can a shop refuse your coins?

RedPlanet · 29-01-2009 10:25am #1

Was in Aldi and the guy in front of me was paying in coins.
His shopping came to €70 something and he was neatly stacking €1 coins in stacks of 10.
The lady at the til refused to take the coins, she said she had no room in her til.
I was very surprised, i thought coins were legal money and they couldn't refuse them.

Anybody know where the law stands?

Karoma · 29-01-2009 10:30am

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1998/en/act/pub/0038/sec0010.html#zza38y1998s10

"10.—(1) No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction."

Welease · 29-01-2009 10:30am

Limit of 50 coins

"According to the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998 of the Republic of Ireland which replaced the legal tender provisions that had been re-enacted in Irish legislation from previous British enactments, No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction."

calex71 · 29-01-2009 10:31am

i think they are in their right to refuse if its more than 50 coins. Open to correction on that.

To be fair to the guy with the coins its not as if he was counting penny's there though, so they should have gave him a break.

Lplated · 29-01-2009 10:37am

AFAIK coins are legal tender BUT because of the extra 'hassle' associated with accepting and dealing with them retailers, banks etc could lawfully charge a fee for dealing with coins. In the 90s banks used to charge 2% of coins lodged as a fee (not sure of current position).

I do recall hearing an argument that legal tender (notes and coins) do not have to be accepted by retailers at all - they could for example refuse to accept payment in any form except credit card - this would be essentially a term of the contract.

Legal tender would have to be accepted by the central bank, with no fee associated.

I see a post above has got the exact provision.... I'm too slow at the typing,,

Doctor DooM · 29-01-2009 1:18pm

Don't forget that a shop doesn't have to go through with any transaction at all they don't want to.

Certain shops refuse 500 euro notes for the security risk they represent using that gem.

Blue_Wolf · 29-01-2009 2:45pm

calex71 wrote: »

i think they are in their right to refuse if its more than 50 coins. Open to correction on that.

To be fair to the guy with the coins its not as if he was counting penny's there though, so they should have gave him a break.

The queues in Aldi are long enough as it is without having some chap counting out lots of coins. Yes I believe in emptying your pockets but go to the bank with your bag of 1 euro savings. They need it more and they distribute them out to retailers than. I used to be a manager of a Supervalu and you were only aloud a float of 100euro to start off. So when closing up at night you take out your money and leave 100euro there.
The starting off float always consists of:

1x 1c
1x 2c
1x 5c
1x 10c
1x 20c
1x 50c
1x 1euro

That is 78euro, throw in a 2euro coin and 4 fivers.
Some stores are a little more.

Basically if some chap hands you 70euro in coins, when you're doing your cashup you dont want to have to take out coins as you have to bag them to the exact measurment. We are all aware of that. This causes problems in the Banking. Best procedure is not to get into the situation where you need to cashup coins and just notes. That's why alot of stores refuse payment of alot of coins unless they are really stuck for coins over the weekend when the banks are closed.

RedPlanet · 29-01-2009 2:53pm

Your suggestion about bringing the coins to a bank is unrealistic.
Speaking for myself, I work all day, mon-fri. I never see an open bank.

The reality is, I get my coins from shops in the first place.
It seems logical to bring them back to the shop when i have enough to make a purchase.

Saint_Mel · 29-01-2009 3:17pm

Blue_Wolf wrote: »

The starting off float always consists of:

1x 1c
1x 2c
1x 5c
1x 10c
1x 20c
1x 50c
1x 1euro

That is 78euro, throw in a 2euro coin and 4 fivers.
Some stores are a little more.

I might be reading that wrong but :
1x 1c
1x 2c
1x 5c
1x 10c
1x 20c
1x 50c
1x 1euro

Is €1.88 ... not €78

the_syco · 29-01-2009 3:21pm

I remember once paying for the £1.10 bus fare many years ago in 1p's and 2p's

aoibhebree · 29-01-2009 3:25pm

Saint_Mel wrote: »

I might be reading that wrong but :
1x 1c
1x 2c
1x 5c
1x 10c
1x 20c
1x 50c
1x 1euro

Is €1.88 ... not €78

I think he means that in bags of coins! A bag of 1c =€1, 2c = €2, 5c = €5, 10c and 20c are in bags of €10 each, 50c and 1€ are in bags of €25 each. So €78 altogether!! Same where I used to work, and it was a bit of a nuisance when people brought in loads of coins, I never actually refused though. Suppose it depends on the shop policy though. I doubt it's illegal to refuse anyways.

