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The Rainbow Vegetarian Café in Cambridge, England, has announced that it will not accept the new £5 polymer notes, introduced by the Bank of England in September. Last week the British vegan community discovered that the notes contain trace amounts of beef tallow, which is animal fat, and are therefore unacceptable by their cruelty-free standards. A heated online controversy has resulted, including a petition asking the Bank to remove tallow from the polymer.
The Rainbow Café's owner, Sharon Meijland, told The Telegraph that her stance was announced last Wednesday, at the end of a BBC radio interview on the unrelated topic of Christmas food.
"We sponsor the Vegan Fair and announced on Wednesday we would not be accepting the £5 notes because they are dubious ethically. We have been providing food for vegans for 30 years and have tried to be as ethical as we possibly can...This is not just a restaurant, it's a restaurant where tiny details like this are really important."
Is any of our money cruelty-free?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:00PM
Not sure about GB, but in the USA you can't refuse any denomination of cash unless you don't accept cash at all.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:03PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:09PM
But you can refuse to do business at all at seller's will.
Where i live you can refuse to take bigger bills (i think the limit is 50€, you can refuse to take that and bigger bills) and 1 and 2 cent coins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:28PM
Not quite right. You can't refuse cash for a debt, but in cases where payment comes before product or service you can refuse any cash you wish. You can also notify that cash is not accepted before the debt is incurred (a sign, verbal, etc).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:35PM
But as always, IANAL
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @04:41PM
> in the USA you can't refuse any denomination of cash unless you don't accept cash at all.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12772.htm [federalreserve.gov]
Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?
Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," states: "United States coins and currency [including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks] are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."
This statute means that all United States money as identified above is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law which says otherwise.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @05:17PM
That's not what I meant. I was told (around 1985) that you can't refuse to take large bills ($100 for example) even if you don't have change, you were supposed to go get change for large bills on the spot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @07:41PM
Well, you're still wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @07:34PM
Completely untrue! The law is about DEBTS, not doing business with someone. Most business won't accept bills over a certain denomination, and that is perfectly legal.