Man tries to pay with pennies; police called
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published June 19, 2008 at 9:18 a.m.
Updated June 20, 2008 at 12:43 a.m.
This may be a sign that the gas crunch is breaking the piggy bank.
A man trying to pay for gas with a sackful of pennies at a Denver gas station Thursday got so pushy that clerks called police.
The 7:30 a.m. call was on what was termed an "unwanted person" at the Diamond Shamrock station at Broadway and 10th Avenue.
Employees said the man, driving a satellite TV truck, became offensive as he insisted on paying with about $10 worth of pennies while the station's mini-mart was busy with a line of customers and vendors delivering goods.
The penny-pusher took off just before police arrived. Store officials declined to comment.
Post your comment
Registration is required. Click here to create your free user account, or login below.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
Featured
-
Rocky Multimedia
The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.
-
Holiday Lights
Is your house the jolliest on the block? Submit your holiday lights display.
-
Holiday Gift Guide
Looking to get a jump-start on the holiday shopping season?
-
Mount Crushmore
Which four Broncos greats should be immortalized on Mount Crushmore? Vote here.
-
Bronco Dean's rant
Listen to Bronco Dean's midweek rant on the Chiefs.
-
Broncos Video
Get the latest from Dove Valley as the Broncos prepare for Sunday's matchup.
-
Calendar wallpaper
Download this month's desktop wallpaper calendar
-
Sam Adams' Open Mic
Open Mic: Stirrin' the Soup with Matt Iseman
-
The Rocky @ 150 Years
Read the Rocky's coverage of Colorado's cannibal, Alfred Packer, in 1886.
June 19, 2008
9:30 a.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
What a fool. All this guy did was ruin the morning for everyone else in line.
Does he really think the poor clerk just trying to do his job has anything to do with the price of gas?
Another idiot going out of his way to display his ignorance for the whole town to see.
June 19, 2008
9:30 a.m.
Suggest removal
JB writes:
Ummm... Aren't pennies still legal currency?
June 19, 2008
9:33 a.m.
Suggest removal
vudumom writes:
Pennies are still a form of currency in this country. Until pennies are not a form of currency anyone should be allowed to pay for purchaces with pennies.Now if we could only figure out how to pay for the .9 of the price of gas. That should be done away with.
June 19, 2008
9:37 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Pennies are legal. The store clerk should have su@ked it up and started counting, period.
June 19, 2008
9:37 a.m.
Suggest removal
Dick_Tater writes:
While legal currency, most companies have a policy that they can refuse service to anyone for any reason. I would agree that this is a legit reason.
June 19, 2008
9:39 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
We should have a Penny-sit-in at the 10th & Broadway Diamond Shamrock on Saturday. Penny pay, All day!
June 19, 2008
9:41 a.m.
Suggest removal
HankRearden writes:
The guy is an idiot. A penny is worth $0.025 cents melted for its metal value. So in effect he was trying to pay $9.72 for a gallon of gas. He must be a believer in Ritter's new energy economy.
http://www.coinflation.com/
June 19, 2008
9:43 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Legit? Because the store clerk can't count fast enough to satisfy the people in line?
That's just lazy. Money's money.
June 19, 2008
9:45 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Except it is a federal offense to melt money, I think...
So is his bag of pennies worth 18 mos. in the pen?
June 19, 2008
9:45 a.m.
Suggest removal
slyasafox14k writes:
When i worked at a convience store, we just handed penny roll paper tubes to them and had them roll the pennies themselves. Pennies are still legal currency in the U.S. and I don't think it is legal to refuse it. It does get to be too much to expect a clerk to roll your change for you. So we just had them do it themselves.
June 19, 2008
9:45 a.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
Key sentence: "A man trying to pay for gas with a sackful of pennies at a Denver station today got so pushy that clerks called police."
It wasn't the pennies - it was his attitude.
June 19, 2008
9:46 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
I got it - let's just go back to 1950's pricing when the penny was revered
June 19, 2008
9:48 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Maybe he wouldn't have copped an attitude if the clerk would have just started counting...
