# Is it legal for businesses to refuse to accept $100 bills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747 "2003-02-22T08:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/21 "2003-02-22T22:33:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*Why? What is it about large bills that they don’t like? I’ve never seen anything like that down here, where some ATMs will gladly give you only 50’s or 100’s so you’re left with no choice. > > Someone mentioned counterfeiting - is that really all the fear is? Isn’t that a phenomenally low risk? \*\* The OP is from Canada. We’ve had a rash of counterfeit $100 notes the past couple of years, so many merchants that sell low-priced items on a small margin (e.g. - food counters in malls) will refuse to take $100 notes. I’ve noticed that some businesses are starting to invest in those fluorescent bill testers. Here’s a press release from the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police](http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/news/2001/nr-01-12.htm) about one counterfeit bust a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/22 "2003-02-22T22:57:05Z")
I believe that the $100US note is the favored choice of those who counterfeit US currency. That’s why when the US Mint was rolling out the new designs, they started with the Benjamin first. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/23 "2003-02-23T01:03:40Z")
I believe the Taco Bell $2 bill story. $2 bills are pretty rare these days, since almost every one of them is sitting in someone’s junk box. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised that a 17-year-old cashier at a fast-food joint hasn’t ever seen one. The manager is a different story. Although lots of us working stiffs can testify that there does not appear to be an IQ requirement for managment 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/24 "2003-02-23T01:07:28Z")
As to 2 dollar bills - I just got a couple at work last night, and I had absolutely, 100%, _no_ clue if they were real or not. I hadn’t seen a 2 dollar bill in ages. I ended up just discreetly running a counterfeit pen over each one just to be safe. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/25 "2003-02-23T01:27:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Slugworth \* > \*\*As to 2 dollar bills - I just got a couple at work last night, and I had absolutely, 100%, _no_ clue if they were real or not. I hadn’t seen a 2 dollar bill in ages. I ended up just discreetly running a counterfeit pen over each one just to be safe. \*\* Slugworth, Have you ever found a bill that failed the test? If so what action did you take? ---
**Author:** ![sirkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@sirkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirkle)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/26 "2003-02-23T01:44:55Z")
I’m just amazed that people have never seen two dollar bills. I work in a fast food restaraund, and we get on average one a day. I think one day when I did the deposit, we had close to $50 in just two dollar bills. The ones that throw me are when people pay in Susan B.'s. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/27 "2003-02-23T21:32:09Z")
I think it’s pretty self evident that the people who can’t recognize a $2, don’t get out to the track or the strip club much. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/28 "2003-02-23T22:10:43Z")
**Hamish** , a clerk, tells me that for some reason, the holographic foil on a Canadian $50 is easier to counterfeit than that on, say, a $20. > [@](#): > > about a $40 fillup - it would have been about 100 quid in the UK Don’t you mean the other way around? Or is gasoline really 4 times more expensive in the UK? ---
**Author:** ![something\_clever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@something\_clever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/something_clever)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/29 "2003-02-23T22:15:58Z")
their gallon or whatever is a big bigger, but yes, gasoline is way more expensive outside of north america… ---
**Author:** ![Tia3child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@Tia3child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tia3child)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/30 "2003-02-23T22:56:16Z")
I’ve only seen three two dollar bills in my life. Who’s on it anyway? ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/31 "2003-02-23T23:50:46Z")
Jefferson. A depiction of the signing of the Delclaration of Independence is on the back. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/32 "2003-02-24T01:46:12Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **bo989** said:_ > In Canada it is most certainly because of fears of counterfeiting. The government recently began releasing new anti-counterfeit notes with several intricate safety features because counterfeiting was such a problem. So they started with the ten, then (last year) the five. This year, I believe, they will release a new twenty-dollar note. The twenty is the backbone of the system, so they’ll have to make a lot of them. Next year is the fifty, presumably, and then the hundred. (All notes larger than a humdred dollars aren’t being reissued. I guess they assume we all use Interac\* or cheques for those kinds of amounts… and they would mostly be right.) Yes, the hundred is last. Pesumably this is so that they can design in lots of new anti-counterfeiting features. When it _does_ come out, will we see merchants posting signs that they accept the new notes, I wonder? Regarding distribution of values given by money-machines, **GuanoLad** , all Canadian money-machines give twenty-dollar notes. Many give tens. The Royal Bank’s machines used to give fives, but this has become increasingly rare. There are a few money machines that give _fifties_ and twenties, but they aren’t numerous, and they are usually in well-off high-traffic areas like airports and ritzy shopping districts. Note to USA types: there are no one- or two-dollar banknotes made in Canada now. The one was withdrawn in 1986, and the two in 1995. \*National [debit-card](http://www.interac.ca/en_n1_00_about.html) system, to which basically everyone, including all the Canadian banks and credit unions, and almost all the merchants (even country general stores in East Yak Breath, Manitoba), subscribe. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/33 "2003-02-24T03:08:36Z")
