MACKEREL AS MONEY.

MACKEREL AS MONEY. I posted here about the use of cellphone minutes as money. Here is an article about the use of packages of mackerel as money. The mackerel meets a peculiar requirement of a prison currency: it is permitted by the guards (packs of cigarettes are now forbidden). A currency that is also a commodity (such as gold and silver have been from time to time) can present problems as a store of value. Mackerel does not present those problems. The price of mackerel is relatively stable. There is not a lot of mackerel consumption in prison. The mackerel also has some advantages as a unit of account because the price of a package of mackerel is about one dollar, making for easy calculations.