Paying with pennies

[jd2005]

money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20110606&id=13732854

Ok...so I wouldn't have "thrown" the pennies at the staff, or been rude about it, but I would say they have to take the pennies as payment.

I once cleaned out my coin jar and had about $60 in coins. I put them in rolls or zip lock bags and used them as cash. I got some funny looks, but I don't care. Money is money.

Anyone have any fun "paying with coins" stories?

[Frugal Nurse]

It says "disputed medical bill", which makes me believe this guy was pissed at the Dr's office and didn't want to pay the $25, so he showed his rear end when making payment. They retaliated by showing their rear ends right back. Good for them.

no, I haven't had any funny paying with change stories. I don't keep a lot of change around, but when it does pile up, I just take it to coin star. I know, I know, gasp, they take 8 cents from every dollar, but it is was less trouble than counting and rolling it myself.

[sapphire12]

As I see it, the problem was he acted less than desirable when he presented his form of payment.
Pennies are legal tender.
There is no excuse for disrespect and for him to have money strewn about the office.

[Deleted]

[quote author=sapphire12 board=finance thread=9402 post=375601 time=1307368932 Since pennies are legal tender, merchants have to accept pennies, if they accept cash/coins.

[/quote]

That is not true.


But this guy was being a dick. This wasn't any different than if he went in there with a bag of marbles and dumped them all over the place. He only did so to cause a disruption.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Although I understand the valid criticisms of self-checkouts, nevertheless, I have been known to use them when I had a bunch of coins I wanted to pay with -- no rolling eyes or sighs -- just my time and effort feeding each coin into the slot and quite literally a weight off of my shoulders with the resulting lighter purse.

[sapphire12]

Archie my post has been modified.

[Cass]

I took the city bus for the first time in years the other day and counted out change while I was waiting because I didn't know what the fare would be. When I got on and the driver told me, I started putting that amount in the machine and it started making a high pitched screaming noise. Turns out it won't accept pennies!

[iono1]

I used to take my pennies & buy the Sunday paper with them. One time I did that at a Stewarts (similar to 7-11) store. The cashier got nasty, and wouldn't take them, I remember thinking about coming in with $100 bill the next time ready to give them heat for not taking cash, but I backed off & just didn't go back there.

[tskeeter]

I think the issue in the reported case is not that the disgruntled patient paid with pennies, but that he handled the pennies in a fashion that caused them to be strewn around the office, then demanded that the doctor's staff count the pennies.

I may have responded that I'm sure the patient took off his shoes to aid in counting the pennies, so I would accept that his count was correct.

[fairlycrazy23]

I don't think stores have to take excessive amounts of pennies for payment.

[qofcc]

If I accumulate too much change in my purse, I'll start paying for small purchases in coins. I don't care if the clerk at the drive thru doesn't want $2.48 in nickles, dimes & pennies and rolls her eyes at me, that's what they're getting. But I wouldn't expect someone to count out more than a few dollars, that's just being rude. When I've come into jars full of coins that other people have collected, I just put them in the coinstar machine and get a gift card for somewhere we plan to shop in exchange so I don't have to pay the counting fee.

[mithrin]

It's a myth that businesses are required to take any and all forms of cash as payment.

Fast food chains are within their rights to enforce a "No bills larger than $20" policy. A car dealer can refuse to sell you a car when you show up with a truck full of pennies.

Our college had an incident where a students brought in pennies to pay his tuition bill as a protest against tuition increases. The cashiers office staff actually sat there for four hours counting out all the pennies! They could have legally turned him away and told him that he needed to come back with a reasonable form of payment.

Nowadays, even the BANK will give you grief about trying to deposit too many coins. They will insist that you use the coin counting machine (with a potential fee) rather than the teller, or require that everything be rolled when you bring it in. And if you don't have an account there, forget it.

Legally, the retail stores are totally in the clear, and the "Legal Tender for all debts" language on money means nothing to them. If you go to the register and pull out a form of payment they don't want to accept, they can simply refuse to make the sale. Therefore you don't owe them a debt that you are trying to repay, so the Legal Tender issue doesn't apply. They simply refuse to do business with you--and "paying with coins" is not a protected class like race, so a discrimination lawsuit wouldn't go anywhere either.

For the medical bill in the story, it was an actual debt, so the Legal Tender language does apply, but the courts have previously sided with merchants that they don't have to count out unreasonable amounts of change (and coins DON'T say legal tender on them). Had the guy tried to pay with a $100 bill when the medical office had a policy of nothing over $20, he may have a case there. Of course, the office could have taken the $100 bill and given him his $75 change in the form of a check if they didn't have the cash available. If he was unwilling to take a check as his "change" then it would be on him to break the $100.

[moneymaven]

This story just makes me laugh hysterically, because I am sure we can all relate to being annoyed with a customer at one time or another...

Nowadays, even the BANK will give you grief about trying to deposit too many coins. They will insist that you use the coin counting machine (with a potential fee) rather than the teller, or require that everything be rolled when you bring it in. And if you don't have an account there, forget it

I collect all of my coins in a jar, and take it to me bank every few months. They have a coin counter in the front of the bank and if you bank with them, it has no cost to you. I usually cash in $35-$45 every time and I add it to our savings. No skin off of my back to do it myself and it's an easy $200 a year into our savings.

[cael]

am I the only one who keeps reading the thread title entirely wrong?


::hangs head in shame and shuffles back to EE::

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

I still have a ceramic piggy bank I received as a kid. I use it just for pennies, it holds about $15.00 worth. Most grocery stores around here have Coin Star machines. You feed it your coins, it counts them and gives you a receipt which you take to the register and they give you cash. It charges 3%, well worth it to avoid wrapping all those coins.

[moneymaven]

am I the only one who keeps reading the thread title entirely wrong?


::hangs head in shame and shuffles back to EE::

[Malarky]

the Federal Reserve System must honor U.S. currency and coins, not necessarily anyone else. U.S. currency and coins can be used for making payments, but merchants do not necessarily have to accept it for all forms of business transactions."


Crap. This is YM. I have to go back and find my source.



ETA: answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080809211755AAq2ze6 ;D

[Deleted]

Paying with pennies is kind of childish if you ask me. Go to the bank and get some cash. You're wasting everyone's time.

I went into a convienience store to buy a paper and paid with a $20 and they turned it down. I was younger at the time so I didn't raise a stink, but I still never went back in there.

This one guy at a gas station used to REALLY piss me off. I went in there and paid with a $10 and he wanted to give me like $6 in quarters. I said I want paper money and he said something like "Money is money". Then the other cashier gave him change. Two weeks later, the guy pulled the same thing. I said "There are no dollar bills in the building or are you just too lazy to get them?", then he pulled the same "Money is money" and I looked up and saw the name of the manager, told him I'd give him a call, and the guy opened up the safe.

[commentator]

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