Using a $2 bill can put you in jail.....

[JPR]

There are also old gold certificates, redeemable in gold coin.

Ah for the days when money was real...

JPR

 

[Bob Hubbard]

There are also old gold certificates, redeemable in gold coin.

Ah for the days when money was real...

JPR

Want real money?
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18119&highlight=gold

 

[rutherford]

Legal tender in the United States

As laid down in the United States Coinage Act of 1965, 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 excuses the several States from the prohibition laid on them in the United States Constitution (Article I Section 10) against making anything other than gold or silver coin a legal tender.

However, US federal law does not restrict private businesses, persons or organisations in what methods of payment they choose to accept or refuse. Businesses are therefore free to insist on payment by credit card, for example, or to refuse larger denomination banknotes. Even further though, legal tender laws do not preclude businesses from choosing to reject U.S. dollars for payment altogether. In this regard legal tender laws do not pertain to voluntary transactions.The occasional practice of offering large quantities of small denomination coins to pay resented debts is restricted by regulations limiting the use of "subsidiary" and "minor" coins (those with denominations of less than one dollar) similar to the Canadian ones listed below.

. . .

As legal tender can be refused until a person is in debt, vending machines and transport staff do not have to accept the largest denomination of banknote for a single bus fare or bar of chocolate, and even shopkeepers can reject large banknotes. However, restaurants that do not collect money until after a meal is served would have to accept any legal tender, though they would not be obliged to provide change – the restaurant is not in debt, it has been given a gift.

I assume that Best Buy was in the same situation as the restaurant. They had already provided the service and debt had been established. The government, on the other hand, must accept barrels of pennies as payment for taxes if you can provide them.

Thanks to Tom B of Tangency for providing this interesting perspective.

 

[raedyn]

[R]estaurants that do not collect money until after a meal is served would have to accept any legal tender, though they would not be obliged to provide change – the restaurant is not in debt, it has been given a gift.

That's pretty damn funny.

At the gas station/convience I used to run, I would regularly get into disagreements with customers about accepting the payment they wanted to give me. People would get so indignant when I wouldn't accept a $100 bill as payment for a chocolate bar. I never had that much money in the till - it would have been suicide.

It was a 24 hour store in a rough neighbourhood. In the 3 years I worked there, we were held up something like 10 times. Here's the kicker. Six of those times were by the same woman. She robbed us 3 times in one week, (and several other stores - something like 7 armed robberies total) then was finally caught. Two years into her sentence, she was let out of prison on a day pass, when she ran away and back to her old neighbourhood - to rob us 3 more times in the space of 4 days! They only caught her because the last time, the owner was so fed up of being robbed that he grabbed a baseball bat and chased her the block back to the house she hid in, and waited there to make sure she didn't escape until the cops arrived.

We were taught that - for our own safety - we were supposed to just give up the cash because money was not worth getting hurt over. The 'big tough' guys that worked graveyard shifts always just handed it over. One scrappy young woman that worked there just plain said No to the person who put a knife in her face demanding money. He turned to a customer and demanded his wallet. The customer was a surgeon on a break (the hospital was only 5 blocks away) and didn't have a wallet. The want-to-be robber turned back to the clerk and demanded she open the till. She refused. The thief didn't know what else to do, so he just left in disgust.

I just realized I got crazily off-topic. But I already wrote all that stuff, so I'll just leave it.

My point was that we had a drop safe to put money in regularly so that in the event we were held up, the thugs wouldn't get much. For two reasons: to minimize the losses, and to discourage further hold-ups. I didn't have a lot of sympathy for the customers who would get all up in arms that I didn't have $99 change to give them. It would have been a safety hazard for me!

 

[raedyn]

Back to the orginal story -

Best Buy should have their cashiers better trained to recognize all legal tender. And their installation department better trained to not mess up the installation & charges in the first place!

However, given that the cashier honestly did not know that they were real bills (but shouldn't the supervisor at least know?), it seems reasonable to hold the money and call the cops. That's what you are supposed to do when you recieve money you believe to be counterfeit. If it turns out to be bona fide currency, it will be returned to the customer. However, it does seem a little umm.. over the top that the police put the man in leg irons in front of the other customers, then cart him off to the county lockup. He wasn't committing any crimes. He was being obnoxious, but not criminal.

OTOH, I'm not convinced we have the whole story here. They called him at home to say he must bring in payment or they'd call the police. I imagine he was pretty worked up when he went down there with his petty revenge of paying with small denominations. He may have been unreasonable, and probably created a spectacle in the store. There may have been other reasons the store - and the police - took the actions they did.

Saying this has anything to do with a "post 9/11 world" is a cheap excuse, and a terrible cliche. Nothing about this in any way related to 9/11. I am very disappointed in the police trying to excuse their actions by raising the spectre of the wholly dissimilar terrorist attacks. 9/11 should not be used a free pass for authorities to do any stupid thing they want to.

 

[arnisador]

I never knew all that about legal tender! Neat.

So the trick is, incur the debt first?

 

[Cryozombie]

I recall seeing somewhere that if you owe someone money for goods or services and they refuse to accept any form of legal tender as payment, the debt is considered PIF.

Im too lazy and tired from climbing buildings all day to go look for this... if someone has some insight can ya post it...?

 

[arnisador]

climbing buildings

A Ninja thing?

 

[Cryozombie]

A Ninja thing?

I wish. I'm installing Motorolla Canopy Wireless Point to Multipoint antennas for extra cash. You get up on a 12/12 roof and scrabble down the side to tuck CAT5 under the shingles... it gets tiring on the 2nd or 3rd roof.

Its all good, until they decide to pay me in 2 dollar bills.