Scrip was theoretically exchangeable for cash, but because these company towns tended to be hard currency poor, you'd never get anything close to face value, so you spent it in the stores provided by the company.
Both the wages and prices were set by the company so the worker had little choice but to accept it or find their way back to more populated areas and likely unemployment.
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If you worked in a remote area doing logging, mining or fishing, the use of company stores and company scrip was quite common once upon a time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip
Scrip was theoretically exchangeable for cash, but because these company towns tended to be hard currency poor, you'd never get anything close to face value, so you spent it in the stores provided by the company.
Both the wages and prices were set by the company so the worker had little choice but to accept it or find their way back to more populated areas and likely unemployment.