Vis4Vending Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I have my own system of counting coins. When I service my machines I will pour the coins into a plastice cup then into a zip-lock plastic bag. Also I write on a half of a 3 x 5 card the name of the location and the date. I call these my bag tags. I throw that into the zip-lock bag as well. When I started the business I found a local bank (actually a credit union) that had a coin counter. I opened an account for my business at this bank which gave the the free service to use their coin counting machine. There is another bank (same branch) about three miles away that also has a coin counter. This is nice in case one of the coin counting machines is down. Usually it takes 2-3 days before the machines are back up again. Once both were down for a couple of days. When I count the coins I open the zip-lock bags and make a note of the info on the bag-tag and feed the coins through the machine. I note the dollar amount that is shown on the machine and go to the next zip-lock bag. I write the grand total down off the machine after each bag of coins have been fed through. This number will increase as you feed more bags, but I write that total on the machine by each location. For example the first zip-lock may read on the machine $33 and I write John Doe Auto Repair $33. (I also round off to the nearest dollar). The second bag which was Kid's Day Care after going through the coin counting machine may read $86 and I will note this second entry under John Doe Auto Repair $86. Remember that the $86 is the sum of both locations. The third bag fed through the machine at Great Care Nursing Home may bring the grand total up to $115 and I will note that under Kid's Day Care. MY list will continue until all the bags are fed into the coin counting machine. The bags do not have to be in any order and do not have to be congruent to the order that you run your route. All you need to make sure of is that the location and the total amount of the coin counting machine in noted. For example: John Doe Auto Repair - $33 Kid's Day Care - $86 Great Care Nursing - $115 Clean Car Wash - $144 John's Truck Terminal Location #1 - $184 The All Day Cafe - $196 John's Truck Terminal Location #3 - $217 John's Truck Terminal Location #2 - $$263 All of this takes just minutes to do. I save the zip-lock bags to be used again. I have never had a bag to bust. Later at home I do the math and post the entries of each location. This is done by subtracting (finding the difference) of the locations that are next to each other. I usually write this amount down by the location and circle it which tells me the total amount for that particular location. Again for example: John Doe Auto Repair = $33 (obviously since it was the first one) Kid's Day Care = $53 ($86-$33) Great Nursing Home = $29 ($115 - $86) The All Day Cafe = $12 ($196 - $184) John's Truck Terminal #3 = $46 ($263 - $217) etc. I am sure you get the idea. It does not matter what order you do the zip-locks as long as you subtract grand total of each location from the grand total of the previous location. This accounting method helps me to note the amounts of each location. Some locations have more than one place for my machines as seen as John's Truck Terminal. When I get home I record the amounts of each location on a form that I got off of this website. I believe this form was created by Cassorti and it helps me keep good records and what type of candy/gum that I use in each machine at each location. I only write the amount of each location. Not the amount for each machine. I hope I have been clear i explaining this and that it helps. I am sure that my system is not original but I have found it to be efficient and very systematic. Any questions let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I hope I have been clear i explaining this and that it helps. I am sure that my system is not original but I have found it to be efficient and very systematic. Any questions let me know. Your system sounds like it would work for an all-charity route only. Many of my commission stops require counting on-site. Do you not pay your commissions at the time of service or are you doing charity only? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 If I was a charity guy with out employes I would not count each location. Just toss it in a bag and roll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 If I was a charity guy with out employes I would not count each location. Just toss it in a bag and roll I would advise against this. It's good to keep record of how each location does. Some stops can vary quite a bit from month-to-month, season-to-season, and/or depending on the product in the globe. Pruning (pulling equipment from your slowest earners and finding new homes for the equipment in order to improve your average per head) can be very important for charity routes. Having an accurate picture of how each location performs over any given period is necessary to properly prune a route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I would advise against this. It's good to keep record of how each location does. Some stops can vary quite a bit from month-to-month, season-to-season, and/or depending on the product in the globe. Pruning (pulling equipment from your slowest earners and finding new homes for the equipment in order to improve your average per head) can be very important for charity routes. Having an accurate picture of how each location performs over any given period is necessary to properly prune a route. Many guys over think this business. Some even track every head on charity that's over kill. The key is to service fast and move on. We as most companies track sales by asset number. But as charity goes all of us can look in a cash box and know if a machine gets pulled or not with out Looking at a spread sheet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I know that over the last 12 years I learned one thing, for me I count what each product does so that I know which one is doing the best and rotate out what is not. I saw an increase of over 20% in money by doing this. Yes, most of mine have been charity, and some commission, but it made the bottom line increase and the amount per stop increase. It was worth it to me to take the extra 10 min's per stop to count, but I haven't had as many machines as some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brmorr Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I only count tokens since the gamerooms I have my stuff in use all tokens. I use one of these: http://kloppcoin.com/products/coin-scales/ This thing can also count pennies, nickels, dimes, etc.. and it all comes preprogrammed into the thing. I had to put a custom setup in it to count .882 tokens, but this thing is awesome. At one location, it counts roughly 7-8K tokens when I go out there every other