r/Damnthatsinteresting 8d ago

Video Coal mining

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u/SomeFunnyGuy 8d ago

Scrip. You get scrip. In coal mining towns, instead of receiving payment in standard currency, miners often received company scrip, which was a form of token money redeemable only at the company store, essentially creating a closed economic system controlled by the mine owner. Yeah.. it's pretty messed up.

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u/AiDigitalPlayland 8d ago

Sounds like slavery with extra steps

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u/Farfignugen42 8d ago

Not that many extra steps, really. Once you are in, the easiest wat to leave is in a coffin.

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u/Sunny-Day-Swimmer 8d ago

That makes it sound easy, when the reality is wasting away hacking and struggling for breath for literal years of agony