1 Cent - Safeway Stores, Incorporated Washington D.C.

Safeway issued these fractional paper coupons during the period when several U.S. states — including Washington — imposed odd-cent sales tax obligations that made exact-change transactions genuinely difficult at checkout. Rather than absorb the rounding loss or force customers to carry pennies, the company circulated its own paper scrip redeemable in-store. The arrangement was entirely legal under state provisions that tolerated private fractional currency for retail sales tax purposes.

Safeway was not alone in this practice, but as one of the largest grocery chains in the country at the time, it issued these in significant volume across multiple markets.