Green Stamps

“If you wouldn’t feel quite right about spending $24.95 for an electric coffee percolator, don’t! Get it with S&H Green Stamps!” sang the 1966 television commercial for the popular trading stamp, fi nishing with, “An American way of thrift since 1896.”

Which kitchen drawer housed the Green Stamps at your family’s home? For me, it was my grandmother’s top right drawer. After each trip to town, the stamps would be dropped in their special place. Then, when time had allowed for the collection to grow a bit, it was time to lick and stick those beauties in the S&H Green Stamps Quick Saver Book. Each page held 50 points worth of stamps – there were markings to denote if they were individual, 10-point stamps, or the rare 50-point stamps. The quick saver book had 24 pages –a total of 1200 points per book. These small stamps were valuable – precision was required to ensure each stamp was properly entered into the books. They all had to be secure because they were easily lost if not attached, and the book could only be submitted when complete.

While many people I spoke with enjoyed helping enter the stamps into the books and were excited about imagining all the options in the Idea Books. Suzie Patterson of Forest Hill “hated it,” as there would be so many piled up at her grandmother’s house by they time they organized them, “It would take all day. Later in life, I realized this is where most of my gifts came from and I learned to appreciate what they gave to our family.”

Green Stamps were given to customers as a loyalty reward from many grocery stores, retail businesses and service stations. Planning your shopping trips just right could land you at the Piggly Wiggly or Safeway during a double stamp promotion.

When your purchase was complete, the cashier would turn to the Green Stamp dispenser and “dial” – similar to a rotary phone – your total amount. The outer ring was up to $20 (10 point stamps per dollar) and the inner ring was for change (ie. 73 cents would be seven 1-point stamps). The Green Stamps were similar to postage stamps in size and composition – paper with adhesive backs that were moistened to adhere. So much like postage stamps that my Aunt Billie June used one to mail a letter to Tennessee – it was received. According to an article on StarLedger.com, in the 1960’s S&H claimed to issue three times more stamps than the U.S. Postal Service. This definitely speaks to the popularity of Green Stamps.

Outside of receiving them for purchases, some companies offered them to their employees as incentives. In the mid 1960s, James Whitmire of Millsap won a top sales prize and lots of Green Stamps. Although he couldn’t remember the total amount won, he does remember trading them in for a baby crib for their upcoming delivery, an electric skillet and a metal tool grinder. “The tool grinder has lived through many rotations. It’s still mounted on the workbench, in the barn, awaiting the next project,” he said. His young family was fi nancially stretched, so they were thrilled that their baby boy didn’t have to sleep in a padded dresser drawer. They used the crib for both of their children and then passed it on to another family to use as well.

‘Then when time had allowed for the collection to grow a bit, it was time to lick and stick those beauties in the S&H Green Stamps Quick Saver Book.’

In the 1960s, a completed Quick Saver Book was worth about $3 in product. However, multiple books could add up to great rewards! For many families, this opportunity might allow for a luxury – a bonus when cash budgets were so tightly monitored. Many spoke of saving all year to be able to purchase holiday presents.

Most collectors submitted their stamps and ordered products through the mail. However, there were over 600 S&H Green Stamps redemption centers in the United States. In the North Texas area, there were a number of locations where you could go in and select items identified for “sale” by the number of books required to “purchase.” The Denton store was on University Drive. Lifelong Fort Worth resident, Tanyon Stewart, remembers getting new cookware at the West Seminary Drive location. “We got other items, I’m sure, but we really used those pots and pans.”

What was your favorite purchase made by these books of stamps? A wide array of housewares, linens and toys were available – from Corning Ware kitchen casserole dishes to English Leather Cologne. A toy 250 cap rifle with repeater could have been yours for one complete book of stamps.

S&H Green Stamps were known for carrying name brand, high quality products: Sunbeam appliances, Timex Watches and Zip-po lighters. For 270 books, you could get a 17” color television in 1972 – but who had the ability to wait that long before cashing them in?

According to a report by ABC News, the span of Green Stamps redemption is estimated to have provided more than $10 billion dollars worth of products to stamp collectors.

The most common reasoning for the fall of the S&H Green Stamp program was reported to be the recession in the late 1970s. Many grocery and retail businesses could not afford to purchase the stamps to offer their customers. Gas was limited to the point that it was purchased based on the license plate being an odd or even number and so scarce for one to be concerned with which service station gave Green Stamps.

The company, originally founded in Michigan by Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson in 1896, has been sold several times now. However, should you open the top right kitchen drawer and fi nd a treasure load of Green Stamps, it’s not too late! Through the website Greenpoints.com, you can still redeem them. The stamps have lost a great deal of their value, as the book of 1,200 stamps today is worth only $1.20. The same rule applies, “No loose stamps can be redeemed.”

‘So much like postage stamps that my Aunt Billie June used one to mail a letter to Tennessee – it was received.’