In Probably Stolen: Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim, a customer may offer you a Food Stamp. It is a prepaid card that only buys food at the Commissary, and forged copies are common in the Lower Levels. The Commissary will not accept a fake, and you only find out it is fake when it fails to redeem. That means the check has to happen at your counter, before you pay.
Quick answer: A genuine Food Stamp only comes in 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 or 240 Credits, with correct lettering, the logo, a security seal only at 160 or more and an undamaged chip. Anything else is a forgery.
Genuine Food Stamp values and the security seal rule
Start with the printed value, because it is the fastest check. The Republic Food Stamp Authenticity Handbook lists six values and no others. The value also tells you whether a security seal should be on the card.
| Printed value | Security seal |
|---|---|
| 40 Credits | No seal |
| 80 Credits | No seal |
| 120 Credits | No seal |
| 160 Credits | Seal required |
| 200 Credits | Seal required |
| 240 Credits | Seal required |
Any value that is not on that list, such as 100 or 300 Credits, is fake. The seal rule also works in both directions. A 40, 80 or 120 stamp with a seal is wrong, and a 160, 200 or 240 stamp without one is wrong too. The threshold to remember is 160 Credits.
How to inspect a Food Stamp with the Magnifying Glass
The stamp’s tooltip reads “Can be inspected with a Magnifying Glass”. Ignore the “[Label] Genuine” tag displayed there. Mentor’s Note: Item Labels explains that labels can be changed on some items, allowing a counterfeit to display a genuine label.
These are the other faults the handbook tells you to look for:
- Lettering: genuine stamps read REPUBLIC SOCIAL PROGRAM. A bolder font is an Incorrect Font, and “REPUBLIC SOCAL PROGRM” is an Incorrect Spelling. Misaligned text, odd colors or missing letters are also signs of a fake.
- Logo: the genuine emblem is a round crosshair. A stamp with no logo is incorrect.
- Chip: every stamp has one. A missing or damaged chip makes the stamp unusable, even if the stamp is genuine.
The chip is the one check a genuine stamp can fail. A real card with a missing or damaged chip still won’t work, so don’t pay for it either. The full counterfeit routine, with every reason you can pick, is in how to use the Magnifying Glass and Confront a customer.
Example: a 160-credit stamp with no security seal
On Day 12 of our Mark Up run a Scav put a Food Stamp (160 Credits) on the ledge. Its tooltip showed Est. Value 120, Base Value 120 and the same “[Label] Genuine” tag as a real stamp.
Under the lens the lettering read REPUBLIC SOCIAL PROGRAM in the right font and spelling, and the round crosshair logo was there.
The chip was intact too. What the card did not have was a security seal, and every stamp printed at 160 Credits or more carries one.
We ticked Seal Issues and pressed Confront. Dragged onto the counter, the stamp then appeared in the SELLING list as “Food Stamp (Counterfeit)” for 7 credits. The Condition line had Genuine (0%) struck out and Counterfeit beneath it, and Market and Merchant showed “Good Inspection Discount (-15%)”. That is 7 credits for a card valued at 120 before the check.
Example: a genuine 120-credit stamp
Not every stamp is a fake. On Day 15 of our Mark Up run a Scav brought a Food Stamp (120 Credits) with an Est. Value of 90, next to a Food Stamp (80 Credits) at 60. Both are three-quarters of the printed value, the same as the 200-credit stamp below.
Under the lens the lettering read REPUBLIC SOCIAL PROGRAM, spelled right in the normal font, the logo was in place, the chip was there and the value said 120. A 120-credit stamp needs no security seal, so there was nothing to tick and no reason to Confront.
Dragged onto the counter, it showed in the SELLING list as Food Stamp (120 Credits) at 90 with the condition “Genuine (0%)”. We tried a -25% Demand Discount, but the price stayed at 90, so we paid the full 90 (see how to bargain).
What a Food Stamp is worth at the counter
Food Stamps trade for less than the value printed on them, because they can only buy food. A Food Stamp (200 Credits) shows “Est. Value: 150, Base Value: 150” in its tooltip. Redeem a stamp at the Commissary to buy Food.
