JEDDAH, 13 September 2005 — Some years ago at a Jeddah shopping center as part of a promotional contest for a new car displayed there, the manager announced to the crowd that whoever had a halala on him at that moment would win the car.

People emptied their pockets, checked the floor and desperately asked family and friends there, but no one could present the lone halala needed, not even the sweepers.

People around the world can give you many reasons why they don’t like to carry coins in their pockets or wallets, but here people’s aversion to coins is a cultural phenomenon. Perhaps nowhere else do these small round metal objects have such a lowly place in the eyes of the users, but are they really worthless and useless?

Some of the reasons for not carrying coins are common everywhere. “They are bulky in my pocket”; “I don’t like holding them in my hand because they’re dirty and make my hands smell”; or simply, “I just don’t like carrying them.”

Other reasons are more indicative of the coins being insignificant and not just cumbersome items. “What would I want them for? There is nothing I can buy with them?” said Mona. “Even the beggars don’t want them.”

At the grocery store when some change is returned, she would rather take a pack of gum or candy instead or give the change to her driver. “The only people I know who might carry quarters or half riyals are smokers because a pack of cigarettes costs SR5.50, so they know they can buy something with them but not with halalas,” said Sami. “When I was studying in the States, I would collect the change in a jar and then when it’s full take it to the bank to exchange it for paper money. Here I never thought of collecting the coins in the first place let alone taking a bunch to a bank where they would probably kick me out if I did,” he added.

Sami also pointed out that in the States, as in many other countries, there are vending machines everywhere selling all kinds of items that take coins, so you’re not stuck with the coins in your pocket for a long time.

The impression that coins are worthless here might be valid to an extent, but is that because the customers don’t like to deal with coins or the businessmen not pricing their merchandise in decimals?

“The culture and habits toward coins affect the purchasing market, items can only cost for example one or two riyals because the lowest denomination in people’s wallets is the riyal, so it is hard to do any decent pricing,” said Martin Fejk, marketing manager at Tetra Pak. He said if customers want to purchase one item, for example a carton of juice that costs SR1.30, people do not carry change with them and would rather pay either one or two riyals for the carton.

“This attitude has a very strong influence on pricing because if we’re selling a premium product of juice or that have additives, such as extra vitamins, the two riyals is justifiable, but if customers only want a drink to quench their thirst then they would prefer the one riyal juice. The majority of the customers would buy the one riyal juice,” said Fejk. Therefore, the producing company is limited in its pricing options, which also limits its variety of items to the disadvantage of the customer.

If the customer is buying many items, however, things get rounded up usually to the nearest quarter. “When I buy an item that costs SR5.95 for example, the grocer does not bother to return the five halalas; he probably doesn’t have a change of five halalas in his cash register, but I don’t ask for it either,” said Samira. “The change that I get is mostly half riyals and occasionally a quarter,” she added. This also is to the disadvantage of the customer.

“It affects the bottom line of the grocer — but mostly for the customer on a larger scale this small negligible change adds up to a big amount,” said Fejk.

Some have argued that if the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency introduced the half riyal as a paper currency people’s attitude would change and accept dealing with half riyals.

“I think companies would welcome that because it would allow them to differentiate in products and pricing,” said Fejk.

However, with low inflation economists do not expect such a move by SAMA anytime soon. “For us, as a packaging supplier we deal with high-volume pricing, but our customers have to calculate the price on small units and they are limited in the range of pricing which affects their product line variety,” said Fejk.

So, maybe it is time for us to start carrying those cumbersome coins and learn the habit of dealing with them just like we do abroad instead of continuing to ignore their value and losing a tidy sum and product options in the process. It really doesn’t make a lot of cents.