Free Money ??

[johnny_t]

Back in the old days, I remember that you could use stamps as legal tender. Does anyone know if that is still the case and what the rules are ?

Reason I ask is that my local Superdrug is doing 5% of First Class Stamps today. Can I just go down, buy £200 worth, then go and pay it into Natwest, or do I need to spend them all on crisps and bus tickets ?

 

[JohnD]

I don't think stamps were ever legal tender, only bank of england notes.

 

[Steve]

Back in the old days, I remember that you could use stamps as legal tender. Does anyone know if that is still the case and what the rules are ?

Reason I ask is that my local Superdrug is doing 5% of First Class Stamps today. Can I just go down, buy £200 worth, then go and pay it into Natwest, or do I need to spend them all on crisps and bus tickets ?

5% off? if you go to your local supermarket you can find better deals than that on groceries, we sometimes save 50% by buying loads of BOGOFs!

And dont go into my shop to spend the stamps - the stupid staff there would probably accept them as payment. Well, they let people pay with Russian and Indian coinage . . .

I once overheard someone ask this question at a post office:

"My local newsagent sells 1st class stamps at 35p each, is he allowed to?"

the reply was "no he is not allowed to add a mark up to stamps"

Wonder if the same applies to this 5% off offer. Then again, i recall a similar offer with phone cards a while ago.

 

[kendor]

When you use the term "legal tender" i presume you mean anyone would be obliged to take it in purchase of goods? funnily enough this isn't the case even with money or currency as it is up to the individual person or company as to whether they wish to persue a transaction, therefore it is reasonable to assume that anything can be used as legal tender if both parties are in agreement, after all that is what money is, a promise to the bearer to recompense them ie it is just another form of bartering.
As for stamps you are right certain outlets would allow you to purchase with them and it still goes on today as a form of sending money such as "send a cheque or the equivalent in stamps to...." and those old enough will remember green shield stamps with many outlets taking them as a substitute for money albeit at rip off rates to what you would have got equivalent in items from a green shield stamp outlet/warehouse/shop.

 

[Igorian]

5% off? if you go to your local supermarket you can find better deals than that on groceries, we sometimes save 50% by buying loads of BOGOFs!

But you would have trouble trying to post a letter with a tin of beans attached. A), they don't stick very well and B) they don't fit into the postbox.

 

[notb665]

When you use the term "legal tender" i presume you mean anyone would be obliged to take it in purchase of goods? funnily enough this isn't the case even with money or currency as it is up to the individual person or company as to whether they wish to persue a transaction, therefore it is reasonable to assume that anything can be used as legal tender if both parties are in agreement, after all that is what money is, a promise to the bearer to recompense them ie it is just another form of bartering.
As for stamps you are right certain outlets would allow you to purchase with them and it still goes on today as a form of sending money such as "send a cheque or the equivalent in stamps to...." and those old enough will remember green shield stamps with many outlets taking them as a substitute for money albeit at rip off rates to what you would have got equivalent in items from a green shield stamp outlet/warehouse/shop.

Very true Kendor.

You can't pay stamps into a bank though.

 

[johnny_t]

Is it true that people don't have to accept cash if they don't want to. Apparently (though I've never seen one) there is a 50 Pound Note, which is like a normal banknote but red and worth more, and my Uncle Brian tried to use one in a pub once. They wouldn't take it, due to some generic worry about forgeries rather than his specific note, and he made a right fuss and threatened to call the police if they didn't take it.

Still didn't get served though.....

 

[JohnD]

It's more accurate to say that people don't have to sell to you if they don't want to.

 

[petewood]

Is it true that people don't have to accept cash if they don't want to. Apparently (though I've never seen one) there is a 50 Pound Note, which is like a normal banknote but red and worth more,

I went to see a car once, agreed to buy and went back the next day with £2000 in £50 notes fresh from the bank. The owner of the car didn't want to take them for fear of forgeries but I finally managed to persuade him to phone my bank to check that I had only just withdrawn them (this was in the days when you could actually phone your local branch and get straight through to a real person ).

I just came back from holiday and I gave someone £200 to change into the local currency and when they came back over half of it was in notes of less than 50p in value! It was a wedge about 4" thick.

Back to the stamps, I'm pretty sure you can attach them to postal orders to bring them up to the correct value, so maybe you could make 5% profit that way?

 

[kendor]

Is it true that people don't have to accept cash if they don't want to. Apparently (though I've never seen one) there is a 50 Pound Note, which is like a normal banknote but red and worth more,

I went to see a car once, agreed to buy and went back the next day with £2000 in £50 notes fresh from the bank. The owner of the car didn't want to take them for fear of forgeries but I finally managed to persuade him to phone my bank to check that I had only just withdrawn them (this was in the days when you could actually phone your local branch and get straight through to a real person ).

I just came back from holiday and I gave someone £200 to change into the local currency and when they came back over half of it was in notes of less than 50p in value! It was a wedge about 4" thick.

Back to the stamps, I'm pretty sure you can attach them to postal orders to bring them up to the correct value, so maybe you could make 5% profit that way?

an interesting thought occured whilst reading your post, although the law doesn't force one to sell, if an agreement to sell has been established is there a precedence that states the verbal agreement binds the parties to complete the sale? I know that a verbal agreement is tantamount to sell in the case of housing (in scotland i beleive) but is this an amendment to existing law or is this a new statute?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Is it true that people don't have to accept cash if they don't want to. Apparently (though I've never seen one) there is a 50 Pound Note, which is like a normal banknote but red and worth more,

How can a £50 banknote be worth more than £50, except to a numismatist? A banknote is worth what it says on it. If it says £50, it's worth £50.

For ordinary notes anyway - anyone remember this:

I went to see a car once, agreed to buy and went back the next day with £2000 in £50 notes fresh from the bank. The owner of the car didn't want to take them for fear of forgeries but I finally managed to persuade him to phone my bank to check that I had only just withdrawn them (this was in the days when you could actually phone your local branch and get straight through to a real person ).

I once sold a car for cash.

Nothing wrong with the money.

Unlike the address he gave me, and the fact that he didn't register the car in his name, as I found out over the next few months as summonses for all manner of traffic offences started dropping through my letterbox...

Back to the stamps, I'm pretty sure you can attach them to postal orders to bring them up to the correct value, so maybe you could make 5% profit that way?

Possibly, if P.O.s didn't cost a fee to buy...

 

[notb665]

I made a bit of free money once. I had a "Home Movers" card (or whatever the name is) from Focus DIY which entitled you to 10% off anything in the store.

When I took a few bits back to the store for a refund as I didn't need them, the people just used to scan the receit and the price of the item came up, not what I paid for it. I only notice when I left the store. 'Twas only £10 or something.

I thought of buying thousands of pounds worth on my credit card, then returning it. But I didn't.

 

[sidecar_jon]

i was in Superdrug yesterday and the announcement said "limited to £70"... i think.

 

[Steve]

many stores wont take £50 notes for numerous reasons:

banking difficulties (store would rather bank a wad of notes, than a single note)
no space in cash drawer (only space for £5, £10, £20)
obvious forgery worries of such high value

And Ignorian, i was comparing the saving made from purchasing things with discounted stamps (if you could), to the savings possible in supermarkets using special offers and showing that theres no point using the discounted stamps to purchase things! just to clear up any confusion!

 

[kendor]

many stores wont take £50 notes for numerous reasons:

banking difficulties (store would rather bank a wad of notes, than a single note)
no space in cash drawer (only space for £5, £10, £20)
obvious forgery worries of such high value

and also the change would decimate the float in the cash register.