AAFES doesn’t run the commissary. I understand your point, but the commissary is run by the Defense Commissary Agency, not AAFES. Commissary employees are DOD civilians (Govt. employees). AAFES workers are not.

No they don’t… and yes, they can’t… because they don’t want to… because it is not the “US” that is responsible for slowing the black market down… it is people… people who do not benefit from it being slowed down.

“RITZ and SPAM don’t care, only the Korean TAX Revenue people care.”

Yes and no. Ritz and Spam certainly don’t care… but, the Korean tax man is not the only group who should care. Three hundred million American taxpayers who subsidize the shipping of Ritz and Spam should care that their money is buying ajuma a German car instead of buying GI Joe a better armored vehicle.

“Personal opinion only, RITZ and SPAM don’t care, only the Korean TAX Revenue people care.”

RITZ and SPAM are probably glad to see their products gain new consumers through the black market. We ESL teachers have long suspected that the reason the US government doesn’t crack down too hard is that the black market increases market share for imported US food and personal care products, which in turn, helps promote legitimately imported goods. I believe this to be true. When I first came to Korea, most of the imported foodstuffs and personal care items I bought were from the Red Door. Gradually, major department stores like Hyundai and Lotte began expanding their imported food offerings. As Haisan noted above, Saroga now carries foreign food legal for sale to the general public.