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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lettow, post: 373220, member: 6986&quot;]The initial Food Stamp program in the United States began in the 1930s and served two purposes -- (1) relief for the poor, and (2) providing price supports for agricultural products by keeping surplus foods off the market.</p><p><br /></p><p>Participants in the program bought a book of Orange Stamps (they were actually called Food Orders but looked like postage stamps) which were in 25 cent denominations.&nbsp; These could be used to purchase any food products.&nbsp; They also received a book of Blue Stamps at no cost.&nbsp; The Blue Stamps were also in 25 cent denominations.&nbsp; Blue stamps could only be used to purchase certain food products which were identified as surplus foods.&nbsp; The benefit to the participant was getting the Blue Stamps for free.</p><p><br /></p><p>The problem was that most items were not sold at prices in even 25 cent increments and the merchant was prohibited from giving money back as change.&nbsp; If someone bought items totalling $1.42 they had to present $1.25 in stamps and $.17 in coin.&nbsp; What if they did not have coin?&nbsp; They would have to present $1.50 in stamps and receive nothing for the overage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Merchants quickly became wise to this and issued their own credit slips, tokens and chits with the approval of the Department of Agriculture who oversaw the program.&nbsp; Since the change given back was only redeemable by the same merchant, it also assured the customer came back to the store. </p><p><br /></p><p>Here are a few examples of the store credits.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j83/mufelika/receipt.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>This was a generic type used mostly in the Northeast.&nbsp; The merchant stamped the name of the store on the back.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j83/mufelika/ap5b.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j83/mufelika/aP.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>These were issued by A&amp;P for use in its stores nationwide.&nbsp; They also issued 1 cent pieces.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most of the scrip and tokens used for this part of the Food Stamp program are scarce.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This phase of the Food Stamp program ended in the 1940s.&nbsp; The modern Food Stamp program began in the early 1960s.&nbsp; Similar items were used for this part of the program as well.&nbsp; They will be saved for another day.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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