Is it really that big of a deal to count to 100? If you do it by twos, it goes TWICE as fast.
June 19, 2008
9:59 a.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
The jerk thought he was going to "make a statement" but wasn't man enough to stick around once the cops were called.
Typical cheap self-righteous grandstanding. If you want to pull this kind of crap - do it at 2am when there aren't a dozen other people in line trying to get to work.
June 19, 2008
10:06 a.m.
Suggest removal
gs writes:
Who is going to hand count $60 in pennies?
June 19, 2008
10:07 a.m.
Suggest removal
infidel91 writes:
Doofus needs to take his pennies to the coin counter at the grocery store. The gas station isn't obliged to accept his offer of a bag full of loose pennies in exchange for gas.
June 19, 2008
10:09 a.m.
Suggest removal
plotz writes:
Pennies are legal to be used in all transactions. While annoying they cannot legally keep someone from paying that way in a legal transaction. I remember one time many years ago, I need to exchange more or less the same amount of money in pennies at a bank. It used to be when I was a boy that any bank would do this...but this bank(United Bank at that time) had a policy of only doing such exchanges for customers free of charge and for non customers to charge a fee of $5.00?! As I understand it one cannot do that as it is an even change of monies.
In the clerk's case and other...they are either too lazy and or stupid to count them without losing count.
June 19, 2008
10:13 a.m.
Suggest removal
tpiland writes:
Maybe these pennies was all the guy had...it would have taken even more gas to take the pennies to the grocery store and let the "counter" do the work, and then they would have charged him a fee. Desperate times call for desperate measures. The clerk should have counted the pennies.
June 19, 2008
10:15 a.m.
Suggest removal
HankRearden writes:
Darling,
That was a joke. Only the goverment can use $2.5 worth of material to produce $1.00 worth of goods and services. The penny stunt has been tried before for paying a traffic ticket.
June 19, 2008
10:15 a.m.
Suggest removal
FlyfishDude52 writes:
While service can be refused to anyone for, practically, any reason the guy's presentation probably queered the deal. I, also, wouldn't be surprised if the clerk took a surly attitude, through laziness, and didn't help the situation.
If someone gave me penny or any other coin paper tube and told me to count them myself I'd have a real problem. If a store has a policy about accepting a maximum amount of coins I'd say they don't want anything but "easy" business. Boycott 'em, I say. There's plenty of business owners who would find a way to capitalize on new customers!
June 19, 2008
10:29 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Trythinking -
Silly me.
I still don't think it was a stunt. I'm of the "desperate times call for desperate measures" mindset.
Money's money.
June 19, 2008
10:30 a.m.
Suggest removal
fzeppelin writes:
Lots of people misunderstand the term "legal tender". Here is what the gov't says regarding "legal tender".
Question: I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn't this illegal?
Answer: The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. 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. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/...
June 19, 2008
10:32 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
I guess my penny-sit-in is out then.
June 19, 2008
10:37 a.m.
Suggest removal
rj1967 writes:
Even convenience stores have little machines that can count coin change fairly quickly. Which is worse, the clerk counts his money or the store loses $10 on a sale cuz they're too lazy to count the customers money?
June 19, 2008
10:42 a.m.
Suggest removal
BKindel writes:
By law, US Currency is "legal tender for all debts, public and private." The paper note has no value of its own, but is backed by the "full faith and credit" of the United States. Coins were originally struck from metals that had at least the face value of the coin, so they didn't need that legal guarantee.
I rather doubt that Congress has ever extended the definition of legal tender to include US coinage. At this point, only the penny is worth anything close to its face value. That said, merchants are within their rights to decline payments in the form of (especially loose) coinage.
(Refusing $50/$100 bills is another matter.)
June 19, 2008
10:44 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
If the clerks are getting paid minimum wage of $5.85/hr and it takes the clerk 1 hour to count $10.00, then that is $4.15 of PURE PROFIT BABY!
Well, I guess you have to take out the cost of the goods, less the mark up and taxes.
