obscure coin law let a shop refuse service

[davidc4430]

An obscure coin law let a shop refuse service to an Adelaide mum. Here are others you may not know

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-04/obscure-coin-laws-that-made-a-petrol-station-refuse-service/1...

[llbis-0]

That's a lot of coinage.

[chameleon54]

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@imastawka wrote:

Fair enough Chameleon.

I did google OTR and somehow came up with Exxon/Mobil.

Googling again gave me the same results as you this time.  

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While I was aware of the Shahin family and their interests in OTR, I have only found out a lot more about them lately as they are buying up land all around my leased properties. There is a lot of discussion about them locally but its all cloak and dagger stuff, so hard to pinpoint exactly what is going on.

They have built a flash house on one of the vineyard properties already purchased and are buying up all of the surrounding neighbours. This will give them a large country estate half an hours drive from the city and in pick, high rainfall country. The area has already seen investment by other leading S.A business people with the property magnate Con Polites neighbouring another of the leased farms.

It seems they buy vineyards as retreats. I suppose it allows them to have their own wines when entertaining guests and gives them a peaceful place to get away from it all. Half their luck I suppose if they have worked hard and got the cash.

[llbis-0]

The old Pitt-Street-Farmer tax ploy?   

A horse stud nearby in the future ?

Edited:  Drat, off-topic again.

[springyzone]

I don't believe it needs a rethink.

All the law is saying is that if a shop wishes to, it can refuse a payment made in small coins if it is over a certain amount.

It doesn't say they have to refuse, only that they can.

In actual fact, if you are polite about it and don't push your luck too far, you could probably pay off eg $10 or $20 in 50c pieces without undue upset in many places. But the shop may be doing you a favour, it is not an automatic right you have as a buyer.

As far as I am concerned, if a person in front of me at the supermarket pulled out a bag of mixed coins to totally pay for eg an $80 bill, I'd be perfectly happy for the check out operator to tell them no, to go to the bank and cash it into notes & come back.

It doesn't matter what you can buy with the money, what matters is the number of coins a person can reasonably be expected to count out, especially if they are under time restraints or have other customers waiting. In fact the law might be more necessary now as once a few small coins could buy a lot whereas if someone tries to pay in small coins now, the price is likely to be dearer & the time to count the coins longer.

The limits are there for a reason. I doubt they have to be invoked  very often as most people use common sense, but the law needs to be there so the merchant isn't at the mercy of anyone unreasonable.

[not_for_sale2025]

So in staying with the OP, who was being unreasonable - the person who wanted to pay with twenty 50 - cent coins or the service attendant? I know people who have done this because change is virtually all they have left to buy bread and milk at the end of the week. They don't do it because they are unreasonable, they do it because they are poor. I'm sure people pay with coins for a number of reasons. I sometimes do it to just to get rid of them. I suppose I would be unreasonable if it were at Woolworths and people were behind me at the checkout. But that is not the case in all situations.

[lyndal1838]

Many years ago when we were in retail small change used to be the bane of our lives....in the days of one and two cent pieces.

It had to be counted out and bagged up or put into rolls to take to the bank.

There was many a night when it took over an hour to balance the till and count the small change ready for the bank.

If it was not all bagged or rolled most banks charged the customer to do it for them.

[springyzone]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

So in staying with the OP, who was being unreasonable - the person who wanted to pay with twenty 50 - cent coins or the service attendant? I know people who have done this because change is virtually all they have left to buy bread and milk at the end of the week. They don't do it because they are unreasonable, they do it because they are poor. I'm sure people pay with coins for a number of reasons. I sometimes do it to just to get rid of them. I suppose I would be unreasonable if it were at Woolworths and people were behind me at the checkout. But that is not the case in all situations.

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I think you need to move away from labelling anyone here as 'unreasonable' as such, although the woman was obviously full of visions of her own rights and needs and didn't think of others.

She didn't know the law, she thought she had to be served under any circumstances but there are a few different scenarios where a shop does not have to sell.

The service attendant was citing a law that they are allowed to invoke. In other words, they didn't want 40x 50c coins. I don't know why, maybe there wasn't a big enough spot in the till for them, we don't know that there were no other customers around or due to come in etc

All we know for sure is they were within their rights to refuse that sale. This doesn't mean the woman could not buy anything. She could probably have bought a loaf of bread and bottle of milk, I daresay, and if the bill had been around the $5 mark the person would have accepted it.

I would imagine there are other shops that would be happy to get some change but I can tell you this much-that happiness starts to fade out a bit if it gets over 20 coins. Personally, I think expecting someone to have to count out 40 coins at once is a bit rude.

My advice to anyone with a stash of coins is to go into their bank. there's often a machine there, toss the coins in, it is auto counted, you get a receipt, you cash it in.

Or else, only use a few at a time, don't wear out your welcome.

[lyhargr_0]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

So in staying with the OP, who was being unreasonable - the person who wanted to pay with twenty 50 - cent coins or the service attendant? I know people who have done this because change is virtually all they have left to buy bread and milk at the end of the week. They don't do it because they are unreasonable, they do it because they are poor. I'm sure people pay with coins for a number of reasons. I sometimes do it to just to get rid of them. I suppose I would be unreasonable if it were at Woolworths and people were behind me at the checkout. But that is not the case in all situations.

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Totally agree, not everyone has heaps of $$$ laying around, especially people who are doing it tough. 

[bright.ton42]

Where have I been?

I've never heard of this law in my life, duh.

I just naturally assumed that all cash is acceptable.

Thinking about it, it's not a bad law.

Being stuck behind someone in a queue who starts counting  out all their small change to the cashier  is frustrating.  . 

I rarely   offer a lot of small change anyway but usually when I have the cashier says they are grateful for it, tho this would be in  small shops.   

The  thing that really irritates me are the 5 cent coins.  So small and hard to get hold of in the purse   (like the  2 cent coins)..   

 .     

[springyzone]

No one  (and no law) says that a person can't use coins.

All that the law is saying is that a retailer can, if they wish, put a limit on the maximum number of coins to accept at any one time.

That's sounds fair enough to me.

I don't move in wealthy circles, I know plenty of people who aren't flush with funds but in my experience, very few of them only have coins to rely on.

And even if they did, no one is saying they can't use those coins, just that when paying only in coins, they do it in moderation.