Company scrip

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Company scrip is scrip (a substitute for government-issued legal tender or currency) issued by a company to pay its employees. It can only be exchanged in company stores owned by the employers.^[1][2][3] In the United Kingdom, such truck systems have long been formally outlawed under the Truck Acts. In the United States, payment in scrip became illegal in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act.^[4]

In the United States, mining and logging camps were typically created, owned and operated by a single company.^[5] These locations, some quite remote, were often cash poor;^[1][2][3] even in ones that were not, workers paid in scrip had little choice but to purchase goods at a company store, as exchange into currency, if even available, would exhaust some of the value via the exchange fee. With this economic monopoly, the employer could place large markups on goods, making workers dependent on the company, thus enforcing employee "loyalty".^[5][6] While scrip was not exclusive to the coal industry, an estimated 75 percent of all scrip used was by coal companies in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.^[7] Because of this, many derived nicknames for the type of currency originated in the Appalachian mining communities, such as "Flickers," "Clackers," and "Dugaloos."^[8]

Tokens were made out of a variety of metals, including brass, copper, zinc, and nickel.^[8] There were additionally "compressed fibre" coins produced during World War II in an effort to conserve metals for wartime production.^[8]