10 Cents - Type 1 - Food Stamp Scrip Safeway Stores

During the late 1930s, Safeway Stores participated in the USDA's experimental food stamp program, which required participating retailers to issue their own scrip denominations redeemable against orange stamp purchases. The Phoenix Division scrip was locally distributed rather than centrally printed for the national scheme, which accounts for the variation collectors now distinguish as Type 1 — a separate design or printing run predating or running parallel to a standardized version.

Food stamp scrip of this kind had an extremely short functional lifespan, typically weeks, before redemption or destruction. Survivors are almost entirely from uncirculated stocks rather than returned trade.