Tuesday, March 10, 2009

What to Look For in a Money Counter

You may initially consider buying a money counter to eliminate wasted time or to increase counting accuracy; or both. But once you have decided to purchase a money counter, how do you know which one is right for you? I did some research recently to develop a list of criteria to help you decide! It is important to choose the counter that best fits your company’s needs to increase efficiency and productivity during the money handling process.

Counterfeit Detection

First, consider whether you will need the option of counterfeit detection. If counterfeiting is a concern, you may want to purchase a counter/counterfeit detection combination machine. Typically these detectors use ultraviolet light or a combinations of ultraviolet light and magnetic detection to prevent the acceptance of fake bills. In general, money counters with added counterfeit options are more expensive and machines with both ultraviolet and magnetic detection are usually a little more expensive, but offer increased protection and versatility. In businesses completing a high number of transactions with large bills, money counters/counterfeit detectors are vital to accuracy and security.

Discriminators and International Currency

To make counting even faster, machines are available that are able to detect different bill denominations. These machines are called discriminators and are usually much more expensive than a typical money counter, but can be a huge time-saver for businesses counting large amounts of cash. Some counters are capable of detecting international bills, as well as separating smaller sized bills. When counting bills from multiple countries, international detection is a must.

Vertical or Horizontal Feed

Machines are available that can be loaded flat, by stacking bills, or loaded standing up, on the bill’s side. Machines that accept stacked bills are called horizontal feeders and those that accept only bills on edge are called vertical feeders. A horizontal feed allows the user to stack more bills into the hopper and reduces time when counting a large number of bills. For counting less than 100 bills at a time, a vertical feed is sufficient.

Additional Features

Money counters come with a variety of extra features to accommodate almost any counting needs. For instance, some models come with an external count display that allows more than one person to view the running count. This feature is perfect for situations when a teller is counting bills for a customer. Machines intended for large counting operations often come with a dust shield to deflect dust and debris away from the operator’s face.

Warranty and Service

Finally, like any product you may consider buying, investigate the specific brand’s warranty and service agreements. Ideally, you will want to find a money counter that remains under warranty for at least one year. Many manufacturers offer on-site service packages for maintenance and repair on your counter. To ensure you purchase a counter that has a long life, find one that offers the best possible warranty and service agreement.

When you are looking for a money counter remember there are an assortment of models with different features, don’t settle on a machine that doesn’t fully accommodate your needs. Examine all the possible features and choose the product that helps increase your efficiency and productivity the most. Use these basic guidelines to help narrow your product search and find the counter that is right for you!

Canadian Debt Consolidation

Our lives are full of shocks, surprises and twists. When we are challenged financially we often freeze in fear and stand-by watching as our lives deteriorate into a nightmare. Money problems are a common occurrence in the current financial climate. They are often brought on by poor health unexpected job loss, motoring expenses, addiction, and many other mishaps. When we finally realise our dire circumstances it's often too late and the shock strikes hard. So what do we do when we realise we cannot even afford minimum payments?

People from Canada are just as likely to experience financial difficulty as anyone else on the planet. Luckily, Canadians are able to seek Canadian debt relief. Debt consolidation loans are varied and work in many different ways.

The primary debt consolidation method utilises the professional services of a debt specialist. The job of this individual is to liaise with and negotiate with the clients creditors. Expert debt consolidation specialists are able to organise and negotiate reduced loan payments and interest rates. Both of these strategies bring forward the final payment date. This Canadian debt consolidation method is best used by debtors who identify and act on their problem before they reach bankruptcy. The big advantage associated with this method is the fact that the arrangements are satisfactory for all parties involved. Once the debtor has paid off the outstanding funds, he can make a fresh start.

The beauty of this approach is that it allows the debt consolidation specialists to build a strong relationship with the lending companies. They develop a trust which is otherwise hard to achieve between debtors and their lenders.

The debtor also has the advantage of being able to rely on an expert with the experience to realise what they can afford each month. The debt consolidation expert therefore, is able to rely on his expertise to ensure the debtor is provided with a practical arrangement that he's able to meet. It is his responsibility to help the debtor get back on their own two feet. It's in the consolidation expert's best interest to provide an effective service for future employment testimonies.

The second debt consolidation method is Canadian debt relief. If he is accepted the debtor is loaned sufficient funds by a financial institution to clear his debt. He uses the borrowed money to make the final lump sum payment. This breaks him away from the entanglement of higher interest debt. He now has a much lower interest rate loan to pay back. The advantage of this is that it is a single monthly payment as opposed to multiple smaller payments, it's far easier to manage and keep track of. Once he's made several payments towards this new loan he will see massive improvements in his credit rating.

