Central Midlands Co-op milk tokens

A group of four circular tokens, injection moulded in polystyrene (PS) with Pasteurised 1 pint milk moulded into the top face. Three are red coloured and one is green. Issued by the CMCS (believed to be the Central Midlands Co-operative Society), a token would be purchased in the local Co-op shop to be exchanged at a later date in-store or left on the door step at home, to be collected when the milk was delivered the next morning. The tokens allowed each society to calculate demand and delivery requirements from their customers and the milk men no longer had to handle money. When the price of the milk increased, a different coloured token would be issued by the society to denote this (old tokens could still be used up by customers by adding extra money to make up the new cost). Plastics tokens were in use post WWI, these examples likely date circa 1950s-1960s.

moulded: "Pasteurised 1 Pint Milk" (obverse)

moulded: "C.M.C.S. co op" (reverse)

AIBDC : 009290