Cash and carry

While I was dropping stuff off at the safe deposit box this morning, the woman from the bank happened to mention that Rhode Island was the only state in which it was not illegal to keep cash in one's bank box. I don't know if this is true; I worked at a bank many years ago out in California, and I don't recall hearing about any such law -- but then, there have been many new laws passed since then directed at money laundering (few of which would seem, on the face of it, more silly and ineffectual).

This did set me thinking, though, about the increasing criminalization of cash; first, as part of the war on drugs, and now, ostensibly, as part of the war on terror. This is very much on my radar, for buyers of antiques and collectibles, whether collectors or dealers, often carry large amounts of cash or travelers checks when on buying trips. For local events, personal checks will normally do, but it's another story when far from home, or at a major market where dealers from all over set up. This has never been a problem up until recently, even when traveling abroad (one may carry any amount of cash, checks, gift certificates, etc into or out of the USA, as long as sums of $10,000 or more are declared to Customs).

Yet a while back a dealer of my acquaintance was stopped, searched, and detained for carrying somewhat over $10,000 in cash on a domestic flight while on the way to a collecting event, and earlier this year I discovered this was no fluke when stopped and searched when flying from Boston to California. The security guards at the gate were going through my carryon and found a roll of hundreds. They asked how much it was, I told them, and they responded that it was OK, since it was under $10,000. That seemed more important to them than any explanation about why I was carrying it, which was not particularly reassuring. But what is truly disturbing is that presumably carrying over $10,000 would not have been OK, even though there is absolutely nothing illegal about carrying one's own money around. Nor are there any warnings posted at airports that large amounts of money are now being treated the same way as nailclippers, pocketknives, cellphones, and other everyday articles that are subject to special restrictions in the air.

Fortunately, I seldom have cause to carry much cash around any more. In large part this is due to eBay, which has taken most of the trading online that used to take place face-to-face. eBay has also changed the nature of face-to-face trading, in that far fewer participants at nonvirtual events are now active as both buyers and sellers For when one is either primarily buying or primarily selling, taking a (good) check is not the hardship it used to be, back when the typical seller would want money spendable on the spot towards his own purchases.

Posted by David on October 21, 2003 5:32 PM