1 Cent - Food Stamp Scrip Applebaums' Food Markets

Applebaums' Food Markets was a Minneapolis-based supermarket chain that operated primarily across Minnesota and the Dakotas from the 1920s through the early 1980s. This scrip token was issued as part of a store-level redemption system — a common workaround among U.S. grocers during periods when the federal food stamp program issued coupons in fixed denominations that created awkward change situations at checkout. Rather than return cash change on food stamp transactions, participating retailers issued their own fractional scrip, redeemable only in-store for eligible food items.

The legality of such scrip was contested at the federal level through the 1970s, and USDA eventually moved to prohibit retailer-issued change tokens entirely.