Commissary prices also stay fixed while counter prices move. For example, during the Nutrifruit Seed Shortage (+33% Food), a customer paid 37 for one Peat. The Commissary price for Peat is 25.
When Food Stamps and the Commissary unlock
Two starting perks control this system:
- Welfare Program (costs 1 point): The Commissary is available immediately, and your total wealth determines whether you get Food Stamps on Mondays.
- Banned from the Commissary (gives 1 point): you cannot access the Commissary, and no food stamps appear.
In our Mark Up run with neither perk, a Scav brought Food Stamps into the run on Day 11 and laid four things on the window ledge. Those are Mentor’s Note: Food Stamps, Mentor’s Note: The Commissary, a Food Stamp Identification Handbook and a Food Stamp (200 Credits). Double-click a note or the handbook to open it. The handbook opens as the Republic Food Stamp Authenticity Handbook, and its footer says “The differences should be obvious at a glance.”
How to get to the Commissary and use Food Stamps
The Commissary is run by the Republic and only takes Food Stamps. The Mentor’s note says to visit it after closing the Store: like the Dumping Ground and Dr. Jackson, it is one of the after-hours locations you pick from once the shutter is down.
This is the route we took on Day 12 of our Mark Up run:
Example: redeeming a 120-credit stamp
We spent the genuine 120-credit stamp from the example above on the night of Day 16 (a Tuesday) of our Mark Up run. Trade opened the COMMISSARY panel at “Redeemed Commissary Token: 0 Tokens”, with Peat 25, Nutrifruit 12, Galaxy Blend 25, Puice 14, Pilk 16, Sealed Water Ration (Standard) 30 and Basic Bandage 8.
Pressing Redeem Valid Food Stamps turned the stamp into 120 Tokens. The stamp was sitting in the store inventory back home, not in our bag, so there is no need to pack it for the trip.
Each Buy drops the item onto the Ground grid, not into your bag. Drag it into the Backpack, or into Pocket #1 or Pocket #2 (a pocket holds one item of any kind). Anything still on the ground when you leave is lost: we bought a water ration, a Nutrifruit, a bandage, a Galaxy Blend, a Peat and a Puice, and with the bag and both pockets full, the Puice had to stay behind.
That stamp cost us 90 credits at the counter and came back as 120 tokens of food at fixed prices. Bring the biggest backpack you have, or you will leave part of it on the floor.
A trip out has a cost back at the store. After our Commissary visit the next Nightly Report said “You open up the store late due to last night’s activities and missed out on one customer.”
A Food Stamp’s tooltip reads “Redeem it at the Commissary to buy Food.” and “Double-Click To Redeem”. A forged stamp shows itself at this point, because it fails to redeem, which is why the check belongs at your counter.
Every Commissary price matches the item’s base value and does not change during market events. What does change with the market is how much stock is on the shelves.
| Item | Category | Commissary price (Tokens) | Max stock | In stock (Day 12, Fresh Restock) | In stock (Day 16, Tuesday) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nutrifruit | Hydroponics | 12 | 20 | 19 | 20 |
 Pilk | Food and Drink | 16 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
 Puice | Food and Drink | 14 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
 Peat | Food and Drink | 25 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
 Galaxy Blend | Food and Drink | 25 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
 Sealed Water Ration (Standard) | Food and Drink | 30 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
 Basic Bandage | Medicine | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Two after-hours events also change the shelves. Fresh Restock happens every Friday and adds 35% of max stock. A Burglary leaves the shelves cleared, and stock stays reduced for one day. If you are holding a verified stamp, the best time to spend it is just after a Friday restock. Then sell the food at your counter when a food price event pushes prices above what the Commissary charges.
Food Stamps are one of several items with their own counterfeit tells; the guide to spotting fakes covers every item manual. Related guides: every Mentor’s Note, the items list with base values, how to make money fast and the complete Probably Stolen guide.
