Crypto pay - accounting with tokens.

[Wheels]

So, my self-serve takes crypto pay, tokens, and quarters. What is the best way to account for the cash collected at the bill exchanger without double counting it at the self-serve when the tokens are used?

 

[MEP001]

Are you talking about your change machine that's separate from the bays? I wouldn't say it's complicated, but rather than use the counters from the bays to track the cash, you'd need to count the coins and bills you remove from the property. The reason for the counters is to make sure income matches pulls to prevent theft or identify equipment malfunctions, for example when a Sensortron starts to fail it may give four pulses per coin instead of one. Same with the changer counter, if you're getting strung or the hopper occasionally drops an extra coin, you won't know without checking the bills against the counter.

I just track money I remove from the wash. I mix tokens in with the quarters in the changer. I track the bills against the changer counters. I don't check the bay counts because no one else has access. I use a bathroom scale to estimate the quarters I remove, I don't worry about absolute accuracy until I bag them for deposit.

 

[HeyVern]

Why mix quarters and tokens?

 

[MEP001]

Why mix quarters and tokens?

It was either that or buy at least $500 in quarters twice a week. I pay $535 for a bag.

 

[edredtop]

Why mix quarters and tokens?

It keeps your quarters on site instead of them walking off to fill other people's uses, such as a laundry mat, collectors, poker games, or whatever else people can think of. When it's not certain you will get cash for cash, the person using your changer is (more) invested in your car wash.

 

[MEP001]

That's why I did it, also the tokens cost a lot less than 25¢ so I make money with every token I lose. Ideally I'd dispense $1 tokens, but my customers don't read anything and I'm sure I'd put them off not giving them real money at the changer. I don't care about pissing off the changer abusers.

 

[edredtop]

It was either that or buy at least $500 in quarters twice a week. I pay $535 for a bag.

I know you know this, but if you're anything like me it sometimes takes a ball bat to see things differently from what is currently working well.
Food for thought:
Osbourne Coinage sells beautiful control tokens that are only usable at your location, reeded, and nickel plated for about .35 cents each.
I sell them for a dollar ($1 value) and have to buy 10,000 a year because they "disappear."
It'll reduce wear and tear on the hopper, eliminate crossover token acceptance, reduce the potential for jams, reduce vandalism attempts, reduce the weight of material needed to fill a hopper for the business cycle, and you make money on that part of the transaction instead of paying the bank. I know we all do things differently because of what works for us but thought I'd throw that out there.
Edit: (I must've been typing this when you swooped in from the future and answered above)

 

[MEP001]

Believe me, if I had customers that I could communicate with or had real problems with break-ins I'd most likely do that, as well as offer bonus tokens when they buy more than one. At least 70% don't speak English at all, and I'd guess 20% of those who don't speak English can't read at all.

 

[HeyVern]

Believe me, if I had customers that I could communicate with or had real problems with break-ins I'd most likely do that, as well as offer bonus tokens when they buy more than one. At least 70% don't speak English at all, and I'd guess 20% of those who don't speak English can't read at all.

I've seen several here taking pictures of my signs and using a translator app so they can read them.

 

[MEP001]

Mine don't do that. They turn and turn and turn through the selections holding the foam brush in one hand trying to make it work. There's a picture of the brush and it's labeled English and Spanish.

 

[Jonathan]

I'm not quite sure I understand your question. Isn't it just a matter of calculating the cash collected at the bill exchanger directly?

So, my self-serve takes crypto pay, tokens, and quarters. What is the best way to account for the cash collected at the bill exchanger without double counting it at the self-serve when the tokens are used?

 

[martinschinonso]

I totally get where you're coming from with the whole Cryptopay and accounting with tokens thing. It can be a bit puzzling at first! Just to clarify, when you mentioned calculating cash collected at the bill exchanger directly, are you considering the involvement of crypto mixers in the process too? They can add an interesting twist to the whole crypto game!