Buying Gas with Zincs

[Gamecock]

lmao at this thread.

i'm going to start tipping with halves at restaurants and bars now

[jerry278]

One time I tried to pay for gas with zincs, didnt have any money and was just trying to make it home so I had $3 in zincs. I put it on the counter and the lady said "Oh we dont take those..." Mind you this was only $3. I was like "Why not?" She was like "Because, I'd have to count it..." Well DUH! or you can take my word for it lady. Needless to say I was pissed. It was next to a supermarket that had a coinstar she said I needed to go inside and use the coinstar then she'd take it. Screw that, with that percentage fee I was not about to do that. $3 or not. This defintely wasnt 'Company Policy'. I am certain if I called the higher ups they tell her she 'needed' to take it. But I wasnt about to do that. But she was just sitting on her behind all day. If I was in her shoes I wouldnt have minded counting $3 in pennies. Its not that hard. Luckily I found a $1 and managed to get home on that. But I was really shocked.
I did hear something though that like private businesses CAN refuse certain coins if they dont want them. But like state run organizations CANNOT refuse to take it.

[ed_vantage17]

The way I understand the law, anyone has to accept any form of legal tender for a debt (like if you pump the gas, then go pay you are indebted to the service station), but if you are paying for a product or service that you haven't yet taken possession of, then they can tell you to take a hike with your pounds of zinc.

I'm not 100% on this, but it's my understanding.

[HPMBTT]

Great thread. It made me laugh, as I hadn't read it before.

I dumped 20 low-grade Eisenhowers at the gas station a few days ago. Does that count?

Yesterday, $25 at the grocery store ($20 FRN's, $5 avg Eisenhowers). But wait! Then I whipped out another ten avg Eisenhowers after the sale and asked the cashier if he would give me a tenner for them. He was cool with it and his eyes lit up when he saw them. Of course, he had to look at them to figure out what they were.

Three days ago at Safeway: The bill was only $8.00, but all I had was low-grade Eisenhowers and some halves and the self-service station wouldn't take large coins (hahaha..but I did try! honest!). So the manager came over and got wide-eyed when seeing them and said, "I'll buy those from you.' So he rings me up at his own station, then actually asks, "Are these rare or worth anything? " "Nope, but you can have them if you want them!" I replied. What clueless people will do. LOL.

One week ago - $20 in halves at gas station. I have two regular stations that I go to, so I try to dump coin on them regularly.
Two weeks ago - $10 in nickel rolls, $3 in penny rolls, $5 in dimes

I think I'm gonna have to up the ante and try dumping larger amounts. Maybe I can go for Hoard's record; that is quite a feat! Not sure if I can do it with a straight face or not.

[VWBEAMER]

I couldn't even get my bank to take $40 in zincs....UGH!

I closed the account the same day that they refused.

[CuNation1]

I would've loved to have seen the face of the clerk. That's just too hilarious. I got an odd look just handing 2 or 3 rolls of pennies once. $20 in halves a few times at grocery stores is all I've tested so far.

[Corsair]

I bought a money order at the Post Office with $725 in Presidential dollar coins. He just looked at me. I test him all the time with dimes and halves. He said, "Are you serious?" I said, "I am 100% serious." He said, "Do we look like a bank to you?" I said, "Well, aren't you guys a sponsor of the dollar coin program or something like that?" He tore off a piece of paper, handed it to me with a pen, and told me to write down my name and address so he could "get ahold of me if the banks come up with something different." He did not talk to me for the rest of the transaction.

[Gamecock]

I've made several purchases with halves this week. Everyone seemed to be excited to get them, and 1 cashier even said she was taking them home with her. I didn't bother to tell that if she wanted some, all she had to do was walk into a bank and ask for them.

[VWBEAMER]

On the legal tender thing, no one has to accept anything for anything. If i had gas and only would accept green apples for it, then that's my privilege.

US currency is only legal tender when dealing with the government. The Government has to accept it for taxes, fees, etc. And also you have to accept it from the Government for debts owed by the Government.

But if you have a product for sale, you are under no obligation to accept FRNs, pennies, nickels, silver dollars, etc for your goods. You can accept whatever you like, it's your property. if you have gas and need cold beer, then you have the right to only accept cold beer. if you have gas and only what FRNs, then you have the right to only accept FRNs.

[HoardCopperByTheTon]

I've made several purchases with halves this week. Everyone seemed to be excited to get them, and 1 cashier even said she was taking them home with her. I didn't bother to tell that if she wanted some, all she had to do was walk into a bank and ask for them.

Oh c'mon.. ya know it ain't that easy. I walk into banks all the time and ask for 'em.. they hardly ever have any.

[HoardCopperByTheTon]

I bought groceries with 15 rolls of dimes tonight.

[realfoot]

i have not used zincs to make purchases other than to make small change.i envolve my grandaughter with the copper sorting and in return she gets to roll the zincs and put them in her savings account.thats her cut for sorting and it gives us some quality time together.

[CU Baker]

About two week ago I had propane delivered. Put $400.00 Dollars in the tank just to get through spring. The gas man came in the house and I counted out $400 in halves. He said,well thats a first but money is money. I said so next time I will pay you in pennies. I don't care he said money is money. I can't wait

[Corsair]

Made another .999 nickel purchase from America's hat and needed to send another International Money Order. Visited the PO, got the same guy I had the last time. Told him what I needed, to where, how much. He typed a few numbers. "That'll be $604.25," he said. Well well, my lucky day. I just so happened to have a five dollar bill in my wallet and $600 Presidential dollar coins behind me. I grabbed them, took the five out of my wallet and said, "Here's six hundred and an extra five." Have you guys seen the video of Bill O'Reilly flipping out on YouTube? Well, my guy took a long, deep breath like old Bill-O, breathed out, and just look at them. He said, "You know, it would be really convenient if you took these by the bank first." "I'm sure it would," I said. He counted the rolls, counted them again, and gave me my change.