week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Many guys over think this business. Some even track every head on charity that's over kill. The key is to service fast and move on. We as most companies track sales by asset number. But as charity goes all of us can look in a cash box and know if a machine gets pulled or not with out Looking at a spread sheet Cash flow is the most important part of any business. Details regarding cash flow are never useless or a waste of time to those who can put it to proper use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vis4Vending Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Sherlock, You are correct in guessing that I work only on charity commission. That was the way the route was when I bought it and I am only expanding my routes. I have made some changes as to who the charity groups are. However I am keeping some local and adding national and international. This is just one of many things I like about this business in that it has a lot of flexibly as long as you use common sense. Vendiscuss.com has been most helpful as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makes Cents Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I guess Im one of the over thinkers. I run charity route and I bag every head in a number canvas bag. At home I use accucount scale for location sale and impute in excel. The process is easy and quick. By bagging every head I can see sales trends which I couldnt just by looking in coin box. For example I can see quarterly sales of skittles vs runts for a location and this info can easily result in a 10-15% annual increase in sales for a location. When you factor in COGS you can increase annual net income of a location by 25% or more from a simple product swap just by tracking all heads, product and cost and using excel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I probably collect more data than most too. I don't collect the machines so I run "exception" reports, basically I look for things that don't match previous history at locations. I ask drivers what's moving for sure but those are opinions not data. Yes you can go overboard but you need to control your business also, it can be a puzzle figuring out what's relevant or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodney69 Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I guess Im one of the over thinkers. I run charity route and I bag every head in a number canvas bag. At home I use accucount scale for location sale and impute in excel. The process is easy and quick. By bagging every head I can see sales trends which I couldnt just by looking in coin box. For example I can see quarterly sales of skittles vs runts for a location and this info can easily result in a 10-15% annual increase in sales for a location. When you factor in COGS you can increase annual net income of a location by 25% or more from a simple product swap just by tracking all heads, product and cost and using excel. This is what I've found as well, yes, with U-turn's I can see the boxes and been doing it awhile, but like you mentioned, the increase on what sells is an incredible difference. For instance: On gumballs, if I use a standard gumball it sells about 24% slower than if I use a bright color like bubble brights or Neon gumballs, and they sell about 32% slower than Nerds Gumballs! Yes, Nerds GB's are more expensive (which stopped me from using them in the beginning), but when I started tracking about 6 years ago, I quickly realized that paying more for the Nerds gave me a higher sales rate and at the end of the year 23% more profit! Just on GB's alone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmkraz Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 I'm a big fan of quality equipment, but as a part timer I couldn't justify the Acucount cost. I bought the scale below 15 months ago and have used it 2 to 3 times a month since then without a single issue. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FSWB9K/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 A few key features I like: - It's thin and rectangular so it fits nicely on the side of my servicing container (in a box to keep it protected). - It has a pure pounds measurement. Many kitchen or postal scales only have pounds/ounces. So when multiplying the weight by 20 to get the amount, it's much easier to do when given an exact number (e.g. 2.5 pounds) than getting two pounds 8 ounces. - It's durable and feels solid - important when toting it around. - Batteries last! I'm still on my first set. Side note: the listing implies it comes with a power adapter which it doesn't (at least it didn't) - fortunately vendors don't care about power adapters. Every few weeks I put a roll or two of quarters to verify it and it's always exactly accurate. I'm sure it won't outlast higher end scales, but for a part timer this one fits the bill perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Falcon Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 Look up Andrew Liberman Acucount Model:AC603 best $400 dollars I have ever invested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dromero Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 I'm a big fan of quality equipment, but as a part timer I couldn't justify the Acucount cost. I bought the scale below 15 months ago and have used it 2 to 3 times a month since then without a single issue. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FSWB9K/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 A few key features I like: - It's thin and rectangular so it fits nicely on the side of my servicing container (in a box to keep it protected). - It has a pure pounds measurement. Many kitchen or postal scales only have pounds/ounces. So when multiplying the weight by 20 to get the amount, it's much easier to do when given an exact number (e.g. 2.5 pounds) than getting two pounds 8 ounces. - It's durable and feels solid - important when toting it around. - Batteries last! I'm still on my first set. Side note: the listing implies it comes with a power adapter which it doesn't (at least it didn't) - fortunately vendors don't care about power adapters. Every few weeks I put a roll or two of quarters to verify it and it's always exactly accurate. I'm sure it won't outlast higher end scales, but for a part timer this one fits the bill perfectly. I am not sure about that one, there are many reviews saying it doesnt work or it isnt accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick505 Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 If I was going to spend ~400 on a scale I would go with the klopp scale because it probably is superior in quality and made in the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 Don't buy the Klopp scale, it's just a rebadged Qtech scale and they're not that great, I have two. If you're in this for the long haul then bite