Trading Stamps

Trading stamps originated in the 1890s, but it was the expansion of supermarkets and gas stations in the 1950s that led to their soaring popularity. A marketing gimmick, colored stamps were given out by many retail establishments. Patrons collected the stamps, pasted them in blank books, and redeemed the filled stamp booklets for a wide variety of prizes: the most popular redemptions were sheets and blankets, furniture, appliances, and sporting goods. Trading stamp companies such as Sperry and Hutchinson (S&H Green Stamps) sold their stamps to retailers who used them as inducements for customer purchases. A 1966 survey reported that 49.3 million American households—83 percent of the national total—saved stamps. By the mid 1960s there were over three hundred stamp companies nationwide employing seventeen thousand with a payroll of $68 million. The industry peaked in 1969 with sales of $825 million. For much of the decade trading stamps...

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