Is the impound yard a private business? Because private businesses can dictate what kind of money they accept.

Haha, wow. Kind of a dick move, but they kinda brought it on themselves. Great way to spend the day, unless you're behind that window. Sheesh.

"This may be a federal crime." See, kids, being nice to the police helps.

@FooSchnickens: Definitely a dick move, though why would you assume they brought it on themselves? More often than not, people get towed for perfectly legitimate reasons like pretending to be above the law or not reading prominent signs. After getting hooked on the show Parking Wars, I'd definitely say that most people bring towings upon themselves.

Well I mean its just a regular worker who doesn't want to count pennies for the rest of the week. And its a dude who had to walk 15ish miles home because he allowed his car to be towed. Just a bad situation turned slightly humorous.

Once again, nobody has to accept coins or bills. But it's I realize this is a prank, and it's funny watching a guy quoting Federal laws that don't exist.

On a completely different note, what I used to do with my pennies: Back before "open road tolling" the Illinois tollway machines was required by (State) law to accept pennies. The toll was $0.40 back then, so whenever we took road trips we'd make little sandwich baggies, each with around 41 or 42 pennies (usually a couple got stuck in the basket and you DON'T want to get out of your car at a cash box in Illinois, but that's another story...)

So for years, we used to dump 'em all on the State of Illinois. It was their punishment for charging us tolls years after the Illinois interstate system was paid off.

Funny for about 30 seconds, then I started wondering how much my time would be worth waiting there for almost an hour.

At least the cops were cool, hopefully no other "pressing" things for them to do at the time.

@Brine: I could be completely wrong, but I think most lots are contracted through the city. I don't know where that puts them legally, but the Treasury definitely agrees with you:

There is [...] no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills.

He's getting off cheap. Here in NYC, it's $150 just for a tow. Plus storage fees. And that doesn't count whatever the ticket might be.

@supercereal: There is a difference between the sale of goods/services and a debt.

The impound yard had his car and would not release the car without payment. So this guy had a debt. The business could not dictate how the debt is paid as long as he used legal tender, which he did.

If instead you go to a grocery store and wish to pay with pennies, they can refuse payment in payments if they wish because you do not have a debt with them, they can simply refuse to sell you their goods.

I'm guessing there's a sign in the window now that says "all payments must be made by credit card, debit card, or cash (no coins), or certified check." Or if they are going to allow coins in significant amounts, that they must be rolled.

@Brine: They can refuse to accept US currency at all, and only accept credit cards or such. But if they DO accept US currency, they must accept it all. At least according to those busybodies at Snopes:
[www.snopes.com]

If a debt is owed, cant the debtor (the person who owes the debt ie the kid) pay with whatever method of payment they want?

Got curious after watching this and did some Googlein'...thought I might share that Snopes has a pretty thorough article on paying in pennies, and what it means to be "legal tender." [www.snopes.com]

As has been established, the towing company was not doing anything illegal. Furthermore, I think it was pretty inconsiderate of these kids to tie up three officers' time with a silly prank like this, no matter how they feel about being towed (I'm sure it sucks).

I noticed the video nicely edited out the part where he actually paid them and where the police actually resolved the situation. He's also walking out with small bills in hand? A part of me hopes that the kid actually lost at his stupid game.

Still, that was a colossal waste of time, effort, and the "seven police officers."

@LordofthePing: Like bits of string? Not really, no. They can also refuse anything except cash if they wanted to.

These guys are my heroes of the day. I hate predatory towers; if there's any justice they all have places reserved in the Special Hell.

...I haven't been towed in four years and I'm still bitter.

If they accept any cash, they must accept paper and coins. Period. They can choose to accept all cash, or none.

@supercereal: Oh ok, I thought they could pay with beans and water droplets...

I think it's important for businesses to accept pennies as the legal tender they are. However, it's hard to have any sympathy for these simpering frat boys. They were being self-satisfied tools to the smallest cog in the bureaucracy that irked them. Better to do something to actually change the sweet deal these impound lots have with ticketing agencies.

At least he didn't try to use a drawing of a spider to pay for the tow charge?

I take my pennies to TD Bank. You can trade your coin in for exact amount cash and you don't even have to be a customer. This may only apply to locations that are formerly Commerce Bank, I'm not sure.

This garbage video shouldn't even be posted or celebrated. We don't know the details of the incident - whether it was predatory towing or his mistake.

And them throwing around "socialist" and "communist" completely out of context just makes it too over the top asinine.

@Ian: You have a citation for that? I think it's BS. And I've got a citation:

[www.snopes.com]

@tmlfan81: That's precisely what he should have used, actually.

