Whitmore

BONUS AND DIVIDEND TOKENS

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      Some independent shopkeepers, most frequently the grocers and tea dealers, challenged the competition of the co-ops with their own bonus schemes employing superficially similar tokens, but often expressed in terms of the goods themselves, such as 1/4 lb. of tea, rather than a monetary value. Where private firms adopted bonus schemes with values on the tokens, it is usual to assume that higher face values, a shilling or above, reflect the amount spent. Lower figures, up to sixpence, may instead represent the actual redemption value of the token. Without separate evidence it is not possible to be sure how such shopkeeper's tokens were employed.