an ike dollar story...
steveben
Posts: 4,639 ✭✭✭✭✭
today, i parked in a hourly parking deck where you pay a parking booth attendant, at a gate, before you leave. i gave the attendant the parking time card as i was driving out, and she told me it would be $6 for the time spent.
i pulled three $1 bills from my wallet, and fished out two sba dollars and one clad ike dollar i had in my "coin tray." i got these coins from a collection that someone had assembled over the years, and decided to spend them because they were only worth face value (due to their condition).
i handed the bills and coins to the attendant. she puts the bills and the sba's in the drawer. next, she examines the ike dollar with a puzzled look on her face.
then, she says, "no."
"what?" i replied.
again, she says, "no. do you have another dollar?"
"that is a dollar," i said. "it's old, but it's a dollar."
she looks at it some more and says, "i don't think we can take these."
i said, "look, you can. trust me. it's legal tender."
she gives me another puzzled look and i continue, "i have lived here all my life, it's good. you're going to have no problem." i smiled.
"okay...", she said nervously as she finally pressed the button to raise the gate.
i thanked her and drove away.
it's interesting to me that the sba's did not bother her at all, but the ike did.
if you have an nice ike dollar, feel free to post a picture of it here. if you have some clad ones that are circulated, continue to circulate them. it's great fun confusing people!
Comments
Just because it's legal tender doesn't mean that someone is obligated to take it as payment on a debt. It is strange though that the SBA's were no problem for her but the ike was..
Collector, occasional seller
Lots of fun to leave them as a tip. Nobody remembers these now.
Wonder what she would of thought if you had given her a $2.00 bill in partial payment.
Ah, the legal tender thing.
If I can find the link, I will post it, but it concerns cashless restaurants in NYC, and the short version is, NO CASH period. If you have exact change, they will grudgingly accept it, and it is taken to the back, as there is NO CASH REGISTER in the place.
It is legal for a business to reject cash, and make you use credit card, debit card, IPHONE app, whatever.
Here is how they get around the ALL DEBT LEGAL TENDER "thing"
_**But wait, how is this even allowed? Doesn’t the dollar bill say it’s “legal tender for all debts, public and private”? The Federal Reserve’s website says that notwithstanding that language, there is no federal law compelling a business “to accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services.”
Asked why the $8.71 a customer owes for that Turmeric Sweet Potato Hummus Toast she just ordered is not considered a debt, the Federal Reserve offered a partial explanation, but it begins with the words “for purposes of illustration, and not for attribution to the Fed,” so we cannot share the rest. But a professor at the New York University School of Law who teaches contract and commercial law, Clayton Gillette, laid it out.
First of all, he said, you do not have a debt until after you receive a good or a service. What about at a sit-down restaurant, where you pay after you eat? “Assuming the restaurant lets you know up front that they don’t take cash, they’re offering to serve you a meal, but they are offering it on their terms,” Professor Gillette said. “If you consume the meal, you’ve accepted the terms of the contract.”**_
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/nyregion/no-cash-money-cashless-credit-debit-card.html
Last week I used a Kennedy half making exact change for a purchase. For some reason they felt the half dollar was a dollar.
For all practical purposes, the Ike Dollars never saw any real use outside of the casinos of the 1970's. Most young people have probably never seen one and suspect you are trying to scam them ... this is the age of the scam. Coin collectors should think twice before actually using them to try and pay for things.
I frequently use Ikes for tip money. I've never had a problem and most people seem to enjoy receiving them. If I ever encounter someone who is hesitant to accept them...that wouldn't be a problem. I'd figure it's their loss.
This is in my type set.
In the last few weeks, I’ve taken a few hundred circulated Ike’s to various banks where I have accounts. All but one bank readily took them with a smile and comment that people asked for them all of the time. The other bank told me that their senior teller had issued a directive to not take them. That discussion went on long enough for the branch manager to hear and she gave me $100 from her own pocket and plans to give the coins to her grandkids.
I have several in my 'accumulation' - that is, coins of no real collector value, but I keep them anyway. I never tried to pay with one or leave it as a tip...might do that just to maybe have a story to share... Cheers, RickO
This isn't mine. A forum member sent it to me to shoot several years ago. PCGS MS67.
Lance.
@lkeigwin nice photo!
Funny you should bring this up.
You know when you get the odd coin (and yes, today an Ike is an odd coin), you throw it into that "box" and move on? Well, after combining the couple of "boxes" to get rid all the cruft I have, it turns out I have around 100 Ikes. (All from circulation, all worth a dollar.)
I'm wondering what to do with them. I think it'd be pretty funny to go to a McDonald's and pay for the meal exclusively in Ike's to see the reaction, but I'd probably be arrested like that guy who tried to spend a $2 bill at Best Buy...
i remember reading about the best buy incident. try to spend a couple of them someplace and let us know your experience. i think if i had 100 of them, i would just deposit them in the bank.
i wonder if anyone besides individuals take them out of circulation...kinda like they take tattered bills out and burn them.
I have a set in my collection, I also have 35 or so (I think) in my piggy bank.
Man arrested for using $2 bills at Best Buy - clip from The Two Dollar Bill Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS3yjfefUD8
After the clip is over, you should find links to all sorts of other stories. At least I can't find any arrests for using an Ike...
Maybe I'll just deposit them with all my $2 bills...
So long as their in circulating condition, they should be put back into commerce since they're legal tender, but I'm not really sure what places like Brinks and banks do when they get a large quantity turned in. They are pretty much a useless coin. (Are they still used in slots, or are most game machines electronic these days?)
Hey, I'll take that deal!
I should make a video on all legal tender in the US and then pitch it to companies that it should be required viewing for all retail cashiers. But YouTube would probably demonetize the video...
Here's one-
The battle scars of all the good times