the bullet and pony up the $400 for the Acucount scale, it's the best single method of counting quarters for a bulk vendor by a wide margin. If you can't afford the Acucount scale you should still buy quality. If you live in a large metropolitan area then scour Craigslist for a used Downey-Johnson or Klopp coin counter. It might take 6 months but you should be able to find one for $100-$150. Or contact me, I have two of the older model Acucount B101 scales I'll sell you for $100 plus $15 shipping. I have a thing for counting coins accurately and at one time I had 9 different counters/scales for counting coins. For bank deposits I use a coin counter that counts each quarter individually and rejects anything that is not a quarter. For commissions a scale is the best way to go. Anytime I get a scale I compare it against the coin counter to check accuracy, and they've all been found to be off a little when approaching maximum limit. The Acucount AC603 also was off just a little when I first got it, but there's a 3 minute YouTube video showing how to reprogram coin and after I did this using $500 of quarters this scale is dead on every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 Or if your lucky there may even be a cummins jet sort or two for sale... Sometimes under 800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED8it Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 greetings folks, After many years I have used almost every method mentioned here (except counting at the bank) and my preference is a $4 digital fish scale that I buy by the dozen via aliexpress.com and a lightweight bag with a brass grommet pressed into the corner. Test the scales and throw away the 10% that are not accurate. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/HOT-sell-40kg-x-20g-Hanging-Luggage-Electronic-Portable-Digital-Scale-lb-oz-Weight-scale-010/1802810958.html Weigh the coins in front of the customer, (this scale will lock onto the weight once it stabilizes, so you can lay it down where the customer can see it) as I write the weight on a "two-part guest check" I mention that I will include the bag's weight because the time savings offsets the resulting overpayment to them. 8.87lbs x $20= $177.40 x40% (or your real %) --------- $71.00 Pay in cash and go. If I sense that someone is suspicious that I may be shorting them, I will pretend to be unsure of the cheap scale and use a counter or hand count in front of them and then correct the paperwork to show their slightly lower commission. On my next visit I will give that customer one of these scales as a gift and never worry about my reputation again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjvend Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I use a quarter tube from Office Depot and wrap as I go. Doesn't take any more time and wrappers are generally free at the bank. Then amount is entered on the route card as each location is done. I have a nice portable, but I can wrap as fast without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brmorr Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I have had the Klopp scale KCS-60 for about 6 months now and have not had any issues with it. I basically only count .882 tokens with it and it is very accurate in doing that. I calibrated it for 1000 tokens and stop when I reach that in the bin, empty and restart. I roughly count about 11K+ tokens every two weeks and it has been fine!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Action Vending Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 greetings folks, After many years I have used almost every method mentioned here (except counting at the bank) and my preference is a $4 digital fish scale that I buy by the dozen via aliexpress.com and a lightweight bag with a brass grommet pressed into the corner. Test the scales and throw away the 10% that are not accurate. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/HOT-sell-40kg-x-20g-Hanging-Luggage-Electronic-Portable-Digital-Scale-lb-oz-Weight-scale-010/1802810958.html Weigh the coins in front of the customer, (this scale will lock onto the weight once it stabilizes, so you can lay it down where the customer can see it) as I write the weight on a "two-part guest check" I mention that I will include the bag's weight because the time savings offsets the resulting overpayment to them. 8.87lbs x $20= $177.40 x40% (or your real %) --------- $71.00 Pay in cash and go. If I sense that someone is suspicious that I may be shorting them, I will pretend to be unsure of the cheap scale and use a counter or hand count in front of them and then correct the paperwork to show their slightly lower commission. On my next visit I will give that customer one of these scales as a gift and never worry about my reputation again. A fish scale? I got a postal scale on ebay made by accuteck it is .01 oz upto 35 lbs and .2oz above 35 up to 86lbs for $10. so its accuracy is with in $0.13 cents. How do you split a .13 commission? It also has a ten year warranty. I have had one for a over a year and it cost me 10$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dromero Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 A fish scale? I got a postal scale on ebay made by accuteck it is .01 oz upto 35 lbs and .2oz above 35 up to 86lbs for $10. so its accuracy is with in $0.13 cents. How do you split a .13 commission? It also has a ten year warranty. I have had one for a over a year and it cost me 10$. Can you please post the link on ebay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronsidney Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I like to get mason jars and fill them all up evenly with quarters, line them up on counter and say if commission is 20% i load 10 mason jars all evenly with the take and then tell location to pick any TWO that he wants,, They normally spend a while looking at each jar and picking it up etc trying to make sure they get the two with the most money.. if is 25% i just get 4 and let them pick the one they want etc. on whatever commission i'm at on this location.. now if its a charity stop i like to put all the money in a big bucket then laugh at the location for being so dumb as i get 4 quarters out of the big bucket and put it in a envelope and say "This money is gonna help find missing children!!" and then grab up bucket and say "And this money is what i deserve for helping out this charity so i'm taking this to my bank account." They love it that i'm such a good citizen and helping out a worthwhile charity . They totally understand the concept of the charity machine as i explained it to them in such detail when i located it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 That's awesome Ron! And is this how you collect the money at coin-pusher locations? ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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