So I'm thinking we should throw together a hit guide–that is people post their perceived recommendations to get more hits.
I'll start: Get a stamp. I think it looks more professional (as far as money stamping goes) than hand writing the address. You also don't have to worry so much about legibility.
Stamp and enter all your notes..Don't spend them until you have entered them..
If a note is torn, tape it up before spending it. This will keep it in circulation and keep it hittable longer.
I don't really have much advice to give, but I 'll say it anyways. Its along the lines of getting a stamp as the first one. Get a stamp with ink that stays well on the bill
Use cash instead of debit.
If you have it in the bank anyway, It's just one extra step.
Use marked cash for ALL your purchases, even large ones like mortgage payments or rent if you can. I realize some come out automatically. My car insurance just comes off monthly.
find a good "launch site"…friends/family/maybe yourself who deal a lot in cash who will let you stamp the money, and help circulate it.
Go to any Starbucks on a late Sunday afternoon with a wad of marked fives. Ask them to trade you for twenties. They can't get more fives 'til Monday afternoon, so they'll be happy to make the trade.
Ask them to trade you for twenties
Gray zone here. It's not actually the 'natural flow'. One could say that once Starbucks has it, it is natural. But that's splitting hairs.
I disagree. I believe this practice is tantamount to entering the notes of family and friends. Provided the SBux cashier isn't entering all your notes, no problem.
I disagree. This is clearly an example of "NOT a natural flow of money". Would you do the same thing if you were not tracking the bills? As Pooga indicated this falls into the proverbial gray zone.
It is the natural flow. When I worked at SBux, we'd have a couple of randoms come in every Sunday afternoon with a pile of (unmarked) fives. Making change is definitely natural flow. SBux is simply a distribution point.
Like I said, if the cashier was to enter all the notes, it would be unfair (although I would still argue natural flow ["Some guy came in with fives for us. They all had this website stamped on them, so I visited the website"]).
This practice is in no way black, grey, red, or any other colour. Solid green, without question.
Furthermore, if a CMT'r owned a retail business (and several of us do), and stamped every note in his till, it would be completely clean and legal. How is having a non-participatory middleman any different. Would you like me to start working at SBux again, and stamp the money from behind the till? Then, when a Sunday afternooner came in with marked notes, would you like me to tell him to bugger-off, that he was cheating? Where is the difference?
You can also collect notes from your friends and family and enter those notes as well, so long as when you return the money, your friends and family don't turn around and enter those same notes
From the FAQ. SBux is my friend and/or family.
I may as well add an opinion here since the other site assistants have weighed in and I'm feeling left out. I think that optics are an essential component here. I view the money tracking as being from an impartial, neutral and invisible vantage point. This is clearly impossible in reality and therefore "grey areas" are going to pop up from time to time. We do our best to mitigate these, but they happen.
The "natural flow" as I see it is as if we are that impartial observer and simply remove the notes for an infinitesimal time to record the serial number and mark. Then they are sent on their way as if they were never modified – spent, obtained, and circulated as if the site never existed. We can do this with a friend's money… it was already in circulation, we just stopped it momentarily to include it in our study. We are careful to tell that friend to spend as usual and NOT enter it themselves. We have not interrupted the "natural flow". Making change at a business with marked money is not a natural practice – we would not ordinarily do that. You would, more likely, use your stamped money to purchase a good or service – as if you would if you were not tracking the money – in denominations and amounts that would be commensurate with your purchase. THIS is how what you propose falls into a grey area.
The other issue that may be involved is that there are many people who do not view our pursuit with the same fascination and devotion as we do and that must be recognized. The proprietor of the business handing out the marked notes may suffer from backlash from such unenlightened people – certainly, our website may be similarly affected by such a negative reaction and so you have to consider the broader picture and NOT spoil the natural circulation by such "saturation" or "flooding". Our avocation has been adversely affected in the past by such practices and I suspect that some businesses that money-track have suffered, too.
In short, I believe Pooga and Gouche92 have it right. We should track money like we try to treat the environment – with minimal impact and sustainably.
I agree with the bit about entering friends' notes so long as the friends do not re-enter them. I do, however, disagree on the making marked change at a business part.
Whereas the 1886 case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad granted the corporation personhood. And whereas Starbucks Coffee Company is bound by this precedent. And, whereas I can be good buddies with a person. Therefore be it resolved that I can make unlimited marked change with my good pal Starbucks, without stepping into any grey areas.
I have to agree with Rudyk on this one too! I had plenty of opportunity in the past working in the family business, that was mostly cash business (no, it wasn't mafia or drugs!). I think that if I would have did that, it would have raised a few eyebrows and quite a few comments.
Which leads me to think too that it would have caused an unfair advantage too with the fact that I and possibly others could have had the entry count high, maxed out daily while others don't have that opportunity. I say its just playing the game, lets see who can get the most hits but I can see it too the other view too that it wasn't my money either.
But like with everything else, everybody is going to have an opinion
I can see fordjae's point some what, as in the past way before my money tracking days, if I ended up with too much small bills in my wallet I would make change at a fast food place, & found they where always more than happy to get some small bills. So you can make the case that it could be a natural flow. But if you do it weekly it definetly is well into the grey area!
Once or twice a year I have deposited marked bills back into the bank, maybe $50 at a time. This happens at the end of the month when I realize that there is not enough left in my act. for service charges & 1 direct withdrawal. I have been doing this for 20 years since I got married, so this is a normal flow for me.
Mike Cityscape
Because I live in a village, and I know the person at the post office cannot close and leave, I often sell her change that I have. Usually loonies, toonies and fives. and not all the fives have been marked. If she needs the change, she asks me and I sometimes have it. I am not the only one who provides change for her. Others do as well and it is not marked from them.
p.s. I stamped and entered a radar note tonight. oops
I think it's acceptable assuming you don't gain a hit when it goes back to whoever's note it really is. For example: I enter it, and then the cashier/manager/etc hits it.