1 Cent - Vons Market Los Angeles, California

Vons Market issued a series of small-denomination paper scrip during the mid-1970s as a practical workaround for the chronic coin shortage affecting California retailers at the time. These fractional cent notes circulated within individual store locations as change, reducing dependence on copper coinage during a period when coin hoarding and rising metal values made exact-change transactions genuinely cumbersome for high-volume grocery checkout.

Digital Printing Systems of San Gabriel handled production — a small commercial outfit typical of regional scrip contracts, not a security printer. Authentication features are minimal, which was acceptable given the denomination and strictly local circulation intended.