Man sending 52,662 pennies to protest rate increase

[snopes]

A man who's fed up with higher electric rates has come up with a way to show his displeasure while paying his bill.

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...nies07-ON.html

[Buckle Up]

Hancock says he's worked things out with a local bank to get the coins and with the post office to mail the money. It will cost about $50 extra for postage, but Hancock says that if he can cause Ameren a little inconvenience, it's worth it to him.

This is where my skepticism creeps in...exactly what does one have to do to "work things out" with the bank and post office to get and send the money? This makes it sound like he had to speak with the bank manager to make special arrangements, and get some special permission to mail it. Why can't anyone just get the change from a teller? And at the post office, they weigh the package and charge you appropriately. If it exceeds the weight limit, I doubt you would be able to "work things out" with the post office to mail it, unless you happen to work for the Department of Homeland Security.

[Elbe]

Originally Posted by Buckleupp

This is where my skepticism creeps in...exactly what does one have to do to "work things out" with the bank and post office to get and send the money? This makes it sound like he had to speak with the bank manager to make special arrangements, and get some special permission to mail it. Why can't anyone just get the change from a teller?

I'm guessing it's because banks probably don't have fifty-two thousand pennies on hand at any one time.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Buckleupp

This is where my skepticism creeps in...exactly what does one have to do to "work things out" with the bank and post office to get and send the money?

Possibly he wanted to be sure he could obtain the coins from the bank in an easily shippable form, and he wanted to verify in advance exactly how much postage it would cost him to mail 50,000+ pennies.

- snopes

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by snopes

Possibly he wanted to be sure he could obtain the coins from the bank in an easily shippable form,

This made me laugh. For some reason, it made me think of some guy mailing his 52,000 pennies in one at a time. Now that would be a great way to get back at quite a few people at the power company. The guy who has to open all of the envelopes, for one.

However, my skepticism comes from a completely different perspective. Clearly written at the top of my power bill in bold print are the words, "Pay by check or money order only. Cash not accepted." (Cass County Electric Cooperative) Are pennies considered a form of cash?

Yep. If I was the manager on duty in the accounting department of the power company that day, I'd send the payment back and shut the doofus's electricity off.

Doesn't the payment have to be a few months delinquent in order for the power to actually be shut off? I had a landlord who would always neglect to pay the power bill and they never actually shut off the power until it was 3 months late or some threshold like that.

[Skeptic]

Isn't there a maximum number of coins permitted in a transaction after which the recipeint can refuse them. I know in most European countries it is only a small number like 50.
This guy is a d***head.

I don't think there's such a law in the US. If I'm not mistaken this was discussed in a thread quite recently. I'll see if I can find it.

ETA:Yeah, here it is.

[TrekkerScout]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

Isn't there a maximum number of coins permitted in a transaction after which the recipeint can refuse them. I know in most European countries it is only a small number like 50.
This guy is a d***head.

The US does not have a maximum legal tender for coins. However, there is no law requiring that coins be taken as payment either. Anyone accepting any kind of payment can dictate to the one paying what kinds of payments are acceptable. If a business so chooses, it can even exclude any form of cash payment.

If I were the clerk receiving the package, I would refuse to log the coins as payment, send a letter to the man requesting that he pick up the unwanted package, and then attach a late fee to his account.

Originally Posted by Class Bravo

Doesn't the payment have to be a few months delinquent in order for the power to actually be shut off? I had a landlord who would always neglect to pay the power bill and they never actually shut off the power until it was 3 months late or some threshold like that.

It depends on the utility company's policy. However, all contracts I've entered into have had a 90 day shut-off policy for non-payment.