Ok, now my head hurts.
June 19, 2008
10:44 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
If the clerks are getting paid minimum wage of $5.85/hr and it takes the clerk 1 hour to count $10.00, then that is $4.15 of PURE PROFIT BABY!
Well, I guess you have to take out the cost of the goods, less the mark up and taxes.
Ok, now my head hurts.
June 19, 2008
10:48 a.m.
Suggest removal
HankRearden writes:
I re-read the post. It is only pre 1982 pennies that are worth 2.5 cents. So now you need to add in the cost of sorting pennies. Then the fuel cost and contribution to global warming required to melt them. I guess I'll just take the bus.
June 19, 2008
10:48 a.m.
Suggest removal
mytwosense writes:
Certainly pennies are still a legal currency. But out of a sense of common courtesy for busy clerks and waiting customers, is it too much to ask to swing by your bank and have them give you dollars in exchange for your sack of pennies? They have special sorting machines that can do this fairly quickly.
On the other hand, this is a form of consumer revolt that's kind of admirable!
June 19, 2008
10:52 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
It's a form of currency discrimination.
Penny-pinchers beware!
June 19, 2008
11:05 a.m.
Suggest removal
fzeppelin writes:
You may find that you'll have a problem getting your bank to take coins that aren't pre-rolled too. I recently took my mother-in-law to the bank and she wanted to make a deposit using a bunch of loose coins she had. The teller gave us some paper rolls and told us we would have to roll them before she could deposit them.
June 19, 2008
11:08 a.m.
Suggest removal
GILPINMAN writes:
MORE THAN $5 IN PENNIES IS NOT LEGAL TENDER AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACCEPT IT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.
June 19, 2008
11:09 a.m.
Suggest removal
alwaysright writes:
A penny for your thoughts
June 19, 2008
11:14 a.m.
Suggest removal
bhamble writes:
I find it interesting that there are so many posts defending the penny-pusher and criticizing the gas attendant. Be honest, if you were in line behind this guy you would have been tapping your feet and sighing impatiently. I would have been. It is bad enough to have to shell out $60 but to have to stand in line for 10 minutes because some idiot is trying to make a point would set me off.
As for legal currency: the courts have ruled private business can set their own policies on what currency they accept. The following is from the US Treasuries website:
“The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. 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. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.”
June 19, 2008
11:27 a.m.
Suggest removal
LingLingfor_prez writes:
Although I would be a bit irritated, the guy probably was bad enough off that he had to use pennies. So he becomes an "unwanted person." Interesting.
June 19, 2008
11:27 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
bhamble
Quit raining on the penny parade. It's funny.
I would have no problem waiting unless I was in a hurry - then I can just go to another gas station since there everywhere.
People need to slow down and count their blessings while the attendent counts the pennies.
June 19, 2008
11:39 a.m.
Suggest removal
O_TRAIN writes:
a penny saved is a penny earned
June 19, 2008
11:53 a.m.
Suggest removal
mozillauser writes:
Not a lawyer, but based upon my reading of previous such cases, whether the pennies must be taken or not is determined solely by whether he pumped the gas first, or whether he was trying to prepay for the gas. I'm not kidding.
There is an implicit contract between a customer and the station -- they give gas in exchange for the stated currency. If he pumped first, he owed a debt to the station for that amount of currency. Phrased differently, the station was his creditor. This would be a private debt that must be allowed to be settled by any US legal tender (including pennies). To head off the potential argument, all debts, public and private, may be paid using US legal tender.
If he was trying to prepay, then the gas station may refuse his business for any reason that does not violate the law (such as discrimination statutes). This means they *could* refuse to enter into the contract with him for offering up pennies as the form of payment.
Of course, the police were called for other reasons it sounds....
June 19, 2008
11:56 a.m.
Suggest removal
masonp77 writes:
My post to those people, beside the person who stated more than $5 in coins don't have to be accepted (and I want to see the back up on that), who posted the actual verbage of the act is this.
