U.S. Army Pogs website.

Here's a link; www.aafespogs.com .They are listed in the Pick catalogue as banknotes,even though they are substitutes for coins.There has been 7 issues listed so far.

Aidan.

 

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Cool Adian...but how does the system work? I remember when I was in and we had "Chit's" little paper cupons to use at the PX. These look like poker chips...are there any higher denom's such as $20-50-100?

Cool site,,,thanks

RickieB

 

Rickie,they are actually the present-day equivilant of the U.S. Military Payment Certificates.In other words,these are for use only by soldiers on a military base in a theatre of war.

Aidan.

 

The AAFES pogs are small change tokens. The AAFES-run post exchanges in Iraq and Afghanistan take US dollars. The Department of Defense realized that it would be cheaper to use these tokens as small change than it would be to ship hundreds of thousands of dollars in US coins overseas. These are lighter and take up less space on transports.

There are not dollar denominated tokens because they use greenbacks and there is not a need for higher denominations.

They are redeemable at AAFES facilities in the United States not just in theater.

Some have questioned whether they should be isted in the Pick paper money catalogs because they are not paper but are made of polystyrene and probably belong more in a token catalog than a paper money catalog.

 

SanMiguel,this will be right up your street.

Aidan.

 

lettow pretty much has it covered. they take the place of coins and are meant to save money in shipping costs since they're so light. it's the same reason military bases overseas have stopped using the penny, coins are heavy and burn plenty of fuel. without pennies, prices are just rounded up or down accordingly.

pogs come in 5, 10, and 25 cent denominations, and are inscribed with "AAFES Gift Certificate" on the reverse. with that being said, i don't think they really belong in the official paper money catalog. while a lot of them have pretty interesting designs...a lot of people out here really don't like using them. they either accumulate and get cashed in before going home, or they get spent as soon as possible.

one thing that gets on my nerves: i usually fold up my cap and stick it in my pocket whenever i enter a building. when i leave, i flip out the cap, slap it on my hand to reshape it, and place it on my head. then i go on about my business. meanwhile, a pocketful of pogs are lying on the ground from when i took my hat out...

the payment of choice out here is "eagle cash", sort've like a pre-paid credit card. your bank account is linked to your eagle cash card, and you can transfer money back and forth from your card/bank as often as you need to at special kiosks. mine broke a long time ago, so i just stick to my debit card.

 

I find that very interesting. During and after the post-WW II Japanese and German occupation periods the US was absolutely paranoid about keeping greenbacks out of the hands of the "locals", and unsuccessfully prohibited exchanging them for local currency. The black market exchange rates were quite a bit higher than the official rate you could get at the finance office or a US bank facility, so it became very common for GIs to send money home, have their families send it back in greenback form, and then exchange it outside the gate of the military post. MPCs were also exchanged, but at a rate higher than the official one, and less than the one for greenbacks. This also occurred in Korea during the "police action"

Periodic unannounced recalls of MPC and issuance of a new series caught many people with fistsfull of worthless paper.

 

sometimes we'd get together and play poker with them, they're perfect for it

 

I wonder if Pogs are still banned from most North American elementary schools?
That was a pretty big thing back in 1990 or so.

 

Dopeuser,these are the U.S. Army canteen tokens.

SanMiguel,the reason why these are listed in Pick is because they have semi-official status,but U.S. Government backing.Some of the British N.A.A.F.I.tokens,which were made of laminated paper are listed in Pick as well.In this sense,they're more like banknotes than coins.

Aidan.

 

An interesting and oft repeated story but it couldn't have happened too often. They only issued a new series about twelve times in almost thirty years. Most series were in use for well over two years so most people in theater would serve their entire tour without ever seeing an MPC exchange day.

 

It was not the GIs who were caught with fistfuls of useless cash but the locals who accepted it. The soldiers were able to convert to the new series but the locals could not.

 

I have a couple of the tokens.......from the 9th printing.....

 

Average or not, I went through one in Korea in the summer of 1954 and another one in Japan in early 1955. That's the time I was one of the great minority of servicemen out on the town in Tokyo, because they cancelled the old MPC, but didn't issue the new currency until the next morning. I had already exchanged some MPC for yen before the changeover, so I had money to spend in town that evening. Without any valid MPC, the USO service clubs, NCO clubs, and - I assume - the O clubs as well, were all closed.

That's generally true, but a GI with more than a limit I don't recall had to establish where it came from. I knew more than one who was denied exchange of part of his stash when he couldn't prove that he hadn't bought up paper from the locals.

 

Jerome,can you please post some photos of these pieces?

Aidan.

 

I could see the Korea change over from Series 481 to Series 521, change over done on May 25th 1954, but they changed over to that same series in Japan then too and the next C-Day wasn't untl the introduction of Series 541 on May 27th 1958. Four years later. I supposed there might be a small chance that they didn't do the C-Day in Japan until later than in Korea, but it would have been a change over to the same series you were already using. And in that case you would have had to change your currency back to the older MPC's when you were transfered to Japan.

 

Has anyone reported the new issues for listing in Pick? If you haven't,you can report them,including photos by sending an email to George Cuhaj at george.cuhaj@fwpubs.com .

Aidan.

 

WOW !!! Since the last Posting concerning the POGS, The AAFESPOGS.com site has gone down... We are now at 15 different printings... 2011 was the last of the POGS released. 497 Different POGS ...
135 5c
180 10c
182 25c
Total 497 = Face Value $ 70.35

If you have some POGS and would like to send them to me, I will gladly give you 2X the face value... I am trying to put together 3 sets for my Daughters.. Once I have all 3 sets complete , I will donate all proceeds from the POGS to a Charitiy supporting our Peacekeepers.... Thanks for the Read ... Armysgti@yahoo.com for PM ...

Tracy
Ret Vet SFC Ibberson
US ARMY

 

The keeper of the aafespogs.com website pulled down all of his websites including www.papermoneyworld.net which housed the MPC database of over 38,000 pieces of MPC.

 

Since that posting was about 8 years ago, people tend to ignore it as a Zombie. You would be better off starting a new thread of your interests. Please read the rules on posting. Welcome Jim

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/coin-talk-rules.34131/