Re: The future of AFCA is in good hands
Snidely
> > Does such a contraption somehow sort the bills it takes in from the bill
> > reader and send them back out the cash dispenser as needed? Or does the
> > vault have one component for outgoing bills and one for incoming with no
> > connection between them?
>
> I'm guessing it recognizes the incoming bills and puts them all in one
> big stack, then has separate stacks for $1, $5, $10, $20 for outgoing.
> Don't have to construct the bill-routing mechanism that way.
As seen at Walmart, Home Depot, and various grocery stores -- the self-
service check out registers ingest bills from somewhere over the
bagging area and dispense bills from under the scanner. These units
are more sophisticated than the kiosk Xho describes, or at least
that's the impression his description gives me, and yet they don't
serve bills that they've consumed.
/dps
Lots42
> As seen at Walmart, Home Depot, and various grocery stores -- the self-
> service check out registers ingest bills from somewhere over the
> bagging area and dispense bills from under the scanner. These units
> are more sophisticated than the kiosk Xho describes, or at least
> that's the impression his description gives me, and yet they don't
> serve bills that they've consumed.
>
> /dps
I've yet to encounter a self-service checkout machine that wasn't a
sad, pathetic mess for many, varied reasons. Most annoyingly, being
unable to recognize small items as actually existing.
Hactar
Lots42 <lot...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 29, 2:28 am, Snidely <snidely....@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > As seen at Walmart, Home Depot, and various grocery stores -- the self-
> > service check out registers ingest bills from somewhere over the
> > bagging area and dispense bills from under the scanner. These units
> > are more sophisticated than the kiosk Xho describes, or at least
> > that's the impression his description gives me, and yet they don't
> > serve bills that they've consumed.
>
> sad, pathetic mess for many, varied reasons. Most annoyingly, being
> unable to recognize small items as actually existing.
Take the ones at Home Despot. (Please.) In order to get change in
denominations convenient for you, you have to give it the small
{coins,bills} first. For example, if the bill is $15.40 and you want to
use up the three dimes and two nickels taking up space in your
changepurse, you can't feed them $20, $0.10, $0.10, $0.10, 0.05, $0.05.
As soon as you feed the $20 it'll dispense $4.60 (four bills and three
coins) and call it a day. But if you give it the coins first, it has to
wait until the end and then give you $5 (one bill, no coins).
--
-eben QebWe...@vTerYizUonI.nOetP http://royalty.mine.nu:81
Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be
adequately explained by stupidity." Derived from Robert Heinlein
Xho Jingleheimerschmidt
> In article <4b11cd1b$0$5225$ed36...@nr5-q3a.newsreader.com>,
> Xho Jingleheimerschmidt <xho...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The dispensed coins are hot to the touch, sometimes painfully so. Why
>> is this? Are they hot just due to adventitious waste heat from the
>> kiosk? I wouldn't think a flat panel touch screen would generate much
>> heat, and it doesn't exactly take a super computer run such a thing, so
>> what gives off all the heat?
>
> I'm guessing it's a poorly-designed solenoid in the coin-dispenser
> mechanism, one that has significant current through each coin's
> 1-at-a-time selector even when it's not actually dispensing a coin.
Hmmm. I wonder how much that costs them in electricity. I think some
of the doors at work have the same problem. Outside of work hours they
have an rfid badge system to unlock them, and their knobs (levers
actually) are always warm to touch. But is only some of the doors, out
of several that appear to have the identical design, so I think it is
more an implementation issue than a design issue.
>
>> Why don't they accept coins? It seems like coin acceptors are a much
>> maturer technology than most of the components actually used, and that
>> the capital costs of adding (to help refill the dispenser) one would pay
>> for itself in having to refill the coin trays less often. (It also
>> offends my sense of symmetry. Then again, so does the word "symmetry".)
>
> Well, there are two tasks it would have to performin order to
> redispenses customer coins. One is to recognize the inserted coin, and
> the other is to sort it into the correct stack. Plus there's the
> potential PR nightmare of giving out a slug that passed the coin detectors
> on the way in.
I think the ubiquitous soda and snack machines have been re-dispensing
the inserted coins for many years. That is what I meant by it being
mature. But I guess mature doesn't mean cheap.
Xho
Hactar
Xho Jingleheimerschmidt <xho...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hactar wrote:
> > In article <4b11cd1b$0$5225$ed36...@nr5-q3a.newsreader.com>,
> > Xho Jingleheimerschmidt <xho...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> The dispensed coins are hot to the touch, sometimes painfully so. Why
> >> is this? Are they hot just due to adventitious waste heat from the
> >> kiosk? I wouldn't think a flat panel touch screen would generate much
> >> heat, and it doesn't exactly take a super computer run such a thing, so
> >> what gives off all the heat?
> >
> > I'm guessing it's a poorly-designed solenoid in the coin-dispenser
> > mechanism, one that has significant current through each coin's
> > 1-at-a-time selector even when it's not actually dispensing a coin.
>
> Hmmm. I wonder how much that costs them in electricity.
Depends how long it takes to make each coin hot.
> >> Why don't they accept coins? It seems like coin acceptors are a much
> >> maturer technology than most of the components actually used, and that
> >> the capital costs of adding (to help refill the dispenser) one would pay
> >> for itself in having to refill the coin trays less often. (It also
> >> offends my sense of symmetry. Then again, so does the word "symmetry".)
> >
> > Well, there are two tasks it would have to performin order to
> > redispenses customer coins. One is to recognize the inserted coin, and
> > the other is to sort it into the correct stack. Plus there's the
> > potential PR nightmare of giving out a slug that passed the coin detectors
> > on the way in.