Bankruptcy in Canada can often be avoided by making use of country's well-established debt relief systems. The benefits attached to a debt consolidation service in Canada are immense and can easily assist the debtor's desire to improve his credit score. If your debt is becoming too much and you feel overwhelmed it's time to look at Canadian debt consolidation as a means to improve your situation.

Using The “Autograph” To Get Cheap Motor Insurance

What if your motor insurance provider told you that you could get up to 25 percent discounted from your next car insurance policy simply by showing them that you were a safe driver? It would sound obvious won’t it - after all, basically, isn’t that what a no claims bonus is all about? Well, you can guess again, because with the new “autograph” device getting up to 25 percent discounted on your car insurance policy in the years to come is going to be a very real experience!

What Is The Autograph?

Basically, an “autograph” is a device that you ask a garage to plug into the diagnostic part of your car (which can be found underneath your steering wheel). The autograph will then record all of your driving skills, including how fast you drive, your average speed, whether or not you need to suddenly break (and, if so, how often), the times of the day that you like to be out and about on the roads, what your average mileage is, what your longest and shortest journeys are. In fact, the list is endless. After a pre-determined period, say three or six months, you then return to garage that installed the autograph and they will uninstall it and replace it with a new one. The old autograph is then plugged into a computer and all the requested recorded data is feed into a computer and sent to your motor insurance provider. Your motor insurance provider can then take a look at all of this recorded data and can decide, more accurately, if you are a high or low risk driver!

Benefits of the Autograph

If you are a good driver, the benefits of agreeing to use an autograph are easy to see – after all, recorded data rarely lies! The downside to using an autograph is the fact that it is recording the data collected in the car. This has two effects – first, you have to have a car capable of recording this data (i.e., not too old); second, the data collection cannot differentiate between drivers. As such, if you have a car in your house that is driven by several different people, the autograph will not be able to tell who is driving the car at any given time. Consequently, if you have your son or daughter on your car insurance and they tell you they like to drive at 50 miles an hour, while the autograph tells the motor insurance provider they like to drive at 120 miles an hour, it’s not likely you are going to be getting the 25 percent policy premium discount you were looking for!

All in all though, as with pay per mile car insurance, getting cheap car insurance using an autograph device, although being the way of the future, is here to stay and will most probably benefit far more motor drives than it inhibits.

Using Cell Phones While Driving Increases Car Insurance Rates

Cell phones are the omnipresent electronic devices of this era, and multi-tasking is the byword of this generation. So, it is quite natural to see many people jovially chatting over the mobile phone or thumbing down instant jokes while negotiating the traffic on busy highways. It is a habit that spreads like the bushfire does in Australia. And in the long run, it is as deadly as well.

Studies have proved that drivers who use cell phones while driving are more prone to cause accidents. Many researchers have equated driving while using mobile phones (or is it the other way around?) to drunken driving. They say that in both cases, a person does not have enough focus and mental capacity to carry out a potentially dangerous activity like driving. If you also have this habit, do not shrug and dismiss this article as nonsense. There are many gains - both for you and for others - if you do away with this habit.

The Advantages Of Stopping Cell Phone Use While Driving

The primary advantage is that you are keeping a safe distance from accidents. It has been estimated through various studies that a person using cell phone is four times more likely to meet with an accident. The reasons for this are not hard to understand. One cannot focus fully on the road and the other vehicles, if one keeps on chatting on phone simultaneously while driving. Thumping, or writing text messages on the cell phone, is a doubly dangerous activity. It requires the driver to control the vehicle with one hand and half a mind.

Well, let us drive past the usual negative thoughts on the same subject, such as accidents can happen to anybody and other similar gospels. Just for the record, there are a number of people who have been driving without causing any major accident.

The second, and perhaps a more tangible, benefit is the reduced car insurance Canada premium. In many states in the USA, using cell phone while driving is a traffic offense that can get you a penalty ticket. The more the number of tickets you attract against your name, the higher will be the insurance premium. In these troubled times of economic recession, insurance companies are eagerly waiting for something to increase the insurance premium. They can easily track the tickets against your name, even if you got those in faraway locations.

The rules regarding this are not consistent across the country. Different states have different sets of rules. At present, seven states have banned talking through a handheld device and texting while driving for general public. But more states - 17, to be precise - have banned the use of mobile handset device for beginner drivers. Several states allow the person to use hands-free device for talking through the cell phone while driving. But it is strongly reminded that driving does not lend itself to multitasking.

Young drivers should be more conscious about the financial burden, if not the social troubles, that can be resulted from their cell-phone-induced driving. The rules regarding cell phone use are more stringent for the new drivers and the increase in the tax premium is steeper. The bottom line is that using cell phones while driving not only increases your phone bills, but raises your car insurance premium as well.