More & more places won't take $50 bills

 

  I've noticed a disturbing trend over the past few months - more and more
places are putting up signs saying "we do not accept any bills larger than
$20".

  As someone who has switched over to using a cash budget to help control
spending, this is making life difficult.

  I saw the new sign yesterday at a gas station I fuel up at occasionally -
now $20 is the largest bill they accept.  With current gas prices, it costs
about $40 or so to fill up - 80% of that $50 bill they won't accept.

  50 years ago, there were $500 and $1,000 bills in circulation.  With
inflation, that $50 bill they won't take any more only buys what $8.50
bought in 1969.  In other words, you already have to carry around 6 times as
much money to buy the same things.

  I don't understand why stores are legally able to get away with refusing
to accept legal tender dollars.  It says right on the bills that they are to
be accepted as legal tender for all debts, public and private.

    Any thoughts?

 

OhioGuy wrote:

Depends on who printed "legal tender" on it  ;-)

Easy, carry $20 bills.

I had a bank give me a 1953 $50 bill that tested "counterfeit" with all
the new tests, pen turned black, no "thread", no red/blue fibers.  Took
it back to the bank and they exchanged it.  They got packs of them from
an estate deposit and everyone that received them had trouble with them.
  They were the old "silver certificates".  (don't bother, you can't get
silver for them anymore)

Also learned the bank does no tests, it could have been counterfeit, and
I would have been stuck with it!  I now take nothing larger than $20's,
and check for the thread and few fibers before I leave the teller.

 



There has to be a debt for that rule to apply. No sale == no debt.

If you already pumped the gas and actually owe the store money, that's a
different situation.

 



A particular bit of paper doesn't have to be accepted, and even the
Federal government refuses payments in cash.

Counterfeiting is getting good.  Stores often are the one that end up
on the short end of the stick.  We had one bank where the theatre
would make a deposit and inevitably a couple of the bills would be
labeled by a teller as counterfeit and the deposit deducted.  Once we
started writing down the serial numbers of every $50 and $100 before
depositing, the fake bill charges mysteriously stopped...
  

 


I've seen a couple people mention counterfeiting, but I don't think that is
the reason for stores refusing $50 and $100 bills.  Last I heard, the most
widely faked currency in the world was the U.S. $20 paper note.  So if the
purpose of not accepting certain size bills was to reduce counterfeiting,
the signs would read something like "no twenties".  Or "We don't accept 20
dollar bills".  -Dave