The right, in many jurisdictions, of a trader to refuse to do business with any person means that a would-be purchaser may not force a purchase merely by presenting legal tender, as legal tender only must be accepted for debts already incurred.
Under U.S. federal law, cash in U.S. dollars is a valid and legal offer of payment for antecedent debts when tendered to a creditor. By contrast, federal statutes do not require a seller to accept federal currency or coins as payment for goods or services simultaneously exchanged. Therefore, private businesses may formulate their own policies on whether to accept cash unless state law requires otherwise.[3][4]
I thought I knew this, but I looked it up just to be sure. If you think about it, it says right on the paper currency, "legal tender for all debts public and private". Now "I'm not so wise as the lawyer guys", but I would think that payment for a restaurant meal consumed on the premises would constitute a debt. I mean, you have already eaten the meal so, unless they demanded payment in advance, you now owe them a debt. This wouldn't hold true for a carry out meal because you have to pay for the meal before you carry it out.
Early in the pandemic, the Mackinac Bridge Authority announced that they would not be accepting currency for payment of bridge tolls. The thing is, the toll booths are all on the north end of the bridge. Anybody crossing from south to north would have already crossed the bridge before reaching the toll booth, which sounds like a debt to me. So what if a guy got there and said that he didn't have any cards or checks, so he could only pay with cash, would they make him turn around and go back where he came from? If so, he would now have crossed the bridge twice without paying the toll. If they tracked him down and tried to collect the toll later, that would certainly qualify as a debt which he could legally discharge with currency. I seem to remember that the "no cash" policy was rescinded a short time after it was announced, and maybe that's why.
Totally unrelated matter:
When I was in the Scouts, I always had a feeling that there was something strange about those guys, and now I know what it was.
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