>
> I think the ubiquitous soda and snack machines have been re-dispensing
> the inserted coins for many years. That is what I meant by it being
> mature.
Sure about that? ISTR seeing a diagram of a coin mechanism where the
customer-supplied coins go into a big hopper, and the coins awaiting
dispensing are neatly stacked in separate bays.
> But I guess mature doesn't mean cheap.
Yeah. Internal combustion engines are mature too.
--
-eben QebWe...@vTerYizUonI.nOetP http://royalty.mine.nu:81
ARIES: The look on your face will be priceless when you find that 40lb
watermelon in your colon. Trade toothbrushes with an albino dwarf, then
give a hickey to Meryl Streep. -- Weird Al, _Your Horoscope for Today_
Snidely
> Lots42 <lot...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I've yet to encounter a self-service checkout machine that wasn't a
> > sad, pathetic mess for many, varied reasons. Most annoyingly, being
> > unable to recognize small items as actually existing.
You're not supposed to buy marshmallows or single washers, anyway.
> Take the ones at Home Despot. (Please.) In order to get change in
> denominations convenient for you, you have to give it the small
> {coins,bills} first. For example, if the bill is $15.40 and you want to
> use up the three dimes and two nickels taking up space in your
> changepurse, you can't feed them $20, $0.10, $0.10, $0.10, 0.05, $0.05.
> As soon as you feed the $20 it'll dispense $4.60 (four bills and three
> coins) and call it a day. But if you give it the coins first, it has to
> wait until the end and then give you $5 (one bill, no coins).
many vending machines have the same display of attitude.
/dps
Snidely
> I think the ubiquitous soda and snack machines have been re-dispensing
> the inserted coins for many years. That is what I meant by it being
> mature. But I guess mature doesn't mean cheap.
It's been over a year since I watched one getting it's weekly
stocking, but I seem to recall that the coin-in bin gets emptied and
the coin-out dispenser restocked. BICBW. Insert weasel words here.
YKMV. Post no bills.
/dps
Bill Turlock
Your post is offensive to bills
bill van
I don't mind it.
bill
Snidely
And of course, Bills may post.
/dps
Rick B.
@sonnnic.invalid:
> Snidely wrote:
>> Post no bills.
>
> Your post is offensive to bills
OK then, we're going to pour glue all over your back and hang you on the
plywood wall surrounding a construction site. Feel better?
Lots42
> On Nov 29, 7:33 am, ebenZERO...@verizon.net (Hactar) wrote:
>
> > Lots42 <lot...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I've yet to encounter a self-service checkout machine that wasn't a
> > > sad, pathetic mess for many, varied reasons. Most annoyingly, being
> > > unable to recognize small items as actually existing.
>
> You're not supposed to buy marshmallows or single washers, anyway.
If I can't use it to buy ten dollars worth of O-Rings, what in the
name of Kibo is it useful for? Nothing, that's what. And No, I am not
a plumber, I am a G.I.Joe fan.
> > Take the ones at Home Despot. (Please.)
Yes, the Home Despot ones are the worst of the lot. And they are the
ones that carry O-Rings. At least with the cashiers I can be extra
polite to them; being a former cashier I know that this is not as
frequently occuring as it should be.
>>In order to get change in
> > denominations convenient for you, you have to give it the small
> > {coins,bills} first. For example, if the bill is $15.40 and you want to
> > use up the three dimes and two nickels taking up space in your
> > changepurse, you can't feed them $20, $0.10, $0.10, $0.10, 0.05, $0.05.
> > As soon as you feed the $20 it'll dispense $4.60 (four bills and three
> > coins) and call it a day. But if you give it the coins first, it has to
> > wait until the end and then give you $5 (one bill, no coins).
>
> many vending machines have the same display of attitude.
>
> /dps
The one outside the dollar store took my quarter and refused to give
it back. It also refused to take any more quarters. The employee
suggested calling coke.
For twenty five cents? Who -does- that? Not me, that's who. If I could
not have afforded to lose a quarter, I should not have tried to buy a
coke.
Jim Prescott
>In article <4b130dec$0$5238$ed36...@nr5-q3a.newsreader.com>,
>Xho Jingleheimerschmidt <xho...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think the ubiquitous soda and snack machines have been re-dispensing
>> the inserted coins for many years. That is what I meant by it being
>> mature.
>Sure about that? ISTR seeing a diagram of a coin mechanism where the
>customer-supplied coins go into a big hopper, and the coins awaiting
>dispensing are neatly stacked in separate bays.
It seems likely both types exist. The more complex one probably costs
more and would be more prone to jamming (or cost even more). Whether
it is worthwile depends on how many sales you lose due to not being
able to make change.
If you find a machine with the "use correct change" light on you could
see how it worked. Buy a couple things with a variety of change and
see if you can make the light go out.
--
Jim Prescott Edmund A. Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
j...@seas.rochester.edu University of Rochester, NY
Bill Turlock
ermmm... on 2nd thought...
Richard R. Hershberger
That wouldn't have been at the top of my list, but my list is long. I
don't quite refuse to use them under any circumstance, but I
consciously favor stores that provide adequate manned checkouts. When
forced to use the self-service, I routinely expect to leave unscanned
items on the counter when it turns out to be too much trouble to
persuade the machine to function properly. In the alternative, the
flunky assigned to babysit people like me ends up doint the checking
out. Either way has the salutory effect of providing gainful
employment to actual human beings, which is precisely the end the
store is trying to avoid.
Richard R. Hershberger
Snidely
> In the alternative, the
> flunky assigned to babysit people like me ends up doint the checking
> out.
At Ikea, they (the staffers) tend to jump in even when my scanning is
going smoothly. That can be annoying, too.
/dps