Blue_Wolf · 29-01-2009 3:42pm

RedPlanet wrote: »

Your suggestion about bringing the coins to a bank is unrealistic.
Speaking for myself, I work all day, mon-fri. I never see an open bank.

The reality is, I get my coins from shops in the first place.
It seems logical to bring them back to the shop when i have enough to make a purchase.

Not unrealistic, but for those who work 9-5 mon-fri, go into a newsagents with the bags of 1euros and they will take it in especially coming upto the weekend. They can give you notes from the back office float which is 10x bigger than the float in the till. Also post office is open for a few hours on a saturday. (although they may insist that you lodge it into savings)

Blue_Wolf · 29-01-2009 3:47pm

aoibhebree wrote: »

I think he means that in bags of coins! A bag of 1c =€1, 2c = €2, 5c = €5, 10c and 20c are in bags of €10 each, 50c and 1€ are in bags of €25 each. So €78 altogether!! Same where I used to work, and it was a bit of a nuisance when people brought in loads of coins, I never actually refused though. Suppose it depends on the shop policy though. I doubt it's illegal to refuse anyways.

Refusing someone may not be illegal (not to sure) but it would be bad customer service/relations.

Sure some stores refuse to take 100,200 euro notes. I know 500euro is not legal tender as it was intended for bank use.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 29-01-2009 3:50pm

Karoma wrote: »

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1998/en/act/pub/0038/sec0010.html#zza38y1998s10

"10.—(1) No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction."

So split the shopping in two and make two trasnactions. There's a solution ot every problem.

Saint_Mel · 29-01-2009 4:25pm

aoibhebree wrote: »

I think he means that in bags of coins! A bag of 1c =€1, 2c = €2, 5c = €5, 10c and 20c are in bags of €10 each, 50c and 1€ are in bags of €25 each. So €78 altogether!!

Ahh, that clears it up (easy know I've never worked in a shop

)

wmpdd3 · 29-01-2009 7:54pm

Worked in a news agents while ago, had a few customers that used to pay in coins defiantly more than 50.

I never objected but of course, they counted it, I counted it and bagged it, que got longer and longer!

Customers behind that person soon sorted them out.

One person would either pay in loads of coins or ask for the change of a €20 in her change, go figure!

Corruptedmorals · 29-01-2009 8:26pm

People with coins are crafty. I had a customer pay €90 of a transaction in €1 and €2 coins, which had not been helpfully pre-counted. She just up-ended a plastic bag at my till.

I've accepted €500 notes before...never been told not to. €100's are common enough.

Blue_Wolf · 29-01-2009 8:40pm

I'd say 95% of places wont accept 500e notes, Fake 200e notes are doing there rounds at the moment so alot of places have signs up saying nothing more than 100e note

Peadar06 · 18-02-2009 11:49am

Blue_Wolf wrote: »

I'd say 95% of places wont accept 500e notes, Fake 200e notes are doing there rounds at the moment so alot of places have signs up saying nothing more than 100e note

I got a few €500 notes from a person last Friday. They are nice to hold, but they are useless as you can't go into a shop and buy the newspaper. Unless you go to a casino they might change it after the banks are closed for the weekend.

Peter

mdebets · 18-02-2009 1:24pm

Blue_Wolf wrote: »

Not unrealistic, but for those who work 9-5 mon-fri, go into a newsagents with the bags of 1euros and they will take it in especially coming upto the weekend. They can give you notes from the back office float which is 10x bigger than the float in the till. Also post office is open for a few hours on a saturday. (although they may insist that you lodge it into savings)

Or go into your local supermarket and use your coins at the self-srvice check-outs. That's what I always do.

mdebets · 18-02-2009 1:29pm

Legal tender doesn't play into this at all.
Legal tender needs only to be accepted for debts. In ashop you normally don't have a debt towards the shop when you pay. So shops are in their right to refuse any cash and let you only pay by credit card for example.
Restaurants on the other hand can not refuse cash, as you have already eaten and theirfore have a debt towards the restaurant.

rubadub · 18-02-2009 2:23pm

It is an utter fu*king disgrace that the central bank do not offer a free coin counting service. We are paying a fortune every year to mint or buy in new coins from abroad. All these coins are hoarded, and I can not blame people, the machines in shops are ridiculous, taking ~10% each time. These machines are just basic coin-op mechanical devices, people are lashing in €500 at a go and charged €50! while the cost of a go on a mechanical kids machine or photo machine is pittance.

