You'd think that right?
Refusing a check or credit card is one thing, but it is illegal to refuse one form of cash over another because it is "inconvenient."
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Were it true, Samsung paying their legal judgement to Apple in nickles would be perfectly legal and they would be required to accept it or forfeit the money.
That is not an unreasonable rule, if you have the change, you should be able to just go to a bank.
I should have stated that my understanding of the laws is USA based. I understand that if you are public and handle financial transactions, (stores, tax offices) it is illegal to refuse negotiable US currency. Even the ones that have rules concerning bill size are suspect.
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I seem to recall a story (though I could not verify it) that someone in the US got a ticket thrown out because of this. They tried to pay with change but were refused. Went to the court date for the ticket armed with a bit of Department of the Treasury knowlage and told the judge they refused my money.
So, thats not true in the US. Straight out of the US Treasury website:
"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"
Its not illegal to not accept large bills, nor is it illegal to refuse all cash and only accept checks or credit cards. The "legal tender for all debts, public and private" just means if you are paying for it in the US, they have to accept some form of the dollar (they can't demand you pay in pesos, but they can demand you pay electronically with a credit card)
Don't believe guests can link stuff or I'd add it, but you can search legal tender on the treasury website and it pops right up
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Now that doesn't mean a government office can refuse it, I believe they actually would have to accept it, however I believe there's also something that says the creditor can choose when/where/how to accept payment, so they could say something along the lines of "payments must be done at xyz bank" or whatever, and the bank would just do the counting with a machine anyway.
Could be wrong on that, didn't feel like looking for it too hard.
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Either way, its really just a douchey move to purposely pay in pennies. Its doubtful that the girl at the counter issued the ticket to him or had anything to do with it, yet hes making her do all the work of counting those coins.
Coin counting machines were invented for a reason.
All the places you pay fines like that in the UK have them.
If you show up to pay with a bag of coins, they'll stop you before you empty it onto the counter, and direct you to a funnel where you pour it in.
One guy in my town tried to pay with eighty dollars worth of pennies. He had them all in a roll, fifty pennies each, hand rolled at home from a kit, and they made him write his name and driver's licence number on all 160 of them. He said it was out of pettiness, they said they didn't want him giving him rolls with pennies on the end and washers in the middle. It's happened before.
Now they won't accept large amounts of coins, or large bills for small fees. There's a sign that states payments need to be in cash, not coin, and the cash has to be in (crap, what word did they use?) a condition to be used instantly in a vending machine.
Refusing a check or credit card is one thing, but it is illegal to refuse one form of cash over another because it is "inconvenient."
.
Were it true, Samsung paying their legal judgement to Apple in nickles would be perfectly legal and they would be required to accept it or forfeit the money.
I should have stated that my understanding of the laws is USA based. I understand that if you are public and handle financial transactions, (stores, tax offices) it is illegal to refuse negotiable US currency. Even the ones that have rules concerning bill size are suspect.
.
I seem to recall a story (though I could not verify it) that someone in the US got a ticket thrown out because of this. They tried to pay with change but were refused. Went to the court date for the ticket armed with a bit of Department of the Treasury knowlage and told the judge they refused my money.
"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"
Its not illegal to not accept large bills, nor is it illegal to refuse all cash and only accept checks or credit cards. The "legal tender for all debts, public and private" just means if you are paying for it in the US, they have to accept some form of the dollar (they can't demand you pay in pesos, but they can demand you pay electronically with a credit card)
.
Now that doesn't mean a government office can refuse it, I believe they actually would have to accept it, however I believe there's also something that says the creditor can choose when/where/how to accept payment, so they could say something along the lines of "payments must be done at xyz bank" or whatever, and the bank would just do the counting with a machine anyway.
Could be wrong on that, didn't feel like looking for it too hard.
.
Either way, its really just a douchey move to purposely pay in pennies. Its doubtful that the girl at the counter issued the ticket to him or had anything to do with it, yet hes making her do all the work of counting those coins.
All the places you pay fines like that in the UK have them.
If you show up to pay with a bag of coins, they'll stop you before you empty it onto the counter, and direct you to a funnel where you pour it in.
Now they won't accept large amounts of coins, or large bills for small fees. There's a sign that states payments need to be in cash, not coin, and the cash has to be in (crap, what word did they use?) a condition to be used instantly in a vending machine.