Fact or Fiction? Idaho Walmarts Will No longer Accept Certain Bills

Holiday shopping season is in full swing and Walmart is one of the hottest destinations for gifts. However, news of a new policy has been making its rounds on the web that has Idaho shoppers worried that their form of payment may be declined at checkout. 

We remember running a poll a few years ago asking Boise area parents where they shop for toys in person after Toys R Us closed their location in Meridian. Our listeners gave shout outs to a handful of local small businesses like G. Willikers, Time Zone and ToyTown, but Walmart was the overall #1 destination by miles. 

Cash Is King? Maybe Not at Walmart

That’s why headlines like “Goodbye to these Bills: Walmart Announces That It Will Not Accept These Dollar Bills Starting in December” and “Here’s Why Walmart Will No Longer Accept These Dollar Bills at Checkout” grabbed our attention. While we don’t know anyone who still uses cash as their preferred form of payment, we do know that there are quite a few of you who were frustrated when Albertsons Stadium and the Ford Idaho Center went cashless. We had a feeling this would cause the same outrage. 

According to these articles, Walmart and several other retailers would start rejecting paper currency that was “mutilated.” These could be bills that accidentally went through the washer, faded over time or lost a corner while you were trying to pull it out of your wallet. The articles claim that the crackdown was being put in place to fight against counterfeit bills. 

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This seemed fishy to us. We can’t remember if it was math class or economics class, but remember a classroom discussion in high school about damaged cash. Generally, if more than half of the original bill is present and its denomination/serial number are clear, the bill is good enough to take into a bank and get it exchanged for one in better shape. 

We also noticed that these stories were coming from web addresses like “es.as.com” and “eladelantado.com,” that aren’t usually regarded as credible news sources. They also didn’t cite any particular part of Walmart’s “terms and conditions” policies to support the claim. 

Is There a New Policy?

Clearly, The U.S. Sun had the same gut feeling that we did. They reached out to Walmart directly for clarification on the policy. A spokesperson told them:

These stories are not accurate and there is no upcoming policy change.

That said, retailers do have a right to turn away damaged bills if they so choose. If you have some paper bills in bad shape you can visit the Bureau of Engraving & Printing website for details on how to get those bills replaced.