What Happens When You Pay With Half Dollars?

Interesting project!

It is always fun to pay with coins or notes that might be a little less than common.

When the Susan B. Anthony came out in 1979 I got fifty dollars of my pay in coins. I then hit the drive through at different fast food places. Most of the cashiers just thought I was trying to pay with a quarter, but the best reaction was at McDonald's. The very kind lady at the window said in a loud voice, "Sorry, but we don't take foreign money." I think she was spoke loudly because she thought I didn't speak English. I told her that I was paying with the new U.S."silver" dollar and then she looked at them again, grabbed her purse, substituted a few of her paper dollars for the till and kept the SBAs for herself.

And yes, before you ask, they were all near date SBAs from a federal mint roll. I hope she put them up and kept them, but I doubt that she did. I have two rolls left from '79, but the rolls I have are far date.

some years ago...when the Presidential - gold (colored) coins were being minted...

i went to a favorite restaurant on saint patrick's day .

our bill was around $65. we paid entirely in "gold one dollar coins - and the tip of course.

the servers - photographed the pile of coins...

it seemed like a fun idea - at the time...

Some time back I get a pile of those from the bank for spending for fun. Actually every place I used one the people I gave them to asked if I had more. At a flea market a seller followed me for a while to see if I had more of them. One person in a store offered to buy as many as I had and for more than face. I never had anyone refuse them.
With those lousy baby sized dollars I almost got arrested trying to spend those.

Amy and I load up on gold before our trips to Disney World. Here's our "Hoard" from a few years ago. No one at Disney even bats an eye.

I have often used Ikes, Kennedy's, & $2 notes for restaurant tips. On those occasions when I can get them at face, circulated silver certificates also enter the mix.

With the halves & $2 bills (easy to get at the bank) I create a lot of goodwill at yard sales & flea markets. In fact, it's turned out to be a good technique to, when something's priced at like, $3, show a 2 for it, which is almost always accepted. Likewise holding out a Kennedy for an item for which a dollar is being asked. And there are various combinations of these scenarios that also work.

Now trying to spend any of the less than the regularly seen coins or bills at something like a convenience store is more likely to create an open suspicion that you're an alien from another planet than anything else.

I absolutely stay away from using SBA's. Nobody wants to take them, and they apparently think you're messing with them in offering them as payment.

I haven't done this in a while but I used to keep a stack of Pre$ and $ac dollars in my truck and use them to buy morning coffee at McD's on the way into work. I *may* have gotten a funny look once.

I can honestly say I've never deliberately paid for anything with half dollars, but I have received them in change. Any half dollars I get, I keep.