What is "truck system"

Truck \Truck\, n. [Cf. F. troc.]

1. Exchange of commodities; barter.
   --Hakluyt.

2. Commodities appropriate for barter, or for small trade; small commodities; esp., in the United States, garden vegetables raised for the market. [Colloq.]

3. The practice of paying wages in goods instead of money; -- called also truck system.

   Garden truck, vegetables raised for market. [Colloq.] [U. S.]

   Truck farming, raising vegetables for market: market gardening. [Colloq. U. S.]

A truck system is an arrangement in which employees are paid in commodities or some currency substitute (such as vouchers or token coins, called in some dialects scrip or chit) rather than with standard currency. This limits employees' ability to choose how to spend their earnings—generally to the benefit of the employer. As an example, company scrip might be usable only for the purchase of goods at a company-owned store, where prices are set artificially high. The practice has been widely criticized as exploitative because there is no competition to lower prices. Legislation to curtail it, part of the larger field of labour law and employment standards, exists in many countries (for example, the British Truck Acts).