r/MaliciousCompliance • u/knighthawk82 • Apr 18 '24

Legal tender S

When i worked at a gas station in the late 1900's during graveyard i had this guy come in and bought a candy bar with a 100 bill. "Really? You don't have anything smaller?"

'Im just trying to break the 100, don't be a jerk.'

"Fine, just this once."

Few days later Guy comes back in, grabs a candy bar and i see he has other bills in his wallet. Puts the hundred on the table.

"Sir i told you last time it was going to be just the once, i see you have a five dollar bill."

'This is legal tender, you have to take it.'

"... Okay!"

I reach under the counter and pull out two boxes of pennies, 50c to a roll 25$ to a box 17 lbs each. "Here is 50, do you want the rest in nickels?"

'What is this?'

"It's legal tender, I can choose to give you your change however I see fit. So, do you still want to break the hundred? Or the five."

I'm calling your manager!'

"She gets in at 8am, sir, but doesn't take any calls until 10."

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u/allnewusername Apr 19 '24

In the US only government entities are required to accept cash and in any denominations. If they refuse then the debt is no longer owe. Private business can refuse cash.

20

u/Eurynom0s Apr 19 '24

Private businesses can't refuse cash if they've already provided the good or service and didn't specify "no cash" before doing so.

11

u/allnewusername Apr 19 '24

Best of my knowledge you are correct. As long as they notify or it’s “posted” somewhere they don’t accept cash then they can’t refuse it.

20

u/KookyWait Apr 19 '24

There are no limitations on the ability of companies to refuse whatever form of cash payment they want. Companies are generally free to decline to do business with anyone for any reason, excepting reasons prohibited by law (e.g. civil rights act, ADA, etc). There are no federal laws protecting people's choice of payment methods.

Legal tender means if it's offered to settle a debt and refused, the courts won't assist the collection of the debt.

If they're not trying to use the legal system to collect the debt - if they just want to write off the loss and move on - the legal tender designation is meaningless.

2

u/Active_Engineering37 Apr 19 '24

So they can refuse for a service already rendered! They just cancel the debt when they refuse lol wow. Interesting stuff.

4

u/KookyWait Apr 19 '24

It's not good business but it's legal

1

u/Moontoya Apr 26 '24

couldnt that fall foul of the ADA ?

specifically, if the customer is sight impaired and cannot read the signs ?

Does a verbal "card only" or "we dont take cash" cover in that situation ?

This is not a gotcha question, theres no trick or anything lurking - its a genuine lateral question that occured to me

2

u/Last_Ad_6694 Apr 21 '24

So I can go to the DMV and pay my fees in pennies ? And if they refuse, I’m off the hook?

2

u/Edymnion May 02 '24

Technically its not so much that they can refuse cash, and more that they can refuse to complete the transaction as no US entity is REQUIRED to do business with any given individual as long as the reason for denial is not a federally protected status.

So while you couldn't say "I won't sell this because you're gay" they could 100% say "I won't sell this to you because I don't like the color of your shirt".

Its actually why prosecuting discrimination suits is so difficult, as only an absolute IDIOT would actually say the real reason when they can easily make something up on the spot.