This post submitted by shadow
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Ok, so when I arrived Korea I was well aware of the rationing IAW the SOFA, however, when I went into the Osan shoppette the other day, the cashier scanned my cared for 3 50ml bottles of vodka. You know, the little bottles you get on the airlines. This is the first time thats been done since they've instituted the "credit card" ration system over here. Anyway, I asked the cashier how many units that would reflect on my ration...she didn't know. So, will I be charged 3 units of alcohol for purchasing 3 50,l bottles of booze? WTF at least in Germany you could tell by the check marks on your card. When I went to the USFK site for ration control, it displayed the exact amout I spent in grocerys at the commissary, but the alcohol portion of the stie was not available; meaning that the site could not show the data. WTF... you give me a card with a magnetic stip on the back and you can't show me whats been purchased???? In Germany the could show you based on your paper product card. Granted, its not the best way to manage things, but when my info is being scanned into some AAFES owned computer and I can't see whats going on then theres a problem. Perhaps I should "turn" Korean over here and shop till my hearts content and pass through the korean cashiers................thats another story.

This post submitted by Adam Shutt -
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I went to my local helpful AAFES store on July 18th, in Germany, to get some men's swimwear. I can't find any so I ask the sales associate where it is. He informs me that they are all sold out. I was stunned, and asked him if he realized that it was the middle of July, in the middle of summer heat, and he could only tell me that "That stuff sold really fast, and that "They were stocking stuff for fall now". Unbelievable. Again AAFES does'nt have the forward thinking to stock more than can be bought out in a couple weeks. Thanks AAFES, I bent over and you got me again!

It doesn't stop, and never will. From S & S


SEOUL — Two South Korean AAFES employees were ordered to pay a total of more than $1.3 million in fines after being found guilty last month of a massive black-marketing scheme.

Yu Jung-yeol was sentenced June 7 to 24 months in prison and was ordered to pay more than 678 million won — about $750,000. Yu Gwang-ok was sentenced the same day to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years. He must pay the court more than 618 million won — about $683,000. Seoul District Court officials, who confirmed the sentences Wednesday, said both men worked for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Camp Market. They said the men are appealing the sentences. The case came to light in late March, when South Korean police announced they were investigating 18 people, including two Americans from the base and two South Korean AAFES workers. Police said the group moved about 25,000 cases of beer and about 633 tons of expired food products from the AAFES shelves into the off-base black market. Officials have said that one of the AAFES employees made more than $2 million on sales and evaded tariffs after he began selling food in 2004 and beer in 2005. The AAFES employees manipulated the inventory tracking system by falsifying documents to show the goods had been disposed of properly, officials have told Stars and Stripes. On Wednesday, Seoul court officials were unable to provide specifics as to the charges on which the AAFES employees were found guilty and would say only that they involved violations of South Korea’s waste disposal and customs laws. Korean National Police officials who’ve worked the case could not be reached Wednesday. AAFES officials were unable to comment Wednesday afternoon. - Surprise! :)

This post submitted by Jim -
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For all of us here in South Korea, the DTH decoder box is available for AAFES to dig into your pockets while you are here. I tried to purchase the DTH decoder here and was told the only way to obtain the service was to rent the DTH decoder (at that time for $25.00 a month but has recently dropped to $13.00 a month).

Well, let's see, the decoder cost $279.00 to buy and I could have purchased the decoder through AAFES but not here in Korea. I'm retired Air Force and a contractor and have been in Korea for 12 years. Now, the thing that really gets me is that the decoder is purchased by aafes customers every place except Korea and Japan. I finally got fed up with aafes answers, all the way up to the aafes IG and I found a different avenue to obtain a DTH decoder. It was so crazy, AAFES was saying it was AFN not allowing the sale, then it was USFK stopping sale, then it was ration control stopping the sales. I didn't know when it would stop.

Friends are a fantastic thing to have, especially when they can walk into a BX/PX in Europe and purchase 4 DTH decoder boxes at one time without any questions.. So, if you have friends and want a decoder, use those services...

[Read more...]

From: Give AAFES some competition

After a recent trip to the post exchange, I decided it was time to offer my ideas to the rest of the military community that uses PX services.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service has long touted the huge benefit that it provides to soldiers and family members. As one takes a closer look, the actual benefit is quite small.

We live in a capitalistic society. This translates into competition among providers of goods and services, which, in turn, causes prices to fall. This is the basis of our economy. This, however, does not exist in the AAFES world. There is no competition on post. All businesses are run by AAFES. If a new business wants to open on post (a daunting task, at best) it must agree to be run by AAFES. Prices, employees, goods, services — all AAFES. This does not bode well for the military consumer.

At a stateside assignment, this problem is easily resolved by traveling usually just a mile or two off post to the large variety of discount stores that offer prices much cheaper than any AAFES establishment. For those overseas, we are forced to use on-post facilities and pay prices far higher than your local Wal-Mart.

One can order online and save a lot, if he is able to find a supplier that will ship to an Army post office box. This process, however, is long and time-consuming.

