Stores in NYC only taking Euros

[dalebert]

I'm afraid I don't know much about this yet. I just saw it on the news. Apparently some specialty stores in NYC are only accepting Euros due to the rapid decline of the dollar.

[Pat K]

From NBC.com

As Dollar Stays Weak, NYC Businesses Begin Accepting Euros

POSTED: 10:09 am EST February 7, 2008
UPDATED: 10:17 am EST February 7, 2008


NEW YORK -- Some New York City businesses have begun accepting euros as payment for merchandise, as the dollar remains weak agaist the European currency.

Signs reading "euros accepted" are now being posted in store windows around the city, including liquor stores in the East Village and clothing stores in Midtown.

The dollar, once the king of currency, has declined sharply in recent months. On Thursday morning in New York, the euro was at $1.4574 to the dollar.

[inertia]

I've read stories that some stores in NYC are *accepting* Euros ... e.g ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080206/us_nm/newyork_euros_dc

... but I haven't seen a story that talks about only taking Euros exclusively.  Got a link?

[error]

And where can I get these mysterious Euros?

[kola]

need Euros?

show me RealID please.

tyvm.

it's coming,
Kola

[dalebert]

... but I haven't seen a story that talks about only taking Euros exclusively.  Got a link?

I said I saw it on the news, but that's what they said.

[David]

I've read stories that some stores in NYC are *accepting* Euros ... e.g ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080206/us_nm/newyork_euros_dc

... but I haven't seen a story that talks about only taking Euros exclusively.  Got a link?

They can try, but it wouldn't work very long.  "Legal tender for all debts public and private" means that a retailer cannot turn down a payment payment in usa currency unless he is willing to foreit the debt.   

[John Edward Mercier]

You can purchase Euros from any international bank... and your local bank may provide the service for a fee. Some business in NH have taken Can$ for decades, so I would guess that NYC specialty stores are beginning to see more European clientele.

[erisian]

  "Legal tender for all debts public and private" means that a retailer cannot turn down a payment payment in usa currency unless he is willing to foreit the debt.   

Not necessarily. A merchant is not required to accept FRN's or any other form of currency, provided that this condition is known to the purchaser prior to the purchase. For example, we've all seen "no bills larger than $xx accepted" signs at gas stations. These are perfectly legal, and the seller has every right to refuse to accept large bills.

Legal Tender payment is the default. If no specific form-of-payment terms were in place prior to the transaction, only then does the creditor forfeit the debt by refusing to accept Legal Tender payment. This also works with change. If you attempt to pay someone with whom you had no prior form-of-payment agreement with a bag of pennies or loose change, and they refuse to accept it, then you no longer owe them anything. The federal law which limited this sort of thing was changed some time ago, and all US coinage is now Legal Tender in any amount.

I researched this a few years ago for a bank that was pissing me off. I deliberately left an account with a negative balance. They eventually took me to small claims court and got a court-ordered payment. I took a 35lb bag of carefully and fully assorted change to the bank at 5 minutes before closing time on Friday, and dumped it on a table, then turned around and walked out. Some of it stayed on the table, but it turns out that dumped change doesn't stack too well. If I had given them the chance, they would have refused to accept it. But frankly, I didn't want to have to pick it up or roll it back up, and I would have ended up back in court fighting about it. The disturbance that the dumping created was worth the cost.

But being able to say that you attempted to pay a creditor with United States Legal Tender coinage and that payment was refused is a positive defense. You would probably only get away with it once per creditor. If there were recurring payments, the court could order the form of the payment to exclude your paying with change.