JoeGamer is absolutely right about this one. Most merchants don't want to pay the merchant fee of 3-4% to Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express. For merchants with slim margins, that's a heavy burden to pay. Most will encourage you to pay cash and some even offer discounts when you pay with cash instead of credit. Gas stations are a good example of cash discounts provided.

this law does not apply to private companies at all. it states that U.S. currency is legal tender forall debts, public charges, taxes, and dues. however this only applies to the government. the government can not refuse cash for any money that is owed to them. corporations are free to make any rules they wish involving payments made to them. i hope this clears up any confusion

Hello Limodave, According to the 'Legal Tender Statute' (section 5103 of title 31 of the U.S. Code), '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.' However, the law only pertains to services already rendered. There isn't a federal law requiring a person or an organization to acceptcurrency or coins as payment for goods or services not yet provided. So if the company posted a notice that they onlyaccept money orders and credit/debit, they are legally not required to accept cash for purchases.

The company does not have to legally have pay you with just cash. Most companies will not hand you cash as it is hard to track and showed you were paid. Most will do a money order, personal check, wire transfer, etc. Really you can't say too much other than tell them what you prefer. I know in my business we send you paperwork that shows the payment as well as send it via check or other electronic form of tracking to protect us legally.

I'm not sure if that's legal. But I believe that it would be a bad move for a company to do that. Some sales would be lost by just accepting credit cards. Not everyone has one.

They day will come when no one uses paper currency anymore, and it may be in our life time. Usually a business would rather accept cash over credit due to the fees of a merchant; but I'd image security wise it's a great idea to accept only credit to not have large amounts of cash on site, and usually companies that only sell items over $500+ will only recieve creditcheck patments anyways. If you need to use a ceditdebit and cannot get a credit card just get a pre-paid secured credit card.

Pretty silly of them not to accept cash, as it has no fees attached to it, whereas credit cards have 3-4% fee on the merchant's end. But as far the law is concerned, they don't have to accept cash. Heck, they could make it a policy to only accept bartering! Like I said, it's silly and bad business practice in my opinion, but some people do it.

I realy cant see any reason or logic in that action.. Why would company refuse cash, there are no fees in cash payment and there are in plastic.. ?! anyone has a clue ? Apartmani Hrvatska and Lodging Message Edited by NicoleD on 09-08-2009 01:04 PM

As CharlotteW said, in the US, they must accept US currency. I don't know about coins because they fall in a different category (generally speaking) but on US bills it states 'This note is legal tender for all debts public or private' meaning it must be accepted. That isn't to say though that there's much you can do about it.

I can think of a few good reasons not to accept cash. Employees steal cash. Robbers come in and steal cash. It takes longer for employees to count it at night so you have to pay more. No trips to the bank, which cost money If you deposit too much cash some banks charge more fees because they have to count it.