The time has come [to bring some] competition to the AAFES monopoly. Only when other establishments not run by AAFES are allowed to operate on post will we enjoy the benefits of capitalism.

Hmm … I wonder if Wal-Mart will read this

Spc. Christopher M. Meyering

Vilseck, Germany

Employees allegedly part of operation that resold beer outside Camp Long
From S&S
SEOUL — One man is in custody and three more face charges in connection with a black-marketing operation that was being run out of an Army and Air Force Exchange Service store at Camp Long, near Wonju, South Korea, authorities said Wednesday.
The case was a result of a yearlong investigation and involved more than 21,000 cases of beer from AAFES, according to Kim Jong-mu, a Seoul-based South Korean customs officer who is the case’s senior investigator.
The duty-free beer was driven off base in a U.S. government vehicle and sold to middlemen, who in turn resold it on the South Korean market, he said.
The four suspects in the case were AAFES employees, he said.
AAFES-Pacific spokesman Master Sgt. Donovan K. Potter said, “all employees involved in this case have been terminated or are on enforced leave, pending disciplinary action.”
One suspect, Cheon Bong-Jung, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of violating South Korean customs law, Kim Jong-mu said. He added that another suspect, Kim Jong-hyuk, who was the store manager, is hospitalized and is expected to be arrested later this week upon his release.
The other two suspects, whose names were unavailable, have not been arrested and are thought to have played lesser roles of loading the beer onto the government vehicle, Kim Jong-mu said.
None of the four have been charged formally, he said, adding that South Korean police are planning to forward charges to the prosecutor’s office.
Customs officers also are seeking a middleman who left one of their fellow officers injured on Nov. 10, Kim said. The officer, Yang Cheon-ho, was dragged by the suspect’s car for about 100 yards as the suspect drove off to escape an attempt to arrest him, Kim said.
The officer remains hospitalized in Seoul with broken bones and head injuries.
U.S. Forces Korea spokesman David Oten said the investigation is ongoing and details could not be confirmed as of late Wednesday.
According to Kim, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command agents asked South Korean customs officials to help them in the joint investigation.
He said Army investigators last year became suspicious of illegal activity at the Camp Long store after determining the amount of beer being ordered for the store was excessive compared to other peninsula AAFES outlets.
The 21,300 cases of beer believed to have been smuggled over the past year was valued at 700 million won, or about $750,000. Kim said investigators believe the suspects have been involved in black marketing for many years.
The Camp Long smuggling was done by loading cases into a vehicle with USFK plates and driving the beer to a middleman waiting off base in an identical vehicle with South Korean license plates, Kim said. Then the plates were switched and the beer was delivered to liquor merchants in Seoul’s Namdaemun Market, he said.
AAFES in the past year has used a new computer software tracking system to help determine when excessive amounts of goods are being sold at its South Korea stores, an indication of possible black marketing.
Kim said the system is working effectively at stores on larger bases.
“Now we are hoping that their new software system tracking … would be applied to the smaller camps for a quick implementation,” he said. “That’s very helpful to prevent the black marketing still occurring at the smaller U.S. military bases.”

Amazing. And yet the military continues to harass young soldiers and civilians as if the black market economy is being supplied a case of beer at a time, walking out of the gate, or in the trunk of a POV. Why it takes years rather than weeks or months to detect anomalous sales and inventory patterns are beyond me. Both USFK and AAFES takes a hit on incidents like these.

This was user submitted, the man obviously feels strongly that AAFES does not support their customers needs. I could not agree more. On the other hand, I do not think that AAFES is in any position to be the moral police. Many of our soldiers who fight for freedom happen to enjoy porn and "violent" entertainment. As long as it is not illegal, AAFES should make it available to them. There is no requirement that I am aware of that states American soldiers must abide by any particular religious doctrine. They should be able to buy anything that is available to the average American citizen back home. While I sympathize with this poster's point of view, freedom can be a heavy responsibility, especially when it comes to being a parent. Besides AAFES can't even handle the mission of stocking relevant and quality mechandise, let alone filtering what is "good for us".

"...AAFES' priority should be to service members and their families before its priority should ever be to pornographers, the entertainment industry, or any other outside agency." I agree, if you also include religious and "moral" groups with "outside agencies". I think AAFES is immoral for ripping people off. AAFES-sucks.com opposes AAFES on secular and economic grounds. You are welcome to your opinion and the freedom to live as you choose, so long as it does not infringe others freedoms. Anyway, I welcome you posting here Mr. Rogers, though we may share differing viewpoints, we all want to fix AAFES.

-The Management




This post submitted by Spencer Rogers -

On Saturday, July 29th I noticed a problem: AAFES is not family-friendly. The tax-payer funded retail giant in charge of the Armed Forces' goods and services is littered with pornography, sex-infested literature, profanity-infested CDs, offensive video games, and adult-oriented movies.

I believe, that given the chance to correct these problems, AAFES will rise to the challenge and take the moral high ground. AAFES should choose military family values before profit. AAFES' priority should be to service members and their families before its priority should ever be to pornographers, the entertainment industry, or any other outside agency.