A truck shop token would have been paid as wages. Truck wages are wages paid not in conventional money but instead in the form of token with retailers.

Truck wages form part of a truck system which are banned by many countries. A truck system defrauds and/or exploit workers by providing lesser market value than the amount of money that would normally be paid for the same work. Truck systems limit the ability to choose how to spend earnings. A truck system relies on a closed economic system in which employees are required to become subject to a retail monopoly in essential goods.

The truck system was banned in the UK in 1831 with the passage of the Truck Act 1831. This act was significant as it repealed previous laws and extended protections against wage payment exploitation, making it illegal for employers to pay workers in goods instead of legal currency.
Obverse image: Image of a working factory.

Reverse reads: MERTHYR / 5TH SEP. 1811 (with the remains of the word) [TOK]EN visible, and a reworked L.
Gifted to the museum in 2004

Museum Reference Number CCM 593.004