10 Cents - Shell Self-service Roxboro, Quebec

Trade tokens and scrip issued by individual service station franchisees are rarely documented with any precision, and this Shell Canada piece from the Roxboro location is no exception. Roxboro was an independent municipality on Montreal Island until its 2002 amalgamation into Pierrefonds-Roxboro. The scrip almost certainly predates that administrative change, issued by the franchisee as a customer loyalty or change-management instrument — common practice among Quebec service stations during periods when coin shortages or high transaction volumes made small-denomination cash handling inconvenient.

Paper scrip of this type had no legal tender status and was redeemable solely at the issuing location, making survival rates poor.