1 Cent - Food Stamp Scrip Twin Ports Grocery Co.

Twin Ports Grocery Co. operated in Superior, Wisconsin, the smaller of the two harbor cities straddling the Wisconsin-Minnesota state line — Duluth being the other. Scrip of this type was a private solution to the chronic small-change problem that plagued American retail commerce well into the mid-twentieth century, particularly in working-class industrial towns where cent-denomination transactions were constant but coin supply was unreliable. Grocery scrip specifically was sometimes issued against credit accounts, redeemable only at the issuing store — a quiet mechanism for customer retention as much as a monetary convenience.

The "Food Stamp" designation here almost certainly predates the federal food stamp program; it likely refers to a proprietary loyalty or ration-style coupon system rather than any government program.