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#191
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On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:55:16 +0100, wrote:
If the notes are from Scotland and bear the word sterling then they are legal tender and I believe that retailers have to accept them. They aren't, though for the purposes of retail it's irrelevant whether they are or not, as the concept of legal tender refers only to payment of a debt. A retailer may choose to accept or not accept any method of payment for any reason[1] he or she chooses, as no debt exists because the goods aren't yours until paid for. [1] Other than racism, sexism etc. Neil -- Neil Williams Put my first name before the at to reply. |
#192
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In uk.transport.london message ,
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:13:03, Peter Campbell Smith posted: To get slightly back to topic, I don't remember any train fares costing odd halfpennies (my monthly child season was 4s 11d which was 1/3 of the adult rate), When I was younger, I (and others) purchased a Third Class Cheap Day Return to travel from Mottisfont to Romsey and back. at a cost of 5½d - tuppence three-farthings each way, it would have been. But BR did not say that, although an outbound train was conveniently imminent, there was no return service at any reasonable hour. I still have the return half, unused. -- (c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME. Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQish topics, acronyms, & links. Proper = 4-line sig. separator as above, a line exactly "-- " (SonOfRFC1036) Do not Mail News to me. Before a reply, quote with "" or " " (SonOfRFC1036) |
#193
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Roland Perry wrote in
: In message , at 23:43:47 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, remarked: So it seems the Dutch have not abolished the 2c after all. Can they actually abolish it in their country, however? I don't know. I was simply reporting that it was, in fact, still in circulation, despite reports to the contrary. It's one monetary system, which is used by 15 states. I'm going to France soon and I'll see what the situation is there. I was in St Omer (northern France) last Saturday, and when buying in the market, they (consistently) priced with a resolution of 1c and totalled the bill precisely, but then only charged me the price rounded down to a 5c multiple. So for example, item A was weighed and labelled as 1.28 euro, item B was labelled at 1.59 euro, the total was 2.87 euro and they gave 15c change from 3 euro. A lot of "Mom and Pop" small food stores in Metro Vancouver have adopted that method as an unofficial way to avoid Canadian pennies. I imagine they would accept 1c and 2c coins, but I didn't try. Peter |
#194
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wrote:
"Charles Ellson" wrote in message ... On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:42:31 +0100, wrote: "Hugh Brodie" wrote in message ... Speaking of hyper-inflation, it's fun looking at the website of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe http://www.rbz.co.zw to see the daily exchange rate of the $Z vs the $US. Yesterday, it was 5,817,000,000; today it's 6,718,000,000. They have just issued $Z 50,000,000,000 notes ("bearer cheques"). And it will cost you $Z 1,800,000,000 to mail a postcard to the US. http://www.zimpost.co.zw/postalrates.html It's a shame that there are no images of currently circulating Zimbabwean notes or coins. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4266.html http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/04/...urrencies.html http://www.neatorama.com/category/money-finance/page/2/ The latter also has a 100,000 USD note. http://stores.ebay.com.sg/Roberts-Wo...QQftidZ2QQtZkm Many thanks for that. Wouldn't it be illegal to sell a 100,000-dollar note, however? They are not intended for general circulation and I wonder if the relevant US authorities would have something to say about that. For starters, the US authorities have something to say about any cash transaction larger than USD5,000, due to money laundering (and now "terrorism") laws regardless of the size of the individual bills. USD10,000 and 100,000 bills were only issued to the Federal Reserve Banks as a way to transfer money between themselves (much easier than shipping gold) and were not circulated _at all_. According to the authorities, all were accounted for and all were destroyed except a few that were lent (not given or sold) to museums. It is supposedly impossible for a person to acquire a legitimate one legally, so if such a bill were presented to a bank, the person would be arrested for either counterfeiting or theft. Now, if it turns out that any of those bills _did_ get into circulation and had been hoarded for eight-plus decades without detection, a bank would be required to accept it for deposit (the US never demonetizes old currency or coins), but they could not give it out to another customer for a withdrawal. They would send the bill to their Federal Reserve Bank, which would undoubtedly destroy it immediately. That is exactly what would happen to the remaining USD1000 bills that are out there, but nobody sane would ever present them to a bank because they're worth more as collectibles than as money, just like old silver and gold coins that are now worth many times their face value. This is decidedly different than what happens to (relatively rare) USD2 bills, which banks accept without comment but only give out to customers upon specific request. Banks also hoard USD50 and USD100 bills, but they'll ask if you want them if your withdrawal is large ("Do you want that in hundreds or twenties?"). S Hoard $50's? Hmmm, Canadian bank machines routinely dish out our $50's, though the machines are usually identified and at locations where "regular" $20 dispensers are also available. |
#195
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![]() -- Mike D Neil Williams wrote On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:55:16 +0100, wrote: If the notes are from Scotland and bear the word sterling then they are legal tender and I believe that retailers have to accept them. They aren't, though for the purposes of retail it's irrelevant whether they are or not, as the concept of legal tender refers only to payment of a debt. A retailer may choose to accept or not accept any method of payment for any reason[1] he or she chooses, as no debt exists because the goods aren't yours until paid for. [1] Other than racism, sexism etc. For an "ordinary" retail transaction, yes. But if you are paying your monthly newspaper bill or the bill in an ordinary restaurant or you are (thinks) at the drycleaners then there is a debt so the legal tender rules apply. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/bankn...egaltender.htm and indeed for the US http://www.treasury.gov/education/fa...l-tender.shtml The US, unlike the UK, apparently doesn't have a law preventing you legally paying a debt in 1 cent or other tiny coins. -- Mike D |