I guess I should’ve mentioned that of course, Australian money is different to US money, and $50 here is the equivalent of around $25 US, so maybe it’s not that surprising that ATMs distribute $50 notes. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/34 "2003-02-24T03:40:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hrhomer \* > In a store, I call that “stealing.” I don’t mean to threadjack, but why is it stealing? It’s not like the vendor losses merchandise without compensation. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/35 "2003-02-24T03:56:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\* > Don’t you mean the other way around? Or is gasoline really 4 times more expensive in the UK? \*\* Gasoline’s extraordinarily expensive in the UK. Last time I was there it was pushing ninety pence a litre - about $2.65 CDN a litre to you, and about $1.60 a litre US for our American friends, or about $6 a gallon if my math’s correct. ---
**Author:** ![mapsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@mapsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mapsmith)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/36 "2003-02-24T04:02:31Z")
As a merchant who does not take $100 bills, this is a very interesting thread. Firstly, the $100 US Bill is the single most counterfeited bill in our country. In Arizona, we have had instances of Mexican Drug Cartels sending people over to AZ with counterfeits and puchasing about $10 to $15 worth of stuff from small businesses. The Business then goes to deposit the $100 and the bank refuses to accept the deposit. The business is then out the $15 from the Sale, $85 from the change given for the Counterfeit, and $100 from the denied deposit. So for a $15 sale, the business loses $200. For many a small business this is a days sales! We also have had Banks give out counterfeit $100’s. The Counterfeiters have taken the new $5 bill with all the safety inclusions (Watermarks, Security Threads, etc. ) and bleach them with chemicals so they then have a blank bill with a security thread. Then using a digital printer, they copy a $100 over it. Thus for $500 worth of $5 bills (100) they now have counterfeits worth $10000. Good return for the Counterfeiters, bad for business. So we do not accept $100’s. Small Businesses are not banks. Get your change for your $100 Bill at the bank. You will be surprised when they don’t take it (As the husband of one of my employees found out when he tried to deposit a $100 from his Cab Driving take) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/37 "2003-02-24T04:26:58Z")
## quote: ## Originally posted by Urban Ranger What if you stuff yourself first before you take the wrappers to the cashier? Can you then pay with any banknotes? Homer says : In a store, I call that “stealing.” In a restaurant situation, though, I dunno. I have eaten at numerous restaurants that stated “No bills above $20.00” on the menu… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Urban Ranger \* > \*\*I don’t mean to threadjack, but why is it stealing? It’s not like the vendor losses merchandise without compensation. \*\* If the guy eats food in a store before paying, but can’t pay, for whatever reason, that could certainly be considered stealing. Realistically, of course, the store would likely work something out if all the guy had were a hundred but had already eaten the bag of chips, as long as the “no large bills” policy were posted clearly. But if the customer were a jerkoff about it, I’d bet the store would and could file a complaint. hrh ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/38 "2003-02-24T05:25:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The Business then goes to deposit the $100 and the bank refuses to accept the deposit. The business is then out the $15 from the Sale, $85 from the change given for the Counterfeit, and $100 from the denied deposit. So for a $15 sale, the business loses $200. For many a small business this is a days sales! Uhm… Lets see, you give them $15 in merchandise, and $85 in cash. Total of $100. They give you nothing. Your net loss is $100. The fact that they give you worthless paper which your bank will not exchange for credit in your bank account doesn’t change the equation. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/39 "2003-02-24T05:58:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mapsmith \* > \*\*The Business then goes to deposit the $100 and the bank refuses to accept the deposit. The business is then out the $15 from the Sale, $85 from the change given for the Counterfeit, and $100 from the denied deposit. So for a $15 sale, the business loses $200. \*\* **Cooper** is of course correct. The business has only lost $100. (I’m certain I’ve heard this before, though. Must be a relatively common misunderstanding.) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747/40 "2003-02-24T13:48:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Don’t you mean the other way around? Or is gasoline really 4 times more expensive in the UK? \*\* It really is that expensive in the UK - about 79p per liter. At $1.62 US per pound, and 3.78 liter per US gallon, that’s about $4.83 per gallon. Filling up Fierra’s little Vauxhall Nova cost about $50 or so each time we needed petrol. I can fill my Mustang up 3 times for that amount. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-businesses-to-refuse-to-accept-100-bills/156747.md?page=3)