# Legal tender and businesses refusing large bills

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-tender-and-businesses-refusing-large-bills/191070>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 26, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-tender-and-businesses-refusing-large-bills/191070 "2003-07-26T12:39:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-tender-and-businesses-refusing-large-bills/191070/21 "2003-07-27T00:24:39Z")

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I think for $50’s and $100’s the concern is not so much making change as the risk of accepting a counterfeit bill.

**chula,** thanks for the laugh!

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-tender-and-businesses-refusing-large-bills/191070/22 "2003-07-27T00:38:38Z")

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Could be. I didn’t think of that. By far, though, the most counterfeited bill is the twenty. Some are in circulation for months, and even years, before caught. Merchants will pass them as change rather than give them up.

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**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-tender-and-businesses-refusing-large-bills/191070/23 "2003-07-27T12:46:16Z")

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Thanks for the explanation, **Scarlett67**. So I was wrong because I analysed the transaction as a contract leaving a debt and a delivery which should then be fulfilled. If I understand it correctly, in American law the sale be seen as a single transaction, like a barter, in which both parties at the same time fulfill their respective obligations. In that case there indeed never is a debt.

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**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-tender-and-businesses-refusing-large-bills/191070/24 "2003-07-27T13:15:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Polycarp \*  
> \*\*  
> Now, if I went into a store that refused large bills, bought $22.94 in gas, picked out $70 in merchandise, and then handed him a $100 bill for my $97.84 (with sales tax) in purchases, I suspect strongly that his refusal to accept that $100 bill would be a violation of the legal tender act. But he is under no obligation under it to retain enough change to break a $100 bill for a $5 purchase. (Imagine the situation prior to their retirement if it were a storekeeper’s obligation to break a $10,000 bill – also legal tender – if a customer proferred it in payment.) \*\*

I highly doubt anyone would refuse a large bill if the amount of merchandise being bought is close to the size of the bill. My boss would not be pleased if I rejected a $40 sale because the guy had a $50 (or even $100, if I had two or three $20 in the drawer), or especially with your example. Then again, my boss would not be pleased if I broke a $20 for a pack of gum. (A ten or five might be another matter, as I generally need those smaller bills.)

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