Scrip

From Wild Southwest Wiki

Scrip is the usual term in the Southwest for promissory notes issued by companies or individuals and used as currency. Scrip is more convenient for large transactions than ring pulls.

Basics of Scrip

Scrip is a form of promissory note - essentially a kind of legally enforceable IOU. Any person may return scrip to the issuer and receive rings or goods equal in value to the value printed on the scrip. This makes scrip a convenient form of exchange when large quantities of rings would be impractical.

Legally any company, organisation or even individual can issue scrip. What gives it its value is confidence that the issuing party can back it up with actual value. Anyone could print their own scrip, however unless they could convince others that they were good for the money promised it would be entirely worthless and no one would accept it.

As such, scrip is usually only issued by banks or large companies. There are several dozen types of scrip in common circulation, however only the five best known can be counted on to be accepted everywhere. These are issued by the Bank of Manjimup, the Bank of Albany, the National Bank of Albany, the Rocky Gully Savings Society and the Denmark Savings Bank. Branches of all five can be found throughout the Southern States and in some of the larger Independent Settlements and scrip can (usually) be purchased at all of them.

Purchasing and Redeeming

It is common practice to levy a small charge on the purchase of scrip. This ranges from 1% to 4% of the total value - purchasing $100 worth of scrip will generally cost between $101 and $104. It will always be purchased back by the issuer for the full face value however. In many cases it will also be purchased by other scrip issuers - although less reputable scrip may be purchased at a significantly reduced rate (down to 20% in some cases).

The most highly regarded scrip is that issued by the Bank of Manjimup. It is so well respected that it is often possible to get a slight discount (3% or 4%) on large purchases if paying with Manjimup scrip.

Forgery

As with any form of currency there is a market in forged scrip. The major issuers make forgery as hard as possible by using special papers, inks and intricate designs. Smaller issuers are less rigourous and many have been bankrupted when redemption of forged scrip has exceeded their cash reserves (most famously the Kangaroo Savings and Loan Company).

No State has specific legal penalties for forging or passing counterfeit scrip, however all regard doing so as fraud and the banks pursue and prosecute it as such with extreme aggression.