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So Lets think about this…

Twodose

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So let’s think about this…

OK, so I bought a coin scale. For years I have been just taking the coin count from the gin-san timers and matching that with the bills taken from the coin machine, believing this and in the hope that they were right.

So the coin scale says 934.00, the #’s on the timers say 841.75, the bills count up at 894.00.

So given the scale is within .50 accuracy, this tells me that there is 92.25 difference between what the gin-san timers say and what the actual count is, the bills come in at 894.00 which is 40.00 difference between what the bills in the changer say as compared to the actual count in the bay which should be 934.00.

What I’m trying to say is that you should always count the coins from the bay and put that amount as you sales, the timers were off, the bills were off. So I can only say with some certainty that the actual amount of sales is 934.00.
Anyone questioning this should always use whatever coins are in your coin box as the actual count of business you have done for the day.

Instead of bringing home thousands of quarters from multiple locations and counting them in a coin counter, I got lazy and thought that is would be easier not to do that but to match the coin count on the timers with the bills and I should be close, and sometimes it is, but for the most part it is incorrect.

The only way to know is to count the coins you have in your coin box. This is just my opinion and I am sure there are many who do it in different ways, but I have been in the business for 28 years and one thing I can say for sure is this is the correct way to keep track of the actual sales you are doing.
 

MEP001

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I wouldn't even bother checking the counters unless there was an employee with keys. I used to help a friend with his wash while he was out of town, and every time I went there I found this:

 

Twodose

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You cant trust anyone can you? Check and double check, advise to nebiews,This is something to check on a regular basis. I do have an employee with keys, this is what made me buy the scale. Your a smart guy, i know that but do these coins amount to $100.00' s of dollars? Even if you missed some of them it would not matter that much. If you have to do this every day then it should be done, but if you want an accurate count you have to count the coins, right? If you find this many coins laying in the box then add them into your total, you may find that this is where the count is off. I have never found a coin box opened like that and no one claiming responsibility.
 
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Jeff_L

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I don't think EMP was saying he found it open. He's saying that the count could be off if there are coins not making it to the vault because they didn't make the chute. I have that issue too, quarters bounce I guess.
 

2Biz

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Some people bring there own coins and some walk off after they get change. So there's no way the coin count from the bay timers will match bills collected from the changer. (If I understand you correctly). You are correct, the only accurate way to check sales is to count the money that you pull from the bays. Some operators take the bay coins and dump them into the changer. Then only count bills as you pull them from the changer for sales. I like to count closer than that.
 

Earl Weiss

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HAd a frozen coin drop tube. Don't know hhow long it was like that. After thawing literaly hundreds of dollars dropped out. If I looked at bay counters I'd be pulling my hair out till I found this. Aslo quarters that miss the tube.

Counters are good for spot audits or if people have access but they could disable counters as well.


So, in the interest of time and since the only money reoved from the system is bills from acceptors and changers, that is the net sales.
 

MEP001

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do these coins amount to $100.00' s of dollars? Even if you missed some of them it would not matter that much.
The employee was coming in every morning and flipping the funnels in a couple bays, then coming back in the afternoon to collect the coins and put the funnels back before the owner showed up. He was doing this every day for years, so yes, it added up to hundreds of dollars.
 

MEP001

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HAd a frozen coin drop tube. Don't know hhow long it was like that. After thawing literaly hundreds of dollars dropped out. If I looked at bay counters I'd be pulling my hair out till I found this. Aslo quarters that miss the tube.
The best story I've heard so far was about a wash built with steel tubes running inside a hollow wall to the safes. The tubes rusted out and the owners fired employee after employee for stealing. Some complication happened with it being on septic and they had to close it, and when they bulldozed the walls they found enough quarters in the walls to fill two 55-gallon barrels.
 

mjwalsh

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:)
The best story I've heard so far was about a wash built with steel tubes running inside a hollow wall to the safes. The tubes rusted out and the owners fired employee after employee for stealing. Some complication happened with it being on septic and they had to close it, and when they bulldozed the walls they found enough quarters in the walls to fill two 55-gallon barrels.
Another good story is the one that JJJ in the SSCWN laid out with all the serious pictorial evidence of some very mischievous birds.:)

So there was an explanation!!! There is a need for more Sherlock Holmes sometimes! :mad:
 

Twodose

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Well now I am checking 3 ways, timers, bills and scale, my timer count in never consistently under so if this guy was checking his timer count he may have found out what was going on, my attendant only has a key to get inside the building, not for anything else, learned that lesson a long time ago. It’s really hard to trust anyone with cash money.
I grew up working in a family owned supermarket with about 50 employees, people can find some really clever ways to try and rip you off, we had one girl who was walking out every night with a bag of groceries and all the other employees knew it, but no one said anything, and one of the employees at the time was my Aunt!
 
Etowah

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I have seen it where someone just put a piece of cardboard over the chute. The picture mep1 posted is the exact same thing.

Like Jeff said sometimes coins don't make it. My small meter boxes have $2-15 in each one.

Twodose are you talking about balancing out one bay's meter box? Or the entire car wash?
 

Twodose

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Neither, I am simply talking about getting a correct count on the coins. I didn't understand what MEP meant with the picture, I have never seen or heard of someone doing that, I thought it’s no wonder there are so many coins in the box the funnel is upside down!!! LOL, But I don’t think like a crook, and that happens in my boxes and there’s no funnel.
 

Jeff_L

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My system - and it doesn't take long and is close enough for me. Start the month with full bill changers. Pull bills regularly and fill the changers from the bays just as regularly. At the end of the month, top off the changers from the bays, and the bills and quarters left over equals the SS business for the month. Might be off a few quarters, but it's not worth the time to balance every bay.
 

Twodose

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Some people bring there own coins and some walk off after they get change. So there's no way the coin count from the bay timers will match bills collected from the changer. (If I understand you correctly). You are correct, the only accurate way to check sales is to count the money that you pull from the bays. Some operators take the bay coins and dump them into the changer. Then only count bills as you pull them from the changer for sales. I like to count closer than that.
Right and what i am saying is that the scale gives you another form to audit you sales.
 

Earl Weiss

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A story here goes that the owner let the employee have a key to te meter box to clear jams and maintenance issues. One day he came to collect outside his regular schedule. Reaches into the vaut and feels something like a cows udder hanging down. Employee periodicaly put a condom over the drop tube to catch quarters but would remove it before the owner showed up for the regular vault emptying.
 

MEP001

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You reminded me of something similar where a local operator found a sock with a hard plastic ring sewn around the top dropped down the tube.
 
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