Did the company post their policy that they would or wouldn't accept the amount of coins the customer presented? If not the customer could take it on good faith that the coins are legal tender and would be acceptable to pay the debt of the gas they put in their tank.
Companies do have the right to amend their policies on forms of payment, but it has to be posted in a manner in which the customer would be able to see and understand it.
June 19, 2008
12:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
redwhiteandBLUE writes:
The poor guy had to penny pinch his money for gas. Moneys, money.
I'll bet a lot of people still have a jar or a can saving pennies and loose change for a rainy day. Now it's for gas.
June 19, 2008
12:07 p.m.
Suggest removal
AC writes:
hakj writes:
"We all would be pretty impatient since most of us want what we want now and don’t have the patience to slow down long enough to experience the best things in life."
Standing in line at a Diamond Shamrock for five minutes doign nothing while some clown is insisting on having the clerk count his 1,000 pennies for two-plus gallons of gas is one of the best experiences in life? I don't think so.
"But I know for me I would be silently praising him and might even see how much small change I have to unload as well to pay for my fuel."
Why? What's the point of it all? Does it send a message to Big Oil? No. Did he send a message to Diamond Shamrock? No, only that some customers can be real jerks. The only message he sent was to the unfortunate people stuck behind him in line and that message was that he's a self-centered clown. You wouldn't like it either, if it happened to you. If you're gonna make a point, aim it at the right target for crying out loud.
June 19, 2008
12:07 p.m.
Suggest removal
JSeifert writes:
Pennys wether they like it or not are legal tender in the United states. Actually by not taking them the gas station has violated Federal law.
June 19, 2008
12:18 p.m.
Suggest removal
jd writes:
If you think taking pennies isn't a big deal. Think what would happen if you had 500 customers coming in through the day buy $50.00 worth of gas each. That would be about 2 million 500 thousand pennies for a day. Where would you put 2,500,000 pennies and how long would it take to count that many pennies?
I don't think there's a person out there that would wait more than a minute for the clerk to count just one transaction. Think if each transaction was this way. The same people that are against the clerk would be screaming at the people trying to pay with pennies becasuse they are trying to hurry, pay and get out.
June 19, 2008
12:34 p.m.
Suggest removal
fm writes:
OHHHHHhhhhhh for crying out loud.
______GET A COIN COUNTER!______
June 19, 2008
12:37 p.m.
Suggest removal
cheech writes:
I used to work at a movie theater and had to deal with this kind of nonsense all the time. There would be a long line of people waiting to get concession items and some idiot would come up to pay with a bag full of coins. Some on here have said money is money and if you don't accept then you loose the profit on the items. The main reason a lot of businesses do not accept large sums of loose change is because it causes you lost profits. People in line would see you having to count out some moron’s $15 dollars worth of pennies and they would just simply walk away. While you’re busy counting out 1,500 pennies about $225.00 worth of cash would be lost. So you tell me does it make good business sense to loose the 1,500 worth of pennies or the $225.00 worth of cash?
June 19, 2008
12:51 p.m.
Suggest removal
JP1985 writes:
For those of you who are saying that the gas station should have accepted the pennies, what would you do if a store tried to give you your change (ten dollars or so) in pennies? It's legal tender, right? They have the right to do it. Of course, they would never do it because they're reasonable and they respect their customers. Why can't people be reasonable and have some decency, regardless of what their rights are? The point of rights is not to take advantage of them as much as possible at all times just to be a jerk.
Also, somebody mentioned that it would all depend on whether he was pre-paying or not. If he was paying for gas that he already pumped, then they would have to accept the pennies. If not, they have no onbligation to complete the transaction.
Nobody wants to pay $60 for a tank of gas and then wait while the cashier counts out 1000 pennies.
June 19, 2008
1:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
The attendant is a cashier.
He gets paid to take and count money.
Pennies are money.
So take the frickin' pennies, count 'em and hush.
June 19, 2008
1:35 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
We could all ride bicycles.
Now who wants to start the bikes vs. motorists thread?
