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0 pointsnly12y ago0 comments

If I had 30 million British pennies it wouldn't be legal tender, because nobody is required to accept that volume by law. Does that mean my 30 million pennies aren't currency?

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jljljl12y ago

That is not what legal tender means. Legal tender means that the form of payment is a legally accepted option for extinguishing a debt.

If you owed someone a debt of 30,000 British pounds, you could repay that debt with the pennies, and they would have to accept it. So pennies are both a legal tender and a currency in that case.

JetSetWilly12y ago

You are incorrect: http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/leg...

Pennies are only legal tender for amounts not exceeding 20p

edit: Also, as the link makes clear, you don't have to accept them even below 20p. All that legal tender means is:

> that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender. It does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to take place in legal tender or only within the amount denominated by the legislation

jljljl12y ago

I did not realize there was a limitation on Pennies as legal tender. Good to know.

However, your second point agrees with what I was trying to say. The fact that a business does not accept change below a certain amount has nothing to do with whether a denomination is legal tender or not. Legal tender only has to do with cancelling out or paying debts.

From the child post: >>Yup, one of the common misconceptions about money. There's also no legal requirement to give change.

This also has nothing to do with whether a coin/denomination is legal tender or not.

nlyOP12y ago

Yup, one of the common misconceptions about money. There's also no legal requirement to give change.

DanBC12y ago

UK pennies are either bronze or copper plated steel. Bronze pennies are worth more than a penny, so paying someone with 30,000 pennies would give them some value of scrap metal. (If they were prepared to break any English law about destroying coin).

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jljljl12y ago

That is not what legal tender means. Legal tender means that the form of payment is a legally accepted option for extinguishing a debt.

If you owed someone a debt of 30,000 British pounds, you could repay that debt with the pennies, and they would have to accept it. So pennies are both a legal tender and a currency in that case.

JetSetWilly12y ago

You are incorrect: http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/leg...

Pennies are only legal tender for amounts not exceeding 20p

edit: Also, as the link makes clear, you don't have to accept them even below 20p. All that legal tender means is:

jljljl12y ago

I did not realize there was a limitation on Pennies as legal tender. Good to know.

From the child post: >>Yup, one of the common misconceptions about money. There's also no legal requirement to give change.

This also has nothing to do with whether a coin/denomination is legal tender or not.

nlyOP12y ago

Yup, one of the common misconceptions about money. There's also no legal requirement to give change.

DanBC12y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse