Running a Countroom

From UKRag Guides (wiki)

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Count Room Staff/Volunteers 2.1 Staffing levels 2.2 Your Team 2.3 Training 2.4 Accuracy & Communication 3 Location 3.1 Security 3.2 Saftey Notes 3.3 Access 4 Equipment 4.1 Furniture & Feng Shui 4.2 Power points 4.3 Coin Bags 4.4 Pens 4.5 Paper 4.6 Count slips 4.7 Laptop 4.8 Bins! 5 Organisation 5.1 Organise the bags 5.2 The power of 5 5.3 Coin Amounts 6 Using the machines 6.1 General Advice 6.2 Specifics 6.2.1 Count Machines 6.2.2 Bagging Machines 7 Hints and Tips 7.1 Cleanliness 7.2 Keep your cool 7.3 Space and time 8 Thank everyone 9 Credit and Debit

Introduction

This is in no particular order, sort it out so it suits how your brain works, not mine. Oh and by the way there might be stuff I’ve missed, I haven’t done it deliberately, working nights is messing with my ability to think linearly. The principles it contains are also those to be used when counting any amount of cash, so read on and good luck, Ian j

Count Room Staff/Volunteers

Have the right folk for the job and make sure they know what is expected of them in advance. Check they really know how to use the kit that they’ll be using, and how to bag money correctly.

Staffing levels

Allow one person to manage the door, one person per machine, one person to bag the small bags into bulk bags and someone to deal with the totals on the spreadsheet. It's important to have someone in charge of the count room that has some idea of what is going on at all times and has ultimate responsibility for the place.

Although it helps a great deal to have many volunteers to help you, it's more important to have a good cohesive team together. With a smaller team of people that know what their job is, it will be easier to manage them and hopefully fewer mistakes will be made. Try to keep anyone who is not in your countroom team out of the count room, or at least the area where the money is being counted.

Your Team

• Counters - People to operate count machines, one to a machine if you are only using the machines to count individual totals *Baggers - People to operate the bagging machines, again one per machine.
• Door Keeper - Someone on the door to take the money in and keep everyone else out. Be firm but polite with folk, if they are in the way or no doing something useful then they should go somewhere else.
• Spare persons - You may need to dry the money with towels, you will hopefully need someone to put small bags into big bags. Someone to keep the place tidy, someone to help fetch and carry stuff, it's best if theuy have local knowledge so they can go fetch stuff and give directions too.
• Data collator, some one who can use what ever computer or spreadsheet you have to hand, they should also keep track of the paper copies
• Leader - Someone to be in charge, answer questions, keep track of everything, watch the clock, plan ahead for each phase and know what the smeg is going on AND GOING TO HAPPEN at all times.

The numbers of each all depends on how much you have to count and how many machines you have. Quality in this arena massively outscores quantity, this is not to say that folk don't have to start somewhere or be given a fair chance to learn but if it's not suitable for them don't make them or the rest of the team suffer.

Training

Remember a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, if you are unsure about what to do ask. This especially applies to counting machines which range from £3,000 to £9,000 in cost, some may look battered and beaten but inside them there are plenty of delicate precision components that are easy to break or get out of alignment. If you don’t know ask for god’s sake.

Early in the morning of a major collection will result in some spare time for the countroom staff (while everyone else is trying to get the money off the streets), so it is a good time to have a last go through the details of running the count machines if anyone is unsure. Make sure one person in the room knows what to do if one or more of the machines start breaking/ seizing up, jamming, etc.

Much of what you do whilst routine to you and your participants (hopefully) is strange and out of the normal range of duties to most venues’ staff.

Accuracy & Communication

Make sure you communicate clearly and where possible openly, if someone is new and is inquisitive don’t fob them off or tell them it’s not their problem, tell them now is not really the best time and you’ll explain how it all works later.

Spotting errors, these are usually due to folk miss-counting bags either small into large or just small, mistakes are often spot-able as they will be close to a set amount, e.g. you count 1 too many or too few large bags, so if you think you are £500 out check your £1 coins then your 50 and 20ps …

A general rule of thumb is that once your counted and bagged totals are within 1% (£30 if you've counted £3,000), then the remaining mistakes are most likely to be either machine errors from euros/foreign coins, or just too difficult to spot. Use your judgement on when you're happy you've got the most accurate result you can with the time and resources available - marshals are also volunteers, don't leave them locked in a count room forever!