#196
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#197
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Andrew Price wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:14:15 GMT, (Neil Williams) wrote: Wouldn't it have been easier to pay with a credit card, or even a cheque? This is often a difference between the UK and mainland Europe where credit cards are used a lot less. Perhaps, although I'd definitely exclude France from your "mainland Europe" definition, as Visa cards and cheques are very widely used there. In France, most cards are debit cards, and it's true that credit cards are used less than in the UK. The question to Rian (who anyway is in Belgium) should be "Wouldn't it have been easier to pay with a debit card?" (rather than withdrawing unusual amounts of cash from his bank). -- Richard J. (to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address) |
#198
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On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:36:27 +0100, wrote:
"Charles Ellson" wrote in message .. . On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:46:33 +0100, wrote: ITYF the USD is a universal black-market currency in countries where the economy has gone tits-up, possibly accompanied to a lesser degree by Sterling and Euros or any more local "trusted" foreign currency. Euros yes, but I do not think that sterling would be a universal black-market currency. I did say "lesser degree". My late mother worked for a subsidiary of censored in the 1960s/1970s and was aware of dodgy goings-on in the Middle East where the "agency fee" for some government officials and company agents took the form of payment in IIRC "gold pounds" which was presumably a reference to payment in sovereigns. I would not be surprised if there had been a double fiddle of the coins being accounted for at face value to diminish the apparent size of the alleged "fees". I would also expect that rands would be the hard currency of choice in southern Africa, as a substantial part of the Zimbabwean population is in South Africa. |
#199
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Nobody wrote:
This is decidedly different than what happens to (relatively rare) USD2 bills, which banks accept without comment but only give out to customers upon specific request. Banks also hoard USD50 and USD100 bills, but they'll ask if you want them if your withdrawal is large ("Do you want that in hundreds or twenties?"). Hoard $50's? Yes, same reason as $100 bills: retailers won't take them, so most customers don't want them. It makes little sense since the same retailers will happily take a thick stack of $20s, which can be just as easily counterfeited, but that's how it is. Another knock against the $50 bill is people don't see them often, since they're relatively useless (people either have $100s or $20s), so they're not comfortable with them. If people can't figure out if a somewhat more common $100 bill is fake, they'll never be able to figure it out for a less common $50 bill... $2 bills have a worse problem, incidentally. Many people have never seen one in their entire lives -- or even know they exist -- and they look different than all the other bills. Many clerks won't take them without checking with a manager; if the manager hasn't seen one before (which is fairly rare -- they _are_ still in circulation), they may refuse to accept it even though the potential loss from a counterfeit is negligible. Hmmm, Canadian bank machines routinely dish out our $50's, though the machines are usually identified and at locations where "regular" $20 dispensers are also available. US ATMs generally only dispense $20 bills; it makes them simpler and requires less refilling if there's only one bill type. There are still a few that give out $5 and $10 bills as well, though they're rare. Ones in casinos will give you $100 bills, since they accept them at the tables and that's where they want you spending your money. I've never seen a US ATM dispense $50 bills. S |
#200
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On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:11:30 -0500, Stephen Sprunk
wrote: Nobody wrote: This is decidedly different than what happens to (relatively rare) USD2 bills, which banks accept without comment but only give out to customers upon specific request. Banks also hoard USD50 and USD100 bills, but they'll ask if you want them if your withdrawal is large ("Do you want that in hundreds or twenties?"). Hoard $50's? Yes, same reason as $100 bills: retailers won't take them, so most customers don't want them. It makes little sense since the same retailers will happily take a thick stack of $20s, which can be just as easily counterfeited, but that's how it is. Another knock against the $50 bill is people don't see them often, since they're relatively useless (people either have $100s or $20s), so they're not comfortable with them. If people can't figure out if a somewhat more common $100 bill is fake, they'll never be able to figure it out for a less common $50 bill... $2 bills have a worse problem, incidentally. Many people have never seen one in their entire lives -- or even know they exist -- and they look different than all the other bills. Many clerks won't take them without checking with a manager; if the manager hasn't seen one before (which is fairly rare -- they _are_ still in circulation), they may refuse to accept it even though the potential loss from a counterfeit is negligible. Hmmm, Canadian bank machines routinely dish out our $50's, though the machines are usually identified and at locations where "regular" $20 dispensers are also available. US ATMs generally only dispense $20 bills; it makes them simpler and requires less refilling if there's only one bill type. There are still a few that give out $5 and $10 bills as well, though they're rare. Ones in casinos will give you $100 bills, since they accept them at the tables and that's where they want you spending your money. I've never seen a US ATM dispense $50 bills. Aren't US banknotes also all the same size thus making it easier to accidentally sandwich a high value note in amongst low value notes ? |
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