:)
June 19, 2008
1:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
ez2amuze writes:
"Legal Tender" means that you have money that is legally valid for the payment of debts and that must be accepted for that purpose when offered. That's the legal definition. If you offer payment, and the clerk fails to accept it, no one can complain he didn't pay. No one can charge him for refusing to pay.
I think he gets the gas for free.
June 19, 2008
1:47 p.m.
Suggest removal
Elwood writes:
If a clerk handed me a bunch of paper rolls and told me to roll them myself, I would only put 45 or so pennies in each one. If he then told me they were short he would have to count them himself to prove it. Fun all the way around!
June 19, 2008
1:50 p.m.
Suggest removal
DarnTootin writes:
Slow news day, huh.
June 19, 2008
1:50 p.m.
Suggest removal
mytwosense writes:
I love this thread! The topic isn't exactly of a life or death nature, but almost all the answers are really good ones, with distinctly different takes on the situation.
June 19, 2008
1:50 p.m.
Suggest removal
kitty writes:
For all of you who think that the cashier HAD to LEGALLY take the money.....refer to bhamble's post at 11:14am! We all know that the person was p.o.'d about the price of gas and was trying to make a point. Point taken, gas prices are ridiculous, but it is certainly not the fault of the cashier (or the gas station itself) that those prices are so high. Take your anger out on the proper entity!
June 19, 2008
1:56 p.m.
Suggest removal
truth22 writes:
Don't most businesses reserve the right to refuse someone service?
This was a good time to invoke it I'd say. I'd like to see that guy try that stunt paying a fine at the City and County Building.
Or at a fast food joint on a Saturday around 2am.
What a loser!
June 19, 2008
1:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Kitty -
No where does it say that this was protest penny-payment. The customer may have gotten aggravated because the cashier refused the form of payment he had and the guy needed the gas.
June 19, 2008
2:03 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Nice talk KaiserD. You're gonna assault someone for paying with pennies?
You're the reason people have concealed weapon permits.
June 19, 2008
2:07 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
Ok - ten paces
ready
aim
FIRE!!!!!
I win.
June 19, 2008
2:08 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darling writes:
All's fair in love and penny wars.
June 19, 2008
2:13 p.m.
Suggest removal
EdVMorales writes:
What a JOKE! King Soopers has those coin charger!!!!
June 19, 2008
3:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
Simple fix.
Scoop them all into a bag, nod your head and say, "feels like about 5 bucks worth".
If he wants to contest it, he'll have to count them out himself.
Five seconds and the issue resolves itself.
June 19, 2008
4 p.m.
Suggest removal
gethoht writes:
*If he was trying to prepay*
Then the clerk/business was well within their legal rights to deny the currency. There is no law that says you *have* to accept a bucketfull of pennies. There is also no law stating that you have to display the company policy regarding what forms of currency you accept. There have already been several posts that quote the US Treasury website on this matter.
*If he already pumped the gas*
Then the law might be different, as it gets into a creditor/debtor transaction.
I first had to deal with this when I was a pizza delivery driver. I had a customer that had a jar full of coins they tried to pay a $25 order with. I asked my boss and he said that I didn't have to accept it(no company policy), and further research determined that I was within my legal rights to deny accepting the currency.
For all those that applaud this "penny-pincher's" behavior as a form of protest or whatever.... you've obviously never been in the clerk's shoes or worked in retail or service industry. There are more effective ways to protest the price of gas then pulling this crap on some clerk who has no bearing whatsoever on the price of gas. You want gas prices to come down to where they should be naturally? Have your reps repeal the enron-sponsored "Commodities Futures Modernization Act"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodit...), which effectively de-regulated the commodity futures market. There USED TO BE a regulation that stated that if you bought a futures contract for however many barrels of oil, you had to actually take physical delivery of that oil. Without this provision, speculators are free to bid up oil to whatever they please, because they just shift the contracts around over and over without ever actually taking delivery. If this provision still existed then there would be much less speculative trading on the oil futures market and the price of a barrel of sweet crude would more accurately reflect the cost that it takes to extract/produce that barrel of oil.