Local Knowledge: make sure at least one person knows their way round the area you are working in, the room, building, campus, district, city .... such as where to park, get food, beer, etc and to provide decent directions. (so make sure they can disseminate this info too)

Location

Have loads of space to work in if you can. A totally empty room with solid tables and power sockets is ideal. The more space you have, the less your team will bve tripping over each other through the day. Your collectors don't have to get to the countroom if you have a bucket swapping team, but your bucket swappers do, if on foot or by car. Try to have some car parking space for your marshals, or if they are doing it all on foot, don't make them walk to the other side of the city to get to you.

Security

First you will need somewhere safe to count. Preferably away from the pub where the raggies will be so they don’t keep popping in to be helpful, so you can concentrate on counting the money. Having hoardes of tired/excitable people in the count room will only confuse matters, so the less folk know where the count room is and how to get to it the better. If you are in the same building, try being on different floors it dissuades random wanderers.

Make sure you have a lockable room, that money is not in plain sight from the door or windows to passers by or even staff at the venue or the collectors, they’ll only talk and word may unpleasantly spread..

Make sure you have arranged securicor or securitas pick up or safe storage for the money and by this I mean storage in a safe, not leaving it in a locked room or office.

Saftey Notes

Have a pre-agreed fire evacuation procedure and assembly point.

Ensure good vehicle/building access to move kit in and out. There’s no point in saying we`ll get the kit in the morning to find out the building will be closed for the day, Can you park there? If so for how long and when? Will you get clamped or ticketed? Is there a goods entrance? Is there a lift?

Access

Remember many student unions can be very hard work to get into if you are not a student, even if you are expected. Do you need to let the house staff, security etc. know when and where you expect participants and other visitors? E.g. securicor, other charity colleagues. Again a bit of work beforehand is a lot less stress at the time.

Equipment

Equipment other than bagging and counting machines which should hopefully be an obvious requirement. This list may be less than obvious to someone new.

Furniture & Feng Shui

Have enough strong tables for the machines and the money, have chairs where necessary, have a table for the door to use as a counter to accept buckets over, it will also keep folk out of the count room. (Sometimes a separate drop off point may be preferable)

Power points

Check that you have enough for each machine, make sure you have extension leads and spare leads for all the machines you need. Make sure you keep any leads and cables safely secured. Do not daisy chain your extension leads. Where neccessary tape down any cables. Make sure you have permission to use the power in the first place.

Coin Bags

Have more than you’ll need by a factor of 2 is best, what are they going to do go mouldy? You need small coin bags that are good for any denomination and large bags that are colour coded for the coin types that go in them.

Pens

Ball points to write with, as they don't run or blot on damp paper. Permanent markers to label bulk coin bags and fill in direction/info signs with.

Paper

To write/print totals and write notices on and in case you run out of count slips.

Count slips

Detailing:

• location
• time handed in
• number
• is it last one? If so x of how many
• name
• rag
• fresher
• nickname

Keep all count slips safe and if possible separate from the other records, do not throw away until you have sent the return in.

Make sure bucket swap slips are legible by a) using biro and b) telling folk if they aren’t filled in properly they won’t get the total (you can’t do it all for them) b may sound harsh but when I used it at Christies day there was no stressing or tantrums about “lost” buckets.

Laptop

Save on laptop as soon as and as often as possible, keep hard copies and where possible copy to disk or email it back to your office as soon as you can during and on the day.

Set up your laptop with spreadsheet in advance, enter the information accurately, if you need to do anything tricky copy it to another file first before you play with it.

Don’t try to be too clever, so learn how to use excel first or find someone who can, remember if you have an all singing all dancing spreadsheet and you don’t know how to use it; it is not the spreadsheet’s fault that you don’t understand its idiosyncrasies.

Make sure you keep the laptop safe. And keep drinks away from it too.

Bins!

Rubbish goes in the bin immediately, makes sure you have a big bin, and bin liners, tidy up as each collector brings in stickers etc, arrange things neatly and you’ll remain in control.

