Truck System

[Shrop63]

Must admit I, d not heard of this until recently, what a disgrace! Is anyone else familiar with it? Like miners weren't bad off enough they got paid in tokens-only to be used in the pit owners shop. I have an ancestor from around 1820 who is described as a "huckster" and another a "grocer" hate to think of them taking advantage of fellow workers.

[CaroleW]

Also in the USA

https://rethinkq.adp.com/artifact-coal-company-scrip-miners/

[Andrew Tarr]

You can regard it as another form of extreme exploitation - if that makes you feel any better.  But (to take a good example) consider the hundreds of workers building the Ribblehead railway viaduct in the early 1870s, while living in a hutted encampment miles from any adequate source of supply.  The contractors had to keep them fed, and maybe more essentially, 'watered', so the work could continue.  What would be an better arrangement ?  (The watering of course mostly consisted of weak beer, with predictable consequences).  There had to be a currency of some kind, hence the truck system.

[GrahamSimons]

It was very common. I have found defences of the system by mine owners - the defence was that the system prevented men drinking the money and leaving their families with nothing to eat. I can't find the link any more, but Select Committee on Payment of Wages Bill, 14 July 1854 from paragraph 6020-6117.

[Shrop63]

You can regard it as another form of extreme exploitation - if that makes you feel any better.  But (to take a good example) consider the hundreds of workers building the Ribblehead railway viaduct in the early 1870s, while living in a hutted encampment miles from any adequate source of supply.  The contractors had to keep them fed, and maybe more essentially, 'watered', so the work could continue.  What would be an better arrangement ?  (The watering of course mostly consisted of weak beer, with predictable consequences).  There had to be a currency of some kind, hence the truck system.

Not really a question of making me feel better, and in that circumstance you could make a case. There's another case of a man who's child was very ill and the shop didn't have the medicine to hepp, all he had was tokens. The daughter died

[MollyC]

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_Acts#British_legislation

[hanes teulu]

The Truck System certainly had a bad press eg. driving local retailers out of business.

This "Letter to the Editor" June 1830 mentioned mark ups of 15, 25 and indeed 50% and the table below. Describes miners buying produce in the truck shop and selling for cash to purchase medicine.

[Shrop63]

The Truck System certainly had a bad press eg. driving local retailers out of business.

This "Letter to the Editor" June 1830 mentioned mark ups of 15, 25 and indeed 50% and the table below. Describes miners buying produce in the truck shop and selling for cash to purchase medicine.

What area is this? I believe if people wanted to change to cash they had to via a guy who would of course charge them for the privelage

[Tickettyboo]

Back in the 1970s/ 1980s just about every trade unionist I had any contact with knew of the truck act which meant that payment of wages in 'coin of the realm' was their right.
Most companies wanted to get all payroll payments made direct into employees' bank accounts. Much easier to administer, less time consuming, more secure, cheaper.
Quite a large proportion of the main workforce held out against that and an oft repeated reason given (amongst others) was they had never revealed to their spouse how much they were paid :-)
I know of at least one large company who could only get the employees to agree by offering them a reasonably hefty, one off, incentive payment to agree to being paid into the bank rather than cash in a paypacket.

Boo