Archived Not accepting payment

[Amaazingdude]

A guest tired to pay over $500 worth of stuff with pennies today. The cashier called the gstl over and she denied the purchase. He than asked to speak with the manager and the LOD came over and made the cashier count out the bag of pennies. Are we allowed to not accept payments like this?

 

[Nauzhror]

We're absolutely allowed to reject payment, for any reason. Stores can accept whatever form of payment they so wish to accept.

This'd never have went past the GSTL in our store. No LOD would have been called over, the guest would have been told that the GSTL was the manager and that'd have been the end of it, if they wanted to tell us we had to take their payment they'd have been escorted from the premises.

The most common scenario where pennies and such MUST be accepted is if paying for a meal after eating it.

If someone owes you a debt, you must accept any attempt to pay their debt with legal tender, but at the time a customer attempts to purchase something in a store they do not owe the store a debt so the store doesn't have to accept any form of legal tender they don't wish to take.

Even restaurants and rental businesses can technically refuse to accept pennies, but it must be made clear to the person incurring a debt that that is the case prior to the debts inception. If a restaurant does not inform you that they don't accept pennies as payment before you consume a meal they must accept any attempt to pay for it in pennies.

 

[tgtguy]

500 dollars in pennies is extreme. If someone had that many pennies they should had just taken them to the bank ...where they have machines that count them and then you get paper money or hell most grocery stores have the Coin Star Kiosk where you just put yourchange in it counts it...you take the ticket to the customer service area and get your paper money. I can understand someone using a few pennies...maybe even a couple dollars in pennies but 500 is just too extreme. I don't cashier or do Co but does Spot have a machine that counts coins like a bank does?

 

[eleuthreophile]

Where did you put all the pennies? I can't imagine they all fit in the drawer.

 

[StaticSun]

If I were the GSA on that shift, I would have refused the payment.

 

[Produce Queen]

That's 50,000 pennies. About 300 pounds. Seriously? You saw this yourself? How in the hell did the guest bring them in? A wheel barrel?

 

[redeye58]

CO does NOT have a coin counter.
The LOD shouldn't have allowed that because it took valuable payroll which probably ate up a significant portion of the sale's profit margin.
Were they rolled? Our store only accepts machine-rolled coin; home-rolled coin is opened & counted (Heaven forbid we come up a few cents short per roll).

 

[Retail Girl]

That's 50,000 pennies. About 300 pounds. Seriously? You saw this yourself? How in the hell did the guest bring them in? A wheel barrel?

Yep, I call shenanigans on this. That cashier would still be counting.

 

[Nauzhror]

Yeah, I assumed they exaggerated the amount, but still, we'd turn away an absurd amount of coinage.

 

[redeye58]

Considering pennies come in a 50-roll box ($25.00), you're talking the equivalent of 1000 boxes. You'd have them stacked all over the inside of CO.

 

[Retail Girl]

Considering pennies come in a 50-roll box ($25.00), you're talking the equivalent of 1000 boxes. You'd have them stacked all over the inside of CO.

Actually...at $500 dollars, $25 to a box is 20 boxes. But still enough that it would never fit inside the safe.

 

[redeye58]

Considering pennies come in a 50-roll box ($25.00), you're talking the equivalent of 1000 boxes. You'd have them stacked all over the inside of CO.

Actually...at $500 dollars, $25 to a box is 20 boxes. But still enough that it would never fit inside the safe.

Thanks for the correction. My brain is fried.

 

[Retail Girl]

CO does NOT have a coin counter.
The LOD shouldn't have allowed that because it took valuable payroll which probably ate up a significant portion of the sale's profit margin.
Were they rolled? Our store only accepts machine-rolled coin; home-rolled coin is opened & counted (Heaven forbid we come up a few cents short per roll).

When I worked in a grocery store, we had to count out hand rolled change...because at the time, people were known to roll up washers, stick a quarter on each side of the roll, and call it $10 worth of quarters. And by the time you opened that roll to use it later, they would be long gone.

 

[Barcode]

I would have rejected that payment too. I mean if its like quarters or something, SURE, but not freaking pennies....

 

[bullseyekindaguy]

I HATE people that pay in change.

I used to work in a a gas station, and we had a panhandler who could in every day and purchase a pack of Camel unfiltered and lottery tickets... Paying entirely in change.... Mainly pennies.

The only time I've had to a buy groceries with change (just a couple items), I went through a self-checkout machine. No way I was going to make a cashier count it.

 

[Amaazingdude]

That's 50,000 pennies. About 300 pounds. Seriously? You saw this yourself? How in the hell did the guest bring them in? A wheel barrel?

It was a bunch of teenagers.

 

[buliSBI]

I would have directed them to the nearest CoinStar or bank, and held their merchandise for the day.

Over 50,000 pennies is ridiculous especially when the coin till is not counted.

 

[Amaazingdude]

I would have directed them to the nearest CoinStar or bank, and held their merchandise for the day.

Over 50,000 pennies is ridiculous especially when the coin till is not counted.

The GSTL told everyone today that she got written up for not "vibeing" with the guest, and for denying the transaction. Crazy stuff....I feel like they went too far.

 

[thenutjob]

I would Vibe with the guest all the way to the bank down the way, but no way in hell would I take all that coin!!

 

[paidtosmile]

Along with a few other people, I'm calling this one out because that just sounds incredibly unrealistic. But since these ridiculous things do actually happen sometimes...

I would have denied it on the spot and walked him out if he continued to argue.

 

[PinkZinnia]

I will accept a max of 2 rolls of coins, and that policy is from another store I worked at years ago.. I also open the rolls of coins to make sure that its not filled with blanks..
$500 in rolled pennies is 1000 rolls. 50 rolls in a box of 25.00. So that would be 20 boxes of pennies.. Way to many for the safe.. They would be stuffed all over the place.. Lod would have a shit fit and ask why the hell anyone accepted them. The good side would be that we wouldn't have to order pennies for a month or so.. Bad part is, if each roll wasnt opened and verified we couldn't have put them back out on the registers.. Co does not have a coin counting machine for the purpose of recounting and rolling..
So I guess the other option would be to send it out to Garda.. I could just imagine the bitching and moaning that would be going on on that day...that would weigh about 275 pounds. How many bank bags would they have to be put into? I know I could probably lift about 40 lbs. so about 7 bags of pennies for the bank..that would be about 7100 pennies per bag.
I also think I would have to read cash office best practice to see if that is what I was supposed to be doing...I wonder if that is something even listed.. If I have time when I go back in, I will check it out..
Oh it would be so disastrous.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

It makes you wonder if the story is true?