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[Shop-talk] The biggest challenge yet (shop related)

To: shop-talk@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: [Shop-talk] The biggest challenge yet (shop related)
From: eric@megageek.com
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:25:26 -0500
OK, here is the deal.  Since returning from Afghanistan, I've been out of 
work.  So, I started farming my property for wood.

I've got a great work chain from standing dead tree all the way to stacked 
on pallets to move the inventory or even delivery.

But here is my challenge...

Many people here sell firewood on the road side for about $10-$20 a stack. 
 All of them are on the "honor system" for payment.

Since I live directly across from a state park, I have an ideal set up for 
selling a campfire's worth of wood at a time.  BUT, many of the campers 
don't pay for the wood.

So, I want to build a metal cage (multiple cages actually) for the wood. 
Once a person pays for the wood, the door is unlocked.

There is no electricity by the end of the road, so many options are out. 
Also, if I was selling it for less than a dollar, it would be easy to make 
a mechanism to open with coins.

But I need a system where people can put in dollar bills (or $10s or $20s) 
and it "reads" the bill to open the gate.

Does ANYONE have ANY ideas?  My house is set far back from the road so 
wood piles do get stolen.  I was even thinking about a portable credit 
card machine maybe, but I have no idea what is involved with getting a 
unit that is weather proof and battery based.

Any help will be appreciated, and a prize will be awarded to the person 
that comes up with the best solution that solves the problem.  Thanks a 
bunch!

Moose
"Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational 
being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory." Ralph 
Waldo Emerson 
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