Which they have implied is money, since all the items have prices noted in monetary values.
Guys, have we not discussed the whole “legal tender” business enough already? Seriously, just search for the topic.
I can drop the discussion, but my point is: of course there may be misunderstandings. Look at the words and how they are commonly used. Look at all that is implied in a store’s set-up and terminology.
Of course the average customer or average citizen is going to expect that the thing that their society uses for financial transactions is going to be valid for use during a financial transaction.
But no one is forcing you to take the items. I know you know this, but wanting to buy something is entirely different than a store giving you something and allowing you to pay for it later, that’s debt.
It’s not about wanting to leave the store, it’s about already having left the store. Hence, my joke about stealing it and paying restitution.
Those are prices; they haven’t implied anything about form of payment. This is pretty well established law. Stores don’t have to accept cash for transactions (or even certain types of cash like $50/100 bills or large quantities of change) for purchases. They are not debts.
They’re are some jurisdictions which require stores to accept cash, but those are local laws and not something that’s too widespread.
And my point remains: the average person does not know that there is a significant difference in how they are using the word and thinking about owing money and debts and what the law has decided the word means.
And I don’t blame people much if they don’t know this or don’t quite understand it, because it’s confusing as fuck to use the same word for such drastically different meanings and concepts.
As cited, the definition of debt is “something, typically money, that is owed or due.” So it isn’t about having the left the store. The money is due in order for you to leave the store without stealing the items, right?
Emphasis added.
Dealing with coins, getting them back in circulation, just hasn’t been seen as a priority. The mental gears still haven’t shifted.
What if you don’t have a Kroger loyalty card? What then? You’re forced to forgo your change?
It’s not going to be all of those 1000 - some will opt to round up for charity, some will have loyalty cards, only some of them will opt for “round down”. But yeah, hundreds of dollars a day.
On the other hand, if a grocery store goes cashless they will ALSO lose a significant amount of business every day. Many of our food stamp people pay for non-food stamp items with cash, as an example, because they don’t have bank accounts or credit union accounts. We’ve got old conservative types that are cash only due to some sort of political or religious or whatever reason and refuse any of that “electronic stuff” - OK, some will still use checks but we do have old farts that are strictly and ONLY cash.
As I have said, about 1/4-1/3 of our transactions involve cash. Not all of those people are willing or able to go cashless. We don’t want to lose their business.
Seems to me there’s a bit too much coercion there to be called “donating”…
^ This.
Marvelous!! They have something to occupy their minds. “Learn something new every day” is a wonderful slogan.
Aye; I’ve been chuckling about the Trump administrations’ latest ridiculousness all morning.
When you bring something up to the register, you have to pay them if you want to leave with the item. There’s no reason why you can’t simply set the item down and walk out. It’s not like a restaurant where you pay after you eat.
Look at it like this. What if you got up to the register and realized you forgot your wallet at home. At a restaurant you’d have to work something out with the manager/owner. At the grocery store, you’d leave everything there and walk out empty handed. You don’t owe them money, you don’t have a debt with them.
Again, I assume you know this, but if you don’t it’s been discussed to death here and everywhere else across the internet. It might be a confusing topic, but that doesn’t mean you can re-interpret how it works. In the end, what you are suggesting to be the case is incorrect. There’s just no two ways about it.
From the website for the US Treasury Department:
Legal Tender Status
I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn’t this illegal?
The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled “Legal tender,” which states: “United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.”
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. 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. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.
And, to clarify, the grocery store is not a creditor. They have not extended credit to you.
You misunderstand my intent, despite the fact that I’ve stated it a couple of times. Even so I’ll try and clarify a point that it really tangential to this.
Is the money for the items due when I want to leave the store with the items?
No. It’s not. You’re still in the store, they still own the products. It doesn’t matter if you want to leave with the items, you don’t have a debt with them and the money isn’t due.
I want to leave Best Buy with all their 60 inch TVs. That doesn’t magically make me indebted to them.
So you can leave with the items without paying without consequence?
When is the money due, in your opinion, in this transaction?
The really amazing thing here, to me, is that Kroger (Krogers?) is still a thing. There was a Kroger near us when I was a kid, but they closed down long ago and I think of them as a defunct chain.
Yeah, I’m not playing along any more.
The TLDR version is that you’re wrong.
Just a year or two ago they bought a huge chain of grocery stores in our area. For most people in Wisconsin (or at least for me), that was the first time we’ve really heard of them other than just in passing or on TV.
The TL; DR is that you do not understand the point I have been making, despite clear explanations.
My cite is your unwillingness to answer a question when you know the answer will not jive with your argument.