1 Cent - Food Stamp Scrip Thriftimart

Food stamp scrip of this kind emerged from the federal food stamp program's change-making problem. USDA regulations prohibited giving cash change for food stamp purchases, so participating retailers issued their own fractional scrip — redeemable in-store for food items — to bridge the gap. Thriftimart, a California-based supermarket chain operating primarily in the Los Angeles area, contracted Jeffries Banknote Company, a local security printer with a long history of producing transit tokens and fiscal documents for West Coast clients, to produce this 1-cent denomination.

The program authorizing retailer scrip was phased out in the early 1970s when the federal government introduced the half-dollar-denomination food stamp coupon to handle fractional transactions directly.