@humphrmi: You, sir, are incorrect. You are correct in that a store that sells goods is not obligated to accept any denominations that they do not want to. This is a different situation. He had his car impounded and in order to get it back he had to pay a fine. That fine represents a debt. As we all know, all US currency is "legal tender good for all debts, public and private". Since he owed them money, they are required to accept his payment of legal tender.

Someone above me already said basically the same thing.

@Jeff_McAwes0me: You, sir, are incorrect. The US Treasury makes no mention of "public and private", only "all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." In fact, their FAQ goes on to say "However, there is no Federal statute which mandates that private businesses must accept cash as a form of payment. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. "

[www.moneyfactory.gov]

@supercereal: YOU, my good man, have never been to Chicago.

@jamesdenver: They really struck me as snotty college kids. But some of these tow yards are run by true lowlifes.

It isn't really a big deal for the towing company. I am sure the bank will take it and run it through a machine. Might be a minor pain for the bank, but shouldn't take too long.

@undefined: @TinaBringMeTheAx:
The article you linked says that businesses dont have to accept pennies if they dont want to. Readt the last paragraph

@spidra: Trying to change the sweet deal???????? Has it ever been done?

@TinaBringMeTheAx:

Your interpretation contradicts what that link says...

"However, even in cases where legal tender has been agreed to as a form of payment, private businesses are still free to specify which forms of legal tender they will accept."

@humphrmi: You sir, are retarded, because THE MONEY ITSELF says public & private. And no, they don't get to play games about what types of money they accept because either the transaction is not that they're selling him his car, it's that he owes so much money and the car is being held until he pays it (also known as a "debt").

@Jeff_McAwes0me: By your logic then, no business can require their employees to carry less than $1,000 in cash, as that is the largest public denomination used.

This is a debt owed with no contract. That means it may be satisfied by the debtor in legal tender. That means if he wants to pay all pennies, that is legal.

If there was a signed contract that stated pennies would not be accepted, he'd be screwed.

Clearly, he didn't WANT to get towed, so he wouldn't agree to any contract that wouldn't permit him to pay in pennies, ergo, what he did was legal.

If you are buying something and you are told BEFORE checking out that you have to pay in a certain method (eg: Not pennies), that's OK because there's no debt UNTIL you checkout.

The towing company "checked out" the moment they picked up his car.

@jamesdenver:
I agree. What a waste of one's 15 minutes of fame. Douchebags.

@shepd: Likewise, you could say that illegally parking was his form of agreement to their terms.

@shepd:

I should also mention I'm amazed the police actually bothered to show up. Where I am they will *NEVER* show up for a civil matter. I know, I've called them after I've done work for a customer that refused to pay and been told. Just one more reason I always support budget cuts against the police.

@supercereal: I don't. He wasn't paying with counterfeit currency, or a bad check, or a stolen credit card. He was attempting to pay a debt. Life is hard, buy a helmet.

@humphrmi: I think they still take pennies, but the toll is like 80 cents now.

@Megalomania: Yes, that's it, when someone proves you wrong, call them retarded.

@jamesdenver: I had ugly a$$ crack-whores, strippers, et al, pay me and my employees with money that you don't want to know where it was kept and I wasn't allowed to refuse it.

@aznjoker: There is no agreement here on form of payment. It's forced, so you can pay however you like.

@shepd: Not being paid for a job and holding someone's property until they pay are two different things. Honestly the cops should have arrested the cashier for conversion when she refused to release the car after the payment was offered.

@TinaBringMeTheAx: I think the pertinent law is at [www.treas.gov]

Any person, private business, or any organization can choose which forms of payment they desire, including which forms of legal tender they accept.

So in other words, they can accept nothing higher than a 20, which many retail establishments do to ward off the potential for counterfeit and robbery. In fact, they can refuse to accept anything other than 10 dollar bills if they want!

The coin-op and banking industries have already come up with a great way for business owners to mitigate the impact of customers protesting like this. It's called counting machines. This is the one we have at my work:

[happcontrols.com]

From my experience with it, it would probably blow through those 8,800 pennies in about ten minutes. Really easy way to defuse the situation and keep things running smoothly. The only catch is at $500/ea they're not cheap.

@supercereal:

Illegally parking was his agreement to the terms as written in the city's bylaws.

Does the city specify the form of payment? I doubt it. Most cities are so lame, they needed court cases to learn that there really is no such currency as "nickel", "dime" and "quarter" (which old parking meters would require). Happened in my town.

@aznjoker: But it also says that said policy must be made clear before entering into an agreement. If the tow ticket didn't specify that the $80 could not be paid in pennies, I don't see how they could refuse them.