So It Turns Out that Your Cash May, in Fact, Be Nothing but Trash

First, a musical interlude.

I remember singing that song on Sugarloaf Mountain when I was a kid.  I have no other context to that memory, but there you go.

I’ve been under the deeply held misunderstanding that all commercial endeavors were required to take cash.  You know, money.  I’ve actually yelled at people who wouldn’t take my legal tender, in lieu of a credit card that inserts banks, merchant charges and interest rates into my desire to acquire.

Whoops.

Turns out that they were just kidding about that legal tender for all debts, public and private stuff:

[The Coinage Act of 1965] means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

I don’t drink much or buy overpriced headphones ever, so while I have noticed the airlines announced no-cash requirements, I’ve always thought that if the need to booze it up overcame me on a plane, I could force my will and logic and dollar bills on them.

Thank goodness I never decided to try.