home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: misc.consumers
- Path: sparky!uunet!walter!porthos!troy!mpb
- From: mpb@troy.cc.bellcore.com (bunz,marcus p)
- Subject: Re: Legal Tender???
- Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 21:43:21 GMT
- Message-ID: <1992Dec15.214321.10834@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>
- References: <1992Dec11.171413.11631@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> <1992Dec15.195746.2482@ads.com>
- Sender: netnews@porthos.cc.bellcore.com (USENET System Software)
- Lines: 33
-
- In article <1992Dec15.195746.2482@ads.com>, henry@ADS.COM (Henry Mensch) writes:
- > a sorta-related issue: why are usans so squirrely about
- > large-denomination banknotes? if you read other newsgroups then you
- > know i travel the world; i've only seen this sort of braindeath in the
- > usa ... i have a hundred-guilder note from the netherlands in my billfold,
- > and if i go to a dutch newsstand and buy a three-guilder newspaper the
- > merchant will make change cheerfully, will not fret and fuss over the
- > denomination, and i'll be on my way in minutes.
- > --
- > # henry mensch / booz, allen & hamilton, inc. / <henry@ads.com>
- There are two reasons businesses won't accept large bills.
-
- 1) They don't want to get stuck with a large denomination bill that is
- conterfit. For example, it was cheaper for Mc Donalds to give away
- a few burgers and fries, then to get stuck with a bad $50.00 a few years
- ago. Armed with that bit of knowledge, a starving student could eat
- for a long while (so long as they kept their last $50.00 in one note
- :-).
-
- 2) Fear of hold-ups. Take your gas station attendant at 2:00 am, if
- they can only make change for a twenty, they probably won't have much
- accessible cash. Another concern is for Pizza delivery people and
- the like. (Actually, there was a time when a popular trick was to order
- a pizza, and explicitly state that you only had a twenty, and make
- sure the delivery person had change, at the time it would have been
- over $15.00 change (OK it was a LONG time ago), and the delivery persons
- were being robbed left and right.)
-
- Maybe the businesses are a little paranoid, but as they say,
- just cause you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out go get you.
-
- Marc
-
-