June 19, 2008
4:30 p.m.
Suggest removal
gethoht writes:
Another quick thing about oil prices...
Anyone who thinks that drilling for more oil in the US and off the coast of the US needs to know a few facts:
1. It's not supply and demand for oil that is pushing it to record prices, it's the futures market.
2. Any new oil that is drilled for will just be sold at the same highly speculative prices. It will not be sold for a cheaper price, nor will it drive down the price of oil
3. Any exploratory drilling will most likely not produce oil on the market for another 7-10 years, so all this talk in washington about drilling for more oil off the coast is just taking advantage of a situation to further their oil lobbyist's agendas. It is not a real solution to the problem of artificially high gasoline prices.
June 19, 2008
4:32 p.m.
Suggest removal
gethoht writes:
err
*Anyone who thinks that drilling for more oil in the US will solve the problem needs to know a few facts....
Sorry for the typo
June 19, 2008
5:52 p.m.
Suggest removal
BeckMom writes:
Hello...? Whatever happened to common sense and courtesy? Let's really irritate and blow off the 10 other people in line so 1 customer can try to make a point with his pennies. Please!!!
And as to stopping to enjoy life, that's an insane fantasy at a downtown gas station on a weekday morning! Most of us have to work to earn our gas money and being late for work is not an option. Try explaining this to your boss when you are late for work.
I understand that we are all suffering with the gas prices, I am not inconsiderate of that, but let's not protest in such a way that only ends up inconveniencing our fellow consumers.
June 19, 2008
7:29 p.m.
Suggest removal
karma writes:
Wikipedia is not always the best source for definitions. "Legal Tender" only applies to debts owed, not payment to a private business for product or service.
From the U.S Treasury -
"The Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: 'United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.'
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. 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. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy."
The clerk has every right to refuse any form of payment as long as they have a valid reason for doing so. Counting out 1000 pennies while a line of customers with common sense waits is certainly a valid reason.
To those saying he should have counted them - Try being the next guy in line.
June 19, 2008
9:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
LaszloPanaflex writes:
It's certainly reasonable for a business to refuse to accept coins unless they are rolled. The gas station would have to roll the coins before most banks would accept them.
June 20, 2008
10:34 a.m.
Suggest removal
OhBrother writes:
One time I was at a supermarket and somehow I got stuck behind a old lady with an entire cart ( I am not kidding you, filled past the top ) of nothing but tom and jerry's grape jelly!? Of course I thought " why in the world.." but aside from that she paid in nothing but pennies! It took at least 20 minutes for 2 clerks to count AND AFTER they rang her up she argued with the clerk that she was charged 2 cents more on each jar and wanted a refund! it took almost another 20 minutes and of course this was the only line open because they only had 2 clerks working!
Point is, I don't care if it's legal money or not, I'm in a rush or not. I wish they would have 86'ed her right away, it's called wrap your own change before you come to the store to use it unless you want to hold other people up and be a jerk. If that's your best attempt to "stick it to the man" then stay at home with your pennies, eat prunes and catch up on McGuyver
June 21, 2008
2:13 a.m.
Suggest removal
kevin3 writes:
If this man were smart, he would have sold his pennies to a scrap metal yard. The amount of copper in a penny is worth more than a penny!
June 21, 2008
10:19 a.m.
Suggest removal
rg writes:
Darling and the penny packer make good bed-fellows. Richard Grimes: Deicide. http://www.geocites.com/r22037/think....
Deicide Corner: “. . . it was largely to escape religious test oaths and declarations that a great many of the early colonists left Europe and came here hoping to worship in their own way. It soon developed, however, that many of those who had fled to escape religious test oaths turned out to be perfectly willing, when they had the power to do so, to force dissenters from their faith to take test oaths in conformity with the faith. . . .
“There were, however, wise and farseeing men in the Colonies--too many to mention--who spoke out against test oaths and all the philosophy of intolerance behind them. . . .
