Gum instead of coins for change? No thank you

WHILE ON Twitter a few weeks ago, I saw an account that caught my attention. Its tweets were all about an interesting campaign, about the refusal to accept a small packet of gum in place of proper change in coins from many if not most supermarkets, grocery stores, and even pharmacies in Saudi Arabia. This is interesting, because finally someone took the initiative to campaign for our right to receive change.
Usually, this only happens when you pay in cash. If the merchant owes you change in coins, rather than discounting the amount in the consumer’s favor, they round the amount to the nearest whole number in their favor. For example, if the amount due is SR 67.35, they will charge you SR 68 or give you a packet of gum instead of the change in coins. The main reason is, none of these merchants actually have small change in coins. The lowest they might carry is a 50 Halala coin. Now, I am neither an economist, nor a financial wiz, but surely common sense says that this is unfair to the consumer in this country?
Going back to this campaign, it was not just my curiosity that made me contact the person behind it. It was a matter that had always on my mind as a consumer, but like so many others, I thought there was nothing we could do about it. Some may say, that it is only small change, too small to make a fuss about, but one wonders if this is fair on the rest of us.
So, who is responsible for the phenomenon of replacing coins with a product, and who should be responsible for stopping it? Well, apparently it’s not as straightforward as we think.
The owner of the twitter account @alb3lh, is Mashail bint Hamoud Al-Shabeeb, a Saudi professional woman, who has a master’s degree in Critical and Creative Thinking from the University of Massachusetts and lives in Riyadh. She conceived the idea, and began the “My Change is Gum” campaign. We had quite an interesting conversation about her campaign, which aims to reduce the number of traders who exploit the scarcity of coins. She told me that what sparked her interest, is when she had learned that one company which produces the gum packets given by merchants in lieu of change, makes over 94 million riyals in profits annually. She realized that while the gum producers and business owners made profits from small change, it was the unprotected consumer who was paying an unfair price for this transaction. Some businesses say that they do not keep the small change they earned from rounding off the sales amount for themselves, but claim to collect it and give it to charities. Yet surely it is still the consumers’ prerogative to do what they want with their small change, or pick the charities of their choice?
The Saudi Arabian Monetary agency does produce currency in coins. However, merchants argued that banks don’t provide coins, and when banks were asked why, they claimed that there simply aren’t enough traders who want them. Thus it seems, there is a discrepancy between supply and demand, or maybe the matter has to be dealt with in a different way by the government. How so? Well, Al-Shabeeb explained that other objectives of her campaign are to convince the government to implement a law that prevents the replacement of the coin currency with a commodity, thereby reducing the greed of merchants and their exploitation of consumers.
Also, it is the campaign’s aim to spread knowledge about the importance of a coin as an economic power between groups in society. To promote a culture that has access to coins is a consumer’s right. Last but not least, to help create trade opportunities that depend on the coin. Al-Shabeeb had also contacted the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and they were very cooperative, she said. She was told that from now on, any consumer could issue a complaint against any shop that refuses to give small change in coins. We as consumers must keep demanding our small change, until banks start providing coins and merchants start using them.
Finally, I say kudos to Al-Shabeeb and her campaign, and in my view it is not petty at all.

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