Contrary to popular belief, there is also no legal obligation to accept pennies or any other denomination for purchases. Legal tender is only for satisfying debts. If you owe somebody $100 you could, technically, give them ten thousand pennies. But that's only for debts, not transactions generally. - ThreadSky

andycraig.bsky.social • 28 days ago

Contrary to popular belief, there is also no legal obligation to accept pennies or any other denomination for purchases. Legal tender is only for satisfying debts. If you owe somebody $100 you could, technically, give them ten thousand pennies. But that's only for debts, not transactions generally.

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pollyannainhell.bsky.social•28 days ago

I'm pretty sure this one varies state by state. No national obligation, but Massachusetts requires businesses to accept cash. Maybe there's a loophole about pennies or other denominations, but if so I don't know of it. The whole idea is to protect the unbanked.

But the anonymity is nice too.

bsdtectr.bsky.social•28 days ago

What are folks who do this going to do? lulz

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•28 days ago

like normally you would expect there to be some guidance on "do we round item prices, or checkout prices", "how does rounding at checkout affect tax obligations", "should stores accept 1c coins?", etc. All of which have answers, and all of which are manageable, but the way to do that is

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•28 days ago

to say "we will stop issuing them in January, they will remain legal tender at banks until 2030, and this guy here is responsible for answering all of your questions so you have time to work out how this will impact your business"

hurricanexyz.bsky.social•28 days ago

Guidance!!

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•28 days ago

It's like how I think changing timezones is bad and we should stop doing it twice a year in most states, but I would also object to someone saying "summer time is due to start next week, this is stupid, I'm cancelling it". The government should do good policy, but also do it non-chaotically

aao.bsky.social•28 days ago

canada did it a few years back, basically they're still legal tender but everyone rounds (up I think?) to the next 0.05. You really never even notice it

allengarvin.bsky.social•28 days ago

The US has never demonetized a coin, so that would be an abomination, like something the UK would do.

You can still spend your half cents, your 3-cent nickels, half-dimes, whatever. (though certain pattern coins like aluminum cents are illegal to possess)

johnqpublic.bsky.social•28 days ago

Canada got rid of the penny in 2012.

We don’t miss it.

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•28 days ago

not in most stores you can't

allengarvin.bsky.social•28 days ago

Stores aren't generally required to accept cash (though a few cities have local laws requiring it: it might make a really, really stupid test case to try to pay them in legal tender with obsolete coins).

polyparadigm.bsky.social•28 days ago

If a restaurant doesn’t require payment up front though, it could get dicey for them to refuse legal tender

andycraig.bsky.social•28 days ago

Generally don't have to be demonetized, even. Very old coins are still technically legal tender. In theory you could still even use a hoard of half-cent coins (we had those once) to pay your taxes. Ditto with old banknotes and such. They just generally have more numismatic value than face value.

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•28 days ago

The US is a bit weird, but the way other countries normally do it is staged demonetization, i.e. "this is legal tender for business and ordinary government transactions through X, thereafter can be redeemed at any commercial bank through Y, and thereafter only at the central bank (or not at all)"

maxellxlii.bsky.social•28 days ago

This is a direct attack on the city of Philadelphia because we produced the pennies

sirobin.com•28 days ago

This administration may not be *quite* up to the task.

digory29.bsky.social•28 days ago

If you take something out of a store, you owe them (i e a debt) for the price of it

andycraig.bsky.social•28 days ago

Not legally a debt, just a transaction. You're paying them right then and there for the thing you're buying. If you walk out without paying, you don't owe a debt, you're just stealing.

oe-b.bsky.social•28 days ago

When I visited China none of the merchants had money - not paper, not coins... Everyone but us was using electronic transfers... Had to wait every time we made a purchase for our change unless we had the exact amount due!

andycraig.bsky.social•28 days ago

This is why no law is broken when vending machines don't accept pennies, or a store requires exact change, or in some cases won't take $100 bills for small transactions, etc. There is not even a requirement to use dollars at all for private transactions, though taxes owed will still be in dollars.

saltiresfan.bsky.social•28 days ago

Well Sam Seaborn tried it first.

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