Cash Is Cash
A Utah man was cited because he wanted to pay his disputed $25.00 hospital bill with pennies. Apparently the employees at the hospital did not take kindly to having 2500 pennies dumped on the counter, so they called the police who cited the man for disorderly conduct. Hey, pennies are cash and if you don't want them used, then stop making them. Also, how do you manage to go to a clinic and only spend $25?
Police said they cited the man because his actions served no legitimate purpose. Huh? He was paying a bill. That seems legitimate to me.
33 comments:
They're talking about doing away with pennies here in Canada. I'm all for it.
My guess is that since the bill was being disputed, he was probably a jerk about it and brought in pennies and a big attitude ;)
Seriously. I'll bet a pinkie-sized bandaid costs 25 bucks in most U.S. hospitals. I don't know how this guy managed to have such a meager bill!
When I was eight or so, I took a bunch of nickels to a local pharmacy and tried to buy a bunch of Little Debbie Zebra Cakes with them. The dude behind the counter said no, and I countered that nickels are currency, and that he had no right to refuse me. I stood my ground, because WHAT was the guy going to do? I wasn't shoplifting or loitering. I was just a kid who saved up my allowance and wanted some sugar.
Yeah, I was a precocious (i.e., bratty) girl. And it was an obnoxious thing to do. But I was RIGHT, and so is this guy.
Granted, he could have taken the time to ROLL the coins. That would have been a considerate move. But if they were already rolled in first place (the article doesn't say), then that hospital has NO room to complain.
After emptying change from our pockets (his) and purse (mine) into a bowl and then counting and rolling about twice per year, we get about $50 - $80 each time. That's $100 to $160 per year. Now, if they chose to do away with pennies but still charge sales tax, what is the plan? Will they round up to the nearest nickle? It seems that us regular folk will wind up getting screwed in the end.
Another article states that he dumped 2,500 loose pennies on a desk, let them spill everywhere, and told the staff to count them. That does deserve a disorderly conduct citation as far as I'm concerned.
Oh, and I take those rolls of coins to the bank and either deposit or exchange for cash.
In my old neighborhood, neighbor A took neighbor B to small claims court and won about a $300 judgment. So neighbor B paid him in pennies. It was a lot of effort, he had to go to several banks to buy rolls and rolls of pennies. Then, he wheeled a box full of 30,000-plus pennies on a dolly, waited until the doorbell was answered, said "fuck you," and left. Good times.
@MM -- Yeah. THROWING coins at people is pretty disorderly. I get the citation, then. This guy is probably crazy...but pennies are still money!
@Little Miss -- Neighbor B and I were obviously cut from the (insanely obstinate) cloth. Good for him. ;-)
Oddly enough, although pennies are currency, there are many businesses, municipalities, and government agencies that will not accept them as payment because they are just too difficult to manage. Otherwise you would have every nutjob around paying their property tax, income tax, child support, etc in pennies....just to be a pain in the ass.
The stupid thing is the ticket he got is like $150.00! Pretty expensive stunt I think.
I think there's actually a law here in Ontario that states that you cannot pay a bill with pennies past X amount--so, say, no more than $5 worth of merchandise...if I'm making that up, then I have a rather peculiar imagination.
In case anyone's interested, the Swedish rounding system would be used in the case of penny elimination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_rounding
Australia and NZ have already done it with no complaints.
Our Cdn government recommended eliminating the penny in Dec 2010. It'll prob happen.
@Majik... nope, you are not crazy, saw this posted on another website about Canada's penny rules:
"A payment in coins is legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins:
forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars;
twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar;
ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar;
five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and
twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent."
Me thinks a lawmaker had some spare time on his hands one day...
It all depends on his behavior, but I can see where an obstinate office manager would play up the incident as much as a stubborn patient.
Btw, $25 used to be my insurance co-pay amount for regular office visits, but some in-network visits were no-charge. Just sayin'.
I agree with Enty, it is a valid form of payment - however if he let them roll all over the floor, etc. then I might take issue with that as being a saftey hazard. It would be time consuming counting them also.
