Writes Greg:

Issue: ID check for purchase w/ $100 bill.
Location: Chester county, Penna.
Date: Wednesday August 8th, 2012

Today, a cashier in a clothing consignment shop asked me for my driver’s license when I tried to purchase a $16 pair of sunglasses using a current style (series 2006) U.S. $100 dollar bill [i.e., I had a current $100 FRN; not something out of the ordinary such as a series 1966 red seal U.S. Note].

The cashier said they have to record ones name/driver’s license info when some one makes a purchase with a $100 dollar bill. She said it was policy before she started working there and she was sorry.

I told her I don’t have a driver’s license (a true statement because I never renewed mine since the mid-1990s when the Commonwealth of Penna. ‘required’ an SSN for the Driver’s license).

So I took out a fifty but she said the policy also applies to purchases with $50 dollar bills. I had no smaller bills in my wallet.

The cashier then asked the manager for a waiver; but the manager said no, it was corporate policy.

I said I’d make a purchase at a food store and then return for the sunglasses. The cashier put them aside and wrapped them up in tissue paper for safe keeping. I do not fault the young lady cashier.

So I left w/o the sunglasses; changed the $100 bill elsewhere; came back with a $20 (FRN) bill and used that for the purchase.

No Driver’s license inspection required for a purchase w/ a $20 bill. At least not for now?

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.