I stepped back to start addressing my envelope. I heard him yell, "Alice!" Alice came around. He said, "You have to take these by the bank and get cash for them. I can't put them in the vault unless they are cash." She said, "Next time, you tell him that we don't accept these." He said, "We have to accept them, they are legal tender." She said, "No. You tell him to take them by the bank first and get money." He said, with God as my witness, "Oh, you're so full of [shucks]."

I paid for the postage to Canada. I had to bite my bottom lip the whole time to keep from laughing. "It may not have been good business, but it pissed a lot of people off."

[HoardCopperByTheTon]

When I pay for postage at the PO with baby dollars they always seem to say.. "What are these? We don't like these." I tell them "It's karma."

[adagirl]

This thread is a prime example of why I love realcent.

HCBTT - "Vee are not a bank...No Gas for you"

[adagirl]

I couldn't even get my bank to take $40 in zincs....UGH!

I closed the account the same day that they refused.

good for you man!

[adagirl]

I don't if this counts, but I used 6 rolls ($150) in those presedential coins at the grocery store. Of course the teller freaked out, didn't know if they were real, she had to call the manager to see if they could take the coins, the people behind us picked up their food and went to another aisle. This thread has given me new ideas now for my zincs

[HD-Daddy]

My pickup bank gave me 200 in 2011 zinc's. I sold three boxes on feebay for decent money, but it was time consuming so i decided to drop off five boxes at my church. Also i know several threads have discussed Coinstar and there crazy fee, but if you use the E-certificate option then no fee. Logistics can be a pain as unfortunately we do not have any grocery stores near us that are on Coinstar but Lowes and Amazon and JC Pennies has worked out for us.

[Know Common Cents]

Between 5-7 years ago, I used to travel the Tri-State Tollway in and through Chicago pretty frequently. It's when they still had the toll baskets and one could toss coins in and the gate would raise. It's also when the cash tolls were the same as the electronic ones.

I knew how much was needed for each toll (most were 40 cents) and prepared ahead of time. Using and reusing envelopes, I'd fill them with zincs. Pull up to the toll booth and upend the envelope over the basket. Five seconds of the click, click, clicking of the machine counting them and I was ready to go. Got rid of thousands of zincs that way.

Also, in the even "older days'" I acquired a gazillion Canadian cents at 50% of face. Of course, the exchange rate was $1.50 Canadian for each US buck. (Boy, have things changed now.) I did the same trick using non-savable Canadian cents. Forty coins went in, but my cost was discounted by 50%.

Once in awhile I'd have one stick in the machine. These were the ones thick with crud or slightly bent. I carried a few spares in my cup holder as it sometimes took me tossing in an extra one to get the machine to recognize the amount had been paid.

You could accurately gather from this that I have nary a drop of love for the Illinois tollway system. That'll never change. Never.

[adagirl]

You could accurately gather from this that I have nary a drop of love for the Illinois tollway system. That'll never change. Never.

I did my internship in Dixon, IL and I have to say I do not miss the Illinois toll roads. What a great idea however to dump zincs in those dang toll machines. I don't think they were accepting zincs back then in 2004-2005. Blago was governor when I was there and Reagen had just passed away. I lived a couple of blocks from Reagen's boyhood home. Being in IL that year I discovered what they meant by "chill to the bone."

[gilpo]

You guys are nuts! I get dirty looks from the cashier when I hand over 10 dimes for a fountain drink. Can't imagine what would happen if I paid for my gas in zincs.

[adagirl]

You guys are nuts! I get dirty looks from the cashier when I hand over 10 dimes for a fountain drink. Can't imagine what would happen if I paid for my gas in zincs.

Dude give it a try and post your experience My wife hates doing it but she cooperates with me, and there is generally some funny story every time. I tried to use $100 of the golden dollars yesterday at Walmart and the cashier refused to take it. She made a funny face, stating "I don't know what that is," and I infered from it that she didn't believe it was real money. She told me I could "go over there" and they would cash them for me.

[rulesforrebels]

If you've ever worked retail or owned a retail establishment you woudln't think it was clever you would think it's a jerk move to do. First off your asking them to trust you that all your rolls really have 50 pennies, plus they have to count all the rolls, their safe may not be big enough to hold all those pennies. They now have to take a trip to the bank. Basically it sounds like your too timid to go dump your pennies at a bank yourself so your trying to pass it off on someone else.

You are a better guy by telling them upfront as personally I would just refuse to accept your pennies as opposed to your buddy who dumps them on them after. I would call the police on him if he didn't pay me in dollars.

The banks will take your pennies, that's what they are for. Retail stores are not meant to take that much change, someone has to count it, someoen has to run it to the bank, it takes up space, etc. There is no reason you can't return your own pennies to the bank, if your passing them off on others in large amounts your just too timid and scared to do it yourself.

I use my halves to buy morening coffee and small things like that where its only like 4 or 5 coins but for the most part just dump at the bank.

Also, I don't believe anyone is obligated to take pennies. Definately not a private business and though I don't have any articles to point to I believe I remember reading some news stories about how government will no longer take more than $10 at a time in pennies. People get pissed off about tax bills, tickets, fines, etc and try to go pay in pennies. I believe I heard this doesn't work anymore

[ed_vantage17]

There was a liquor store on the Univ. of Wisconsin campus back in the mid 90's that had a sign that read:

PENNIES - We don't take 'em, we don't give 'em.
Don't like it?
(Directions to the next closest liquor store).

Everything was rounded to the nearest nickle and I never really had a problem with it.