In the 80s mcdonalds would give you free burgers if you brought in £5 in change, superquinn gave donuts.

The central bank is pissing money down the drain when all they need is a few machines costing a few grand instead of this extreme waste of money minting new coins. Not to mention the huge associated costs to the environment.

Banks should offer the same service too. Supermarkets could too, stick in €100 worth of coins and get a €100 voucher only usable in that shop. I am truely shocked there is no such service now, when there was in the 80's. Tesco brought in machines and it appeared like you did get vouchers, you did get them but I think they still took 8% of your money and then forced you to shop there with the rest! (but did offer cash, I presumed cashing would take a %, but vouchers would not.)

No doubt the supermarkets are in cahoots with these apparently third party machines, and cleaning up. Some supermarket could cop on and make a killing, I know loads of people with stashes of coins who refuse to pay the crazy % fees fleeced by these companies.

littleredspot · 18-02-2009 2:59pm

I don't think that there's anything wrong with some enterprising person making money off people who are just too lazy to sort their own coins. What I do find amazing is that people are willing to pay for it. I've been hoarding coins for years, and every few years I settle down for an evening, bag it, and drop into my bank. I actually find it quite relaxing:) also you get the excitement of seeing how much it'll be.:eek:

Coincidentally I spent last weekend in the company of a guy who works for a coin storage place in the UK. He reckoned sorting, storing and transporting coins on a large scale cost about 8% He also said that lots of the big retailers that ordered coins before christmas had since returned them and his warehouse had about 3 times more than usual.

Me and my mates used to go to the amusements for change and then bring it in to mcD's to get our free burgers:)

rubadub · 18-02-2009 3:40pm

littleredspot wrote: »

I don't think that there's anything wrong with some enterprising person making money off people who are just too lazy to sort their own coins.

Yes nothing wrong, just stupid that the supermarkets have not copped on to the possible goldmine and undercut them hugely. At the end of the day it is the taxpayer footing the bill for the central banks reminting and shipping in of coins, when I reckon a few grand on machines could potentially save millions.

littleredspot wrote: »

Me and my mates used to go to the amusements for change and then bring it in to mcD's to get our free burgers:)

Nice one!

rco2000 · 19-02-2009 12:15am

Would Aldi in Germany refuse the OP's stated qty of coins?:(

Money is money, they should be glad to get it regardless of the breakdown of payment. The customer is always right

Central Bank rules - Jaysus, they were never ones for applying rules - Ask Anglo Irish.:D

aidan_walsh · 19-02-2009 12:17am

The customer is always right

Except when he isn't.

rco2000 · 19-02-2009 12:20am

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Except when he isn't.

When was that?

Del2005 · 19-02-2009 9:58am

rubadub wrote: »

Yes nothing wrong, just stupid that the supermarkets have not copped on to the possible goldmine and undercut them hugely. At the end of the day it is the taxpayer footing the bill for the central banks reminting and shipping in of coins, when I reckon a few grand on machines could potentially save millions.

If people are too lazy to count their own money then why shouldn't they pay. I'd say that the supermarkets are taking a cut off the money from the machines and they don't have to maintain them or handle loads of coins. But if you are too lazy then a quick ebay search has coin counters for about $20.

I like littleredspot count my coins every couple of months and lodge them. It can take a few hours but it's worth it in the end when you have a big pile of money in front of you. Every bank and I'd say most shops have facilities for weighing money and if you go in with a pre counted coin bag(s) I doubt and shop would refuse the money once they don't have to count it themselves

We Irish are huge hoarders of coins, I remember reading somewhere that we have a high % of all the Euro coins in circulation for our size, so if more people started using laser or credit cards we wouldn't need so many coins.

can a shop refuse your coins?

Comments