Just on the news this morning was some stores in Massachusetts are now refusing to accept the Cent. If this catches on, maybe change is coming soon. (pun intended) Regarding the shell casings, with the economy in such disorder, perhaps the Government should pay closer attention to military waste http://http://cbs5.com/business/pennies.penny.ban.2.931453.html
That's interesting... They can't legally refuse the cent, though... I believe it is US law that says all things minted/printed by the mint are to be used as legal tender for their face value... even the bullion coins. (Who in their right mind would spend those?)
Sorry, not so. Pretty much, a seller can require any form of payment or refuse any form per the sellers whims.
Interesting... I thought that for any public sale in the US they had to accept US money. I am wondering how they would tax non-monetary sales? unless of course it was under the table...
I'm no expert on U.S. law, but my understanding is that only currency must be accepted. I do not believe that coins count as "legal tender." That's why courts are refusing to accept jars of cents as payment for traffic tickets.
I'm no expert either. But I remember a distinction made between Trade dollars and other dollar coins; the Trade dollars were not legal tender, but others were. It also seems that, in 19th century America, specie as coin (gold, silver) was much preferred to paper money, though both were legal tender. Also, the Spanish reale dollar coins were legal tender in the US until 1857. So I think in those days coins were legal tender. But that was then, this is now... maybe things have changed.
Nope. I could open a business and only accept rice, carrots, or Russian credit cards as payment. What you are thinking of is "this note is legal tender for all debts public and private". The kicker in that is the definition of debt. It has absolutely nothing to due with buying anything.
Yep ! I'm reading an amazing coin book titled In Yankee Doodle's Pocket. It's part coins, but much history. It goes into great detail about all the issues* surrounding paper money, specie, and British Imperialism and Mercantilism. Highly recommended. * pun intended OUCH :crying:
Even tho legal tender, I remember a while back that a person was arrested for trying to pay a traffic fine in cents......
much like how many places say "no bills larger than 20" sure the 50 and 100 are legal tender, but they won't accept them.
As noted in other posts, a business can choose to accept or refuse anything it wants in payment of debt. It must, however, establish that in advance. That's why businesses can do what they do, and the IRS can refuse to take your cash. The "legal tender" issue is just a nicety. ANYTHING is legal tender if both sides agree to it. I could, in theory, offer to pay you 10 grams of belly-button lint for your 1916D Mercury, and you can accept my offer. (BTW, if anybody has a 1916D Mercury they'd like to sell me for 10 grams of my belly-button lint, PM me!)
That seems odd since the statute states private business can refuse coins. Courts are public and shouldnt be afforded that exception.
Here is the story; http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/pennies.traffic.ticket.2.888243.html 2 things got lost in the translation. First, they took the pennies eventually and second it does not say that he had a warrant for paying with pennies. In fact, I found another article that specifically stated that they found no tie between the pennies and the warrant, but I never could find what the warrant was for.
No, anything can be a medium of exchange. You can agree to accept belly button lint, but that does not make BB lint a legal tender. No they don't have to accept cash, but the offering of Cash establishes a legal attempt to satisfy that debt after which the creditor can not claim that you have not attempted to pay and so cannot add penalties for non payment.