“We repeat and again reaffirm that neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person 'to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.' Neither can constitutionally pass laws or impose requirements which aid all religions as against nonbelievers, and neither can aid those religions based on a belief in the existence of God as against those religions founded on different beliefs.”-- Justice Black for the U.S. Supreme Court
June 21, 2008
3:32 p.m.
Suggest removal
p_myers661 writes:
The pennies are permitted to pay a contract, fee or tax debt. The man who created this event was probably someone who was curious and, perhaps, a bit angry over high gas prices. The probable outcome of a person with a pleasant attitude in his position would be to have someone pay for him and take the pennies. Ten dollars is an amount that many can afford to give. His attitude and the hour of the day made this unlikely.
I once had an apartment where the manager and the owner refused to accept cash for payment. As a cab driver, I had much cash and little time to go get a money order. I went to pay with exact cash for the rent and was told to bring back a money order or a check.
I have a good friend, a lawyer and she was in the bank when I went for the money order. She went with me to the manager and watched him refuse the cash. She told him that if he refused it again he would be granting me a free month because our contract made him subject to accepting cash payments. I was moving in two months anyway. From that time until the end of my lease, he accepted cash. I did pay him early in the day so he could get to the bank and I always got a receipt.
So many want to make a statement about clerks. Many of them are working a second job and some of them are working legally as new immigrants. Others...it's anyone's guess.
A friend once postulated that it was a middle eastern conspracy to destroy our economy. At a pre-determined time, all of them would mark down the prices in the stores to reasonable and bankrupt 7/11.
June 21, 2008
3:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
volleycoach writes:
For everyone that thinks this is funny or pennies are legal tender I hope your boss pays you in pennies or every store gives you change in pennies. Everything is funny as long as it doesn't happen to you.
June 21, 2008
8:42 p.m.
Suggest removal
ER_Nurse writes:
I remember recently the government was considering getting rid of the penny and rounding up or down to the nearest nickle. The thought being that no one uses pennies anymore and that there are several billions of dollars outstanding in unused pennies thus saving the cost of making pennies while at the same time the federal reserve would automatically recoupe the outstanding cash.
I think we should all cash in our pennies while we still can.
June 21, 2008
8:53 p.m.
Suggest removal
ER_Nurse writes:
As an after thought, too bad we can't take all our pennies to Bear-Stearn as a little bit of pay-back for hosing the entire country with their idiotic credit debacle.
June 21, 2008
9:55 p.m.
Suggest removal
CyberHostage writes:
The key is to find the "win-win" solution for these situations. Can we all just agree that loose pennies are acceptable currency, provided: they are contained in a sturdy cloth sack that can then be used by everyone present to beat the person senseless*? And who knows? Maybe this can morph into a pagan ritual for ensuring a bountiful gas harvest.
(* Good, I thought so.)
June 23, 2008
5:42 a.m.
Suggest removal
YourLocalHero writes:
I plan on paying for everything in pennies from now on just to annoy people that are in too much of a hurry. Slow your role...
June 25, 2008
12:27 a.m.
Suggest removal
Lytjan writes:
I felt the need to make a comment as I don't see many people on here representing the cashier. I am a cashier at a gas station and have regularly had customers pay with loose change. All I can say is that even with the nicest of customers it is a horrible wast of my time and effort to stand there and count it at least once and likely a second time when the cash in the store is verified. Even though the company I work for is quite generous in pay and benefits it is still more work than anyone who doesn't or hasn't worked that job understands. In addition is the fact that no matter what the customer says or does I have to put on a happy face and say 'Have a nice day' is supremely frustrating. Another thing that is not understood by the general populous is that all the snide comments that every other customer makes are not original, the cashier has likely heard the exact same or very similar several times over the course of their shift, let alone the previous days or weeks.
Sorry for my rant but I'm just trying to let everyone know that despite what you think the cashiers are just people trying to make their way, and usually feel crappy enough about the prices of gas that the constant reminder of the customers complaints.
Personally I know that I've been working in the field long enough that I'm jaded to the complaints, but not everyone has the ability to deal the same way I can.
Please remember that the cashier is just as human as you are.
Thanks