Agree that money is money but dumping the pennies on the counter would be disorderly. If he did that. Guy could make his point w/o being an asshole about it.
Money's money. The cops should have better things to do than respond to this kind of nonsense.
Actually, money is not money. Stores and businesses can state what form of tender they will accept. It's why you see "No bills larger than $50" posted at convenience stores and such...
@MacVixen -- I thought that was mostly to keep potential robbers away, though. If they only have a certain amount of money on the premises, I guess they think it'll lessen the chance of a hold-up?
I dunno. All I DO know is this: American currency is so boring! Everyone else gets multicolored bills, and we've still got the stinky green paper.
@Ida / MacVixen - I thought it was because the counterfeiting of higher bills (50s, 100s) is so much more common, and it's a way to avoid taking in counterfeit currency.
Funny you mention the colour of your money - my yankee friends make fun of ours for being "monopoly" money, but it drives me CRAZY how closely I have to inspect American money when I'm paying for something. "Is that a one? a ten?" I like taking a glance at 7 different bills from a distance and knowing exactly how much is there.
Here in Oz pennies have been dropped and good riddance. Also there are no $1 bills, just $1 and $2 coins. A pocket full of change is actually worth something!
In the meantime, some rapist or wife beater is getting out of jail.
Pennies are legal tender and hopefully the guy disputes the ticket. That being said, continuing to mint them when you can't really buy much with them (except for the 1-4 cents needed for sales tax) seems like a colossal waste of natural resources.
Actually, postings like these do make me wonder if someone ghosts the blog for Enty who is not a lawyer, because it's one of those basic, black-letter legal issues that Average Joe lawyer would know or could look up in 30 seconds on Lexus.
Also, sometimes "he" is mighty vague about aspects of CA contract and family law that should be well within Enty's scope of practice.
Throwing the pennies will get you a righteous disorderly conduct nick.
All I know is that if I want to buy something and I am short the tax, or pennies, I am out of luck and can't buy it. Currency counts then, doesn't it?
This made me smile. I don't watch much news here, but I'm sure it made it :)
ITA with RocketQueen!
I for one think its rude and childish to show up with a grab bag of pennies and drop them off anywhere for payment.
Obviously, pennies are to be used for small currency amounts, not to pay a $$ bill and be an ass about it. I agree, he deserved the citation. No one that lives in a non-hoarder house would have that many pennies on the ready to drop off like that. He went out of his way to be a douchebag.There are better ways to go about making a point.
Oh, and I don't agree with eliminating pennies. That will have EVERYTHING increase in costs. If pennies are that inconvenient for you use a credit card.
I've worked as a teller. I've had rolls of coins flung at me. I remember once a roll of quarters hit me in the nose and gave me a nosebleed. I finished the transaction (a loan payment with a late charge) holding a tissue pressed to my nose. The customer was horrified and kept apologizing. I was just passive aggressive enough to be quite pleased to let him squirm while I was in such distress.
Yeah, so flinging money at a teller or cashier? Not one of my favorite things. The customer in this case got what he deserved if he spilled 2,500 loose pennies on somebody's counter.
This stunt reminds me of the college kid in Colorado who paid his tuition in cash. It was about $45.000 for the year. It wasn't just pennies, but it freaked out the college!
I'm with @MM!
The way I read the article, the guy was being a dick. He was trying to make a point about paying the discrepancy.
I think most places will accept rolled coins, but why should anyone other than a bank have to count them? Especially if you are slamming them down on the counter and making a scene. This isn't about a business not accepting pennies, it's about a guy being a jackass. Good job, jackass. Have fun paying that disorderly conduct citation. Better head to Coinstar next time.
Rolled my coins (in paper coin wrappers) to bring to my Credit Union to deposit. They don't take rolled coins but they have a coin counter. Had to break open every roll & dump it into the coin counter.
Actually, I prefer it that way. If you have an account there, they don't charge you. If you don't have an account, they charge you a 5% fee which is less than the Coinstar machine (10%).
I had a similar revenge for a late fee that was very questionable a for an apartment I once lived in. Had the penny fantasy but then went bigger - wrote several checks for varying amounts that totaled the the late fee. No police called and I felt an immense peace.
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