Organisation

A disorganised countroom is an agonising experience. Keep things neat, it's entirely for your own benefit.

Organise the bags

Arrange a large table and divide it up into foot wide strips, starting with £2 coins at one end arrange them in rows of five in each strip. Like this…..

The power of 5

Each of the bulk bags are based on multiples of 5, so for example a bag of £1 coins is £500 which is 25 bags of £20 or 5 rows of 5. Also the human eye and brain is good at dealing with fives so it’ll be easier to keep in check, keep the big bags in neat rows too. I usually put them under the table …

Coin Amounts

Coin amounts are as follows, print it out in large format for everyone, put it up on the walls if possible.

[1]

Using the machines

Make sure you know what you are doing, do not be complacent, learn as you go, be patient and methodical. Share information about any quirks or foibles that are appearing.

General Advice

This advice applies to the bagging machines just as much as the counting machines

• Read the instructions
• Walk it through with a handful of change to start.
• Set them up correctly
• Make sure the surface is uncluttered, steady and level (spirit levels can help).
• Have pens bags etc to hand.
• Make sure the money is clean and dry, dry it if necessary, by hand with cloths and towels, hairdryers do not work effectively and make everything smell of damp dog.
• Remove any bits of fluff, tinsel, paper, hair, crumbs, stickers, plastic, pins, damaged or foreign coins.
• Do not overload the machine, a pint of coins (use a hard plastic pint pot it won’t break) at a time is usually the most you should put in at any one time, anything else will overload the machine and make it run slower, if it runs at all.
• Do not stick anything harder than a cotton bud or blutac into the machines.
• Keep the machine free off fluff etc as you go along.

Specifics

Count Machines

These tend to have two major functions:

• Counting how much money goes through (in £'s and p's)
• Counting how many coins of all denominations go through.

You can set most machines to count out into small coin bags as they go, this can help if you have not got enough bagging machines but it does require mental and manual dexterity, and it can be a bit slower.

Do not be tempted to set the amount to 1000s so the machine just keeps trunning to the end of each bucket as you will overload the coin hoppers and that will spill coins everywhere or worse jam the machine.

Keep an eye on the machines and they will owrk fine. Some machines will automatically reject foreign or fake coins, some do not se give each bucket the once over before you pour it into the machine.

Bagging Machines

Bagging Machines need setting before you can start pouring currency into them. You can only count one type of coin with them at a time, so make sure you have a lot coins before you begin. But do not overload the machine.

Make sure you have set it properly and that is rezeroed between batches or types.

To test that you have set it properly put 4 or 5 coins in first, before you tip a pint full in, it can take a while to pick thenm up off the floor if it just rejects them.

Check you know the correct amounts per bag.

Hints and Tips

Cleanliness

Do not eat or drink whilst handling coin, you’ll get food poisoning, money is a great place for bugs to lurk, and women’s money is dirtier than men’s, although women wash their hands more often, they rarely clean their purses, where as most blokes wash their trousers eventually. By all means stop for a break when you need to, but wash your hands thoroughly. Another reason not to eat or drink is that accidents will happen and crumbs and drips are not good for counting machines or lap tops.

Keep your cool

Remain calm, if you get flustered you’ll only aggravate each other. Tired people make mistakes and simple mistakes are the easiest to make, and if you don’t stop and take a deep breath they are the hardest to find. Make sure the rest of the marshals remember to be polite and understanding towards the collectors and other folk.

Don’t be obsessive, count what you have got, there may be small differences, these are often due to fake or foreign coins being counted initially and then fished out. Some machines will count 5 euro cents as 20p and 2 euros as 2p.

Space and time

Explain to the security firm what the cash will comprise in advance do this by email or fax to be emphatic. If you have a safe to put the money in make sure it can handle the volume.

£3000 once counted and bagged weighs about 70kg and takes up about 50cmx50cmx20cm in space

Thank everyone

Collectors for bringing their buckets back and collecting, venue staff for their help, the marshalling team, and even securicor for picking up the money.

Credit and Debit

thanks to Ian b for persuading me to write this as opposed to go on a killing spree, to Sean and Emo for uploading and formatting it, Ian J