. This can save you time and money in detecting fakes.
Other options include speed and batching. Some machines batch the notes for you, pausing automatically after a certain number. This is incredibly useful if you need to bundle up particular amounts for deposit. Speed is another variable. Some machines operate much faster than other models.
Another option you’ll want to consider is error detection. Giving it the ability to detect when something’s gone wrong can save you time trying to sort out a mess later on.
Do Your Research
Not every banknote sorter is created equal. Some models come with all the bells and whistles, while others will be more bare bones. These differences are often reflected in the price.
Carefully think about your business needs and what you want to achieve by investing in a banknote sorter. Selecting a model with capabilities to help you reach those goals will give you a much better ROI.
