I know a lot of gas stations and smaller convenience stores refuse to take 50s and 100s, for both change and security purposes. My fiancee says that tachnically, since this is legal U.S. tender, that is illegal.
I say that as a merchant, you can accept ANY form of payment, and can refuse any form of payment as well. For instance, if I’m a store owner, I can deny the use of checks or certain types of credit cards. So why not a sawbuck?
I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. It may be illegal to refuse a $100 bill as payment, but it is a very unenforcable law. All you have to tell the Secret Service when they show up at your 7-11 is that you couln’t change it.
I worked as a cashier all last summer. People would come in and try to buy a .99 cent coffee with a $100 bill. I politely told them that I could only give them about $50 in change. They screamed in my face for awhile, and then went to the bank (about a half a block away) to get change. Sigh. I’m not going to miss that job!
I worked as a cashier all last summer. People would come in and try to buy a .99 cent coffee with a $100 bill. I politely told them that I could only give them about $50 in change. They screamed in my face for awhile, and then went to the bank (about a half a block away) to get change. Sigh. I’m not going to miss that job!
This thread was beaten into the ground a year ago, as well as answered by Cecil in the column cited above.
The “legal tender” issue referes not to merchants, who can accept any form of payment they wish or not wish (many mail order merchants, for instance, refuse to accept cash payment through the mail). It merely means that the government is guaranteeing the validity of its currency. It is saying, in effect, that the U.S. government guarantees that a $100.00 bill is worth what it says it is worth, $100.00. Merchants are not obligated by law to accept anything they don’t want to. Merchants can refuse to accept pennies for a large payment, and they can refuse to grant change for a $100.00 bill.
On another note, what kind of person feels that a merchant should make change for a large denomination? I’m not saying I haven’t ever tried to use a large bill, but I also understand if it is not possible for the merchant to comply. I don’t expect that he will have a hundred dollars in change in his register. If he does great, if not, oh well, I’ll go break the bill elsewhere and come back and make my purchase.
On a side note, I work for a pizza place that takes checks. However, you must show us your drivers license or official state id. About once a week I get into an argument with a customer who says they don’t have to show it. I point out that they are correct but we don’t have to take their check. No ID, cash only.
We seriously had to call the police on someone once because she insisted we had to take the check and they left their drivers license at home. she was loud and obnoxious not only to us, but to the police and eventually got into trouble because she tried to drive home after a long argumant with the police (which only ended when the police said she was leaving now, it was up to her wether that was to jail or home, but one more word and it was jail) in which she admitted they didn’t have her license on her.
It is unclear whether merchants have to accept US currency, as opposed to say, credit cards only. However, it would be illegal to require foriegn currency, or gold coins. But nothing says you have to have change. I would say that refusing a $50 bill for $50 in gas or whatever would be marginal in respect to the law, but real stupid.
my father is an attorney. a husband sued his wife for something during their divorce, and she lost. i don’t remember the small sum, but she delivered to my father’s office in bank sacks. the sacks were all over the office. i estimate that there were fifty sacks (maybe 1/2 the size of a grocery bag) full of pennies.
she actually spent hundreds (?) of dollars extra to have the money delivered in this manner, instead of a check.
as soon as they were delivered, my father and his staff took them right back to the bank and cashed them.
Jayron you are incorrect. Legal tender as noted several times in threads here is coin that you must as a vendor (seller) accept. The original concept was to make the coins put out by the monarch acceptable to the masses by requiring their acceptance by merchants.
I have posted on this idea three times previously (anyone with the time and intestinal fortitude can look them up in the search engine). As I originally noted, some states still have laws regarding legal tender on their books; the United States Constitution at Article I, Section 10 limits the power of states in making something legal tender to “gold and silver coin”. In light of the fact we don’t use either any more (other than silver dollars rarely put into actual circulation), most state “legal tender” laws have little present value.
I might also point out that Cecil didn’t say anything like what you said, either. He simply said it wasn’t clear what the limit, if any, was on using coin to pay for items purchased or any other debt incurred.
My question is: What happens when someone goes into the store with only a hundred dollar bill after pumping five bucks worth of gas? These notices are always posted inside, where a person in this situation would not have seen it before getting the gas. He could at least claim ignorance, even if he should have assumed that the gas station had such a policy. The cashier can’t very well take the gas back, as they might a soda, nor will either the cashier or the customer simply let it go. Assuming that the gas station isn’t very busy and actually won’t be able to cash the bill for quite some time, how would they resolve this?
I’m not sure what the current laws say (and that’s what DSYoung’s for anyway :)), but I think it would be reasonable if merchants/lenders were required to accept legal tender for payment of debts, but not required to accept it in exchange for goods.
In other words, if you owed a car dealer $100 (or if you’d already pumped your gas and owed $15 to the gas attendant) and you offered a $100 bill, he would have to either accept that as payment or let you go without paying. However, he would not be required to make change for it, let you use it to pay for a quart of oil, etc.
Legal tender is solely money that can be used to pay a debt. That handy phrase on the face of american money is only part of what legal tender is. Please note the quotation from Webster’s given by Dystypos. Thus, it doesn’t matter whether a ‘debt’ has been created between the merchant and the buyer when discussing whether the merchant must accept 'legal tender.
Here’s what the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has to say on the matter:
Section 102 of the Coinage Act of 1965
(Title 31 United States Code, Section 392) provides in part:
" All coins and currencies of the United States, regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues."
This statute means that you have made a valid and legal offer of payment of your debt when you tender United States currency to your creditor. However, there is no Federal statute which mandates that private businesses must accept cash as a form of payment. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise.
Ha! Not even close. A $100 bill is not worth even close to $100. It’s only REAL value lies in the minds of individuals who BELIEVE that it has $100 of value.
The moment enough of us disbelieve is the moment the truth shall be known.
And I’ll finally be able to unload all of these gold filling I hoarded throughout my childhood years from my Uncle’s funeral home.
simple solution:
you give the attendant your money, he doesn’t give you change. you go to get smaller bills, and return to exchange them.
his incentive to let you go is, if you don’t come back he gets even more money – and your incentive to come back is, of course, to get your change