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Who cares about the lowly W10 coin? As of the market close on Monday, one U.S. dollar could buy 938 Won, meaning W10 is worth about one U.S. cent. Although some people argue that the W10 is insignificant and should be discontinued, it still comes in handy in many places. Consider the W10 restaurant and discount store promotions, and the convenience stores that charge W20 for a plastic bag. And don't forget the W10 coin as ball marker on the golf greens. The W10 coin still plays a useful role in our daily lives.
¡ß 180,000 Coins on Golf Courses
Jang Seong-bin (40), an executive at Visa, recently discovered about 40 W10 coins while cleaning out his golf bag. The coin is widely used among golfers in Korea as a makeshift ball marker. "The W10 coin is the perfect marker because it's cheap enough to lose but heavy enough to stay put on the grass," Jang said. An executive from a Gyeonggi province golf club estimated that around 184,000 W10 are used every day at 230 golf clubs across the nation. He based that figure on the assumption that each caddy carries about 10 W10 coins, and each club hosts about 80 teams per day.
¡ß W10 Wins Customers
"W10 marketing" is a popular trend, playing on the notion of the coin's insignificant value. At a barbecue restaurant in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi province, the W10 coin stars in its own promotional event. When a customer orders a bottle of Soju, or Korean liquor, a W10 coin is placed on a bottle. This bottle and several more are covered -- if the customer chooses the one with the coin, he wins the bottle or some appetizers for free.
Last Tuesday, Emart, a large retailer in Yongsan Station, Seoul, offered a number of goods at discount prices that ended in W90, such as W990 fruits drinks and W590 spring water. During the promotion, seven customers out of 10 had receipts that ended with W10. The store used about 4,000 W10 coins per day, or around 120,000 per month.
The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in North Jeolla province wooed customers by using W10 coins late last year. It sent its regular customers a New Year card with seven W10 coins issued in 2007 and one W10 coin from a previous year. "Because the gold color of the W10 coin represents lots of money, by sending them the coins we were wishing them prosperity," an official from the cooperative said.
The increasingly popular W990 discount stores also use extensive amounts of W10 coins. A clerk from a Seoul bank said keeping enough W10 coins on hand is one of her most difficult tasks. She makes a regular visit to the Bank of Korea every fortnight to stock up on the coins but sometimes returns empty-handed.
¡ß Cyberspace Is No Exception
Of course you can't exchange a W10 coin over the Internet, but the coins still play a role online. Music sharing website Jukeon had a hit promotion last year with an event called "W10 Music". The retailer allowed 10,000 shoppers to download 1,000 songs per month for W10,000, or 33 tracks per day.
"The W10 coin is used so frequently right now that we can't discontinue it. But just like the W1 and W5 coins, I expect it will eventually disappear," a representative from the Mint department of the Bank of Korea said.
In fact, W10 coins are in such wide circulation that each Korean has on average about 150 coins. Because it is so integral to the economy, the bank still issues the coins despite the fact that it costs W20 to press each W10 coin -- twice its nominal value. W1 and W5 coins were discontinued in 1992 and have completely disappeared from the market today.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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