Are $100 bills really transactional currency in much of the US? I carry a few traveling internationally but I'd never count on being able to use one at a US convenience store and I'm guessing there would be some friction even at a chain store.
I transitioned to mostly cash. 50's are the new 20, 100's are the new 50. I rarely have an issue with a $100 bill, but I don't pay for a $3 cup of coffee with it either.
It's an annoyance similar to the people who like to whine and apply surcharges to credit card transactions.
That's probably an exception. I'd never depend on being able to use a $100 bill in general. In Massachusetts, I've actually had to do some chasing down of $100 bills as trip reserve money. Not sure I could get anything larger than a $20 from a major bank's ATM. But I guess we're an impoverished state.
Well, yes. We'll risk the $100 bill vs. not being paid at all.
The point stands that, in my experience, $100 bills are an outlier in most of the US and will, at a minimum, invite additional scrutiny or simply be refused in many situations.
If you insist, they could take me to court for not paying the bill, at which time they'd have to accept USD for the debt.
So yes, they could refuse the $100 and then sue me, at which point they'd have to take it. So you'd get a big clap for technically "winning" this argument but in possibly the dumbest way possible.
In practice, the reason why 'legal tender for all debts' is relevant is because it pretty much forces to take my $100 or go through an expensive process to just end up with the same result.
Not sure about you but in my area it's only true in the sense that new ATMs can dispense more bill types. They can also now dispense $5 and $10, where previously they only dispensed $20 and $50. I haven't seen any machines that only dispensed $20/$100, or $50/$100 for instance. The implication that they're preparing for some hyperinflationary event is therefore totally unfounded.
I'm pretty freaked out that ATM limits around me have dropped and dropped what can be withdrawn.
I used to be able to withdraw at least $500, now in a single transaction I can only withdraw $200 max. Given that inflation has gone so far the opposite direction, it's wild to me to see such low low maximum withdrawals.