IRAQ: Pennies vs POG's
Arizona Coin Collector
In addition to the Military using POG's, the
United States Mint set finial rules to band
the export of Pennies (1-cent),
and Nickels (5-cent) back on 12/20/2006.
Source:
http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&ID=771
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FROM:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/12/iraq-pennies-vs.html
Los Angeles Times - Blog
BABYLON & BEYOND - OBSERVATIONS FROM IRAQ, IRAN,
ISREAL, THE ARAB WORLD AND BEYOND.
IRAQ: Pennies vs POG's
Every penny counts, and few know that better than
those of us working for a company that just filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. So I
gathered my pennies from the various drawers,
wallets, sofa crevices and suitcases in my office
and decided to use them to pick up a few
necessities at the PX, the store in the
International Zone that caters mainly to the
military but also carries items difficult to find
in the Iraqi markets that we frequent.
Imagine the disappointment to learn that pennies
aren't accepted there, or at any of the fast-food
outlets or other shops set up on military bases
across Iraq and the world. It turns out the
Department of Defense decided many years ago that
pennies are "too heavy and are not cost-effective
to ship," explained Chris Ward, who rapidly
responded to my e-mail asking why no pennies are
accepted at on-base shopping centers.
(PHOTO IMAGE LINK -- No Pennies)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/11/pennblog_2.jpg
Ward is a spokesman for the Army and Air Force
Exchange Service, better known as AAFES, which
oversees military retail outlets across the
world. The decision not to use pennies is not
restricted to Iraq, Ward noted. He said
Dallas-based AAFES, which grants concessions
for everything from Subway sandwich outlets to
exotic carpet stores, depends on the Department
of Defense to ship the coins needed to keep its
facilities running.
As an alternative, AAFES offers POGs, lightweight
round discs worth 5, 10, and 25 cents (no penny
POGs exist), and uses a "round-up, round-down"
policy for making change. If the last digit of
the total purchase ends in three, four, six or
seven, the total is rounded to the nearest
nickel. If the last digit ends in one, two,
eight or nine, the total is rounded to the
nearest dime.
What this means is that any time you make a
purchase and cannot come up with exact change,
you run the risk of ending up with a pocket
full of POGs, which are only good at military
outlets. The Pizza Hut in the Baghdad
International Zone will take them, but the
Pizza Hut in Manhattan won't.
(PHOTO IMAGE - POG's)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/11/pennyblog1_2.jpg
POGs were introduced in 2001 and draw their
name from a juice of passionfruit, orange,
and guava called POG, whose bottlecaps were
used in a game that became known as POGs.
According to AAFES, the discs, which can be
used in bases in the United States as well
as overseas, have been popular with troops.
Most years bring different POG series
featuring various images on the discs. There
are pictures of Black Hawk helicopters flying
through the sky, Humvees rumbling through
muddy water, soldiers on patrol in Iraq, and
Richard Nixon in his Navy cap. There are even
Elvis POGs.
Not everyone is happy with the POGs, as a
letter in the military's Stars and Stripes
newspaper in January indicated. The writer, an
Army captain deployed in Iraq, said troops
should have the choice of using coins or POGs,
and he complained that his change was being
rounded down too often. "The explanation I was
given was that AAFES rounds up just as much as
it does down, but that means nothing to the
guy who is always being rounded down," he wrote.
..