Company scrip

Scrip minted by Olga Coal Company, Coalwood, WV

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Company scrip is currency issued in certain industries to pay workers. Such scrip can only be exchanged by wage-earners in company stores owned by their employers and often charging inflated prices. In the UK, such systems have been formally outlawed under Truck Acts.

In the United States, mining and logging camps were typically created, owned and operated by a single company. These remote locations were cash poor and workers had very little choice but to purchase goods at a company store. With this economic monopoly, the employer could place enormous markups on goods, making workers completely dependent on the company, thus enforcing employee "loyalty".

The practice continues today. On September 4, 2008, the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice ruled that Wal-Mart de Mexico, the Mexican subsidiary of Wal-Mart, must cease paying its employees in vouchers redeemable only at Wal-Mart stores.^[1]

See also

• Truck system

References

1. ^ Shaulis, Joe (2008-09-05). "Mexico Supreme Court orders Wal-Mart to stop paying workers in store vouchers". Jurist. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/mexico-supreme-court-orders-wal-mart-to.php. Retrieved 2011-06-10.