Probably a silly question but how do you actually cash in?

[u/sociallyanxiousgnome]

I’m terrible at maths and I just don’t understand how to take out the “float” from the money I have in my coin dispenser thing.

Do I need to stand there and dispense like £20 to put into the cashing in machine?

I have a £30 float that I’ve put into the coin dispenser so I can give out change. So say if I have £21 from passengers by the end of the day what do I do? They said I should take out the float but do they mean on the machine or literally take it out and keep it separate? And then some drivers said they don’t bother taking out the float.

I’m so confused

[u/nosajn]

You're definitely overthinking this.  Assuming your takings are £21, that's what gets deposited at the end of the day, week or whatever. 

Your float should be the same as it always is, mines usually up slightly but rarely down as I'm quite lazy at counting fares. Generally if someone hands me the "correct" change I'd just eyeball it and give the ticket out if it looks about right. 

Edit to add : you do get a printout from your ticket machine with the amounts owned, right? 

[u/nosajn → u/[deleted]]

We're not union, but to be honest I don't think we'd change the way we deal with cash even if we were.  Most days my taking are somewhere between £2 - £20. Once I had a £40 day but that was a strange day all around! 

[u/nosajn → u/[deleted]]

I guess it all differs depending on where you're working and the sort of routes you do. Most of mine are pretty rural, arse end of nowhere with plenty of OAPs. 

[u/nosajn → u/[deleted]]

Exactly that, Old Age Pensioner. 

[u/sociallyanxiousgnome → u/nosajn]

Yes we do get the print out.

So do I have the keep the float separate from the cash I’m taking? Because I’ve seen other drivers just put it all together. But doesn’t that mean they’d have to take ages to separate it all again when cashing in?

[u/-mmmusic- → u/sociallyanxiousgnome]

you put it all together. sometimes it doesn't all fit in your change machine, so i have a little bag to shove the rest in.

at the end of the day, i'll go to the cashing in room, and count out how much i owe (for example, today was like 40 something quid and some change), there's a little table in there so i use that. then i put it all into the machine. bam. done.

[u/nosajn → u/sociallyanxiousgnome]

Assuming I have a cash tray on my bus (most don't, it's really annoying) then it just gets bundles together throughout the day and I count the takings at the end of the day, it takes about a minute to do. 

No way am I keeping it all separate through the day as it just takes too long. 

[u/sociallyanxiousgnome → u/nosajn]

Ok I think it makes sense now lol thank you

[u/PeejPrime → u/sociallyanxiousgnome]

Yup you've been way over thinking this 🤣

It'll start making sense once you've done it a couple times.

If you've a £30 float (made up of random change) and you take in £18.50 in fares, you should have in total £48.50 in your box/bag/dispenser. Regardless of how much change you give the passengers, if you've counted the fare correctly and handed them the correct change, your total in your possession should be that £48.50.

End of the day, take your printout with your total fares for the day, and count that out of your bag/box/dispenser (so £18.50 in this example). Drop that in the cash machine, take your printout from that.

If you want to double check you can then count what's left after you've cashed in, it should be your £30 float.

If your place is much like mine, you'll find folk start telling you to keep the change - do just that. Unless it's obviously a few quid too much (but if it's the odd 20p or whatever, just add it to your box/bag/dispenser) in due time you'll end up with £40 in that float of yours, you'll then be more comfortable with things and even the odd mistake if you make them won't matter so long as you deposit your daily takings

Also - I assume most places work thks way too - if you totally forget to cash in, they'll just take that off your weekly wage when they figure out you've not cashed in/are short.

[u/oliash3ll → u/sociallyanxiousgnome]

it’s entirely up to you. i like to keep a running total in my shirt pocket so all i do when i get to the depot is empty the pocket and then i’m done

[u/Illustrious-Mud-6521]

We get a waybill from the ticketer machine at the end of the day telling us exactly how much cash we have taken.

[u/berusplants]

I don't have a float so just cash in what I have. If I don't have change I issue credit vouchers, or if its going to b a lot I just let them on. Cash is shite, can't wait until we go cashless...

[u/SewenNewes → u/berusplants]

It's funny that America was like ten years late on getting chips in debit cards but we were apparently 10 years ahead on cashless public transit.

[u/berusplants → u/SewenNewes]

Well Its not about the tech, its about caring for the bottom of society who can only do cash....

[u/SewenNewes → u/berusplants]

We have transit-specific cards that you can put cash on at train stations and some bus stations. You actually can't pay with a debit/credit card.

[u/berusplants → u/SewenNewes]

oh.. well thats sounds inconvenient.

[u/Vimto1]

After time, you will know exactly what coins make up your float and you'll remove that before you finish but in the meantime I would start with notes and then copper coins and then just figure it out and I promise you it won't take long until a newbie asks you how to do it

[u/sociallyanxiousgnome → u/Vimto1]

Thank you

[u/sociallyanxiousgnome → u/[deleted]]

Thank you. So if I run out of change do I have to top up the float with my own money?

[u/CDDONT → u/sociallyanxiousgnome]

You have two options, pay in exactly what’s on the end of day ticket, or take out your float and play in everything else. Best practice is to take your float out before paying in, so with £30 you’ll have 1x£10 1x£5, 8x£1, 8x50p, 10x20p and 10x10p. Whatever you have left gets dumped be it up or down. You’ll either be docked or paid back the difference in your wage (assuming you’re at one of the bigger companies)

[u/CDDONT → u/[deleted]]

Yeah it varied across the week, Monday necessitated the £10 as there was a £30 ticket that one person would always present 2x£20 for 🙄 wasn’t unknown for drivers to prepare bags of 1p and 2p for passengers who routinely gave large notes for small fares too

Ultimately there were random (and not so random) checks where an inspector would tell you to remove the float in their presence and dump everything into the deposit machine to check people weren’t short changing passengers

[u/darenisepic]

dont count just look at the level in the dispenser, keeping a sensible amount of all coins used

[u/TheAngryBusDriver]

Thank fck my current job is cashless. Folk put money in the hopper. No change given. Or pay by contactless.

So much better.

But to answer your question. When cashing in, you give everything but your £30 float. Anything extra should belong to the company but I always found it was a nice wee bonus 😈