If you’re in the market for a money counting machine and seemed overwhelmed by the options or terminology, don’t fret. Buying a money counter isn’t as daunting of a task if you identify what is most important to you. A lot of this depends on whether you intend to use your bill counter for personal or business reasons, the volume of bills you deal with on the daily, and what type of industry you’re in.
To make it easier on you, we’ve constructed a list of 6 important factors to consider when buying a money counting machine. Use this as a guide to figure out what is most important and relevant to you in a bill counter.
Size & Weight
Depending on where you plan to place your money counter on, you’ve got to take into account size and weight. For instance, if you’re in a cramped up office space and don’t have a lot of space, it would be better to get a compact bill counter. On the same note, if you see you’re going to constantly be moving your bill counter to different spots, it might serve you better to choose a counting machine that is lightweight.
Counting Speed
More money, more problems? How about more money, more power? Or in this case, more speed. If you’re in a business where you need to count a large volume of bills in a small amount of time, make sure to opt for a bill counter with high counting speeds. Typically, most bill counters come with interchangeable speeds so you can count bills at different rates but make sure to keep an eye out for the max speed.
Our AB5200 Bank Grade Bill Counter has the highest max rate of any of our bill counters at 1,900 notes per minute. But ultimately, what will dictate your need for pace rests on your volume.
Hopper Capacity
Where counting speed is good for calculating rates, a hopper capacity is good for gauging volume. The average AccuBANKER bill counter can hold up to 300 bills in its hopper but some of our heavy duty mixed bill counters, such as the AB7100 and AB7500, can hold up to 500.
Another aspect to keep an eye on, in relation to the hopper, is whether it’s a front or back loaded hopper. Front loaded hoppers usually have a higher capacity and are better for performance than back loaded hoppers.
Multi-Currency
If you’re a business owner that deals with a lot of international clients (and currencies), it’s important that you get a currency counter that can accurately count and/or organize different types of currencies.
Some mixed denomination value counters can detect between certain types of currencies automatically. But even if your currency counter can’t automatically detect the country of origin for that bill, some bill counters come with a value count feature that allows you to preset the values so you’re able to classify between varying forms of currencies.
Mixed Bill Value Detection
Mixed denomination value detection is arguably one of the most important considerations when thinking about buying a money counter machine. Standard bill counters require that you presort your bills and classify them by 1s, 5s, 10s, 20s, etc. However, a mixed bill value counter will automatically detect the denomination of the bill, distinguish it, and add it to the total count accordingly.
Time is money so if you’re in excess of bills and light on minutes, it would serve you an efficient upgrade to get a bill counter with mixed bill value detection.
Counterfeit Detection
In the same light as mixed denomination value detection, counterfeit detection is also an important optional add-on that you should think about when shopping for money counters. With an estimated $220 million in counterfeit bills in circulation, you’d be wise to not just count, but inspect, your money.
Let’s say you work in a bar that is notoriously known for fake bills, you’d be inclined to look for a bill counter that can detect counterfeits and alert you when there is a suspicious note. Your workflow will become much more efficient if you’re able to verify and sum up your bills at the same time.
Some of our bill counters, such as the AB1050, AB1100PLUS and AB4200, come with optional counterfeit detection variants for UV (Ultraviolet) and MG (Magnetic), while the AB5200 and AB5800 come with the detection functions included. Our mixed bill value counters, the AB7100 and AB7500, come with UV, MG and IR (Infrared) detection functions. If the combination unit isn’t your thing, you can always purchase a counterfeit detector separately and pair it off with your bill counter.