Why don't they bring back Green Stamps?

[terrya]

I thought Green Stamps were so cool. You got them when you went to the grocery store, when you went to the gas station. And then, when you had enough books of Green Stamps, you could buy all sorts of things with them.

The memories of my childhood...

Terry

[soothsayer]

1. actually, they're still alive

according to the straight dope



snip

Green Stamps, believe it or not, are still around. But like everything else in the world they've gone virtual. You now have to lick your monitor. But more on that later.

Sperry & Hutchinson, distributor of S&H Green Stamps, was probably the most popular of quite a few competing stamp companies. Sperry & Hutchinson began offering stamps to retailers back in 1896. The retail organizations bought the stamps from S&H and gave them as bonuses with every purchase based on the amount you bought. The more you bought the more stamps you got. Eventually you saved up enough stamps to toddle down to the redemption center with a sore tongue and trade them in for merchandise. No kidding--when I was younger my mom got a toaster this way.

snip

Stamps programs faded away during the recession of the 1970's. Sperry and Hutchinson was sold by the founders' successors in 1981, and was purchased from a holding firm by a member of the founding Sperry family in 1999. At that time, only about 100 stores were offering Green Stamps. Eventually, though, the company rebounded with the birth of the Internet and now offers "greenpoints" as rewards for online purchases. (http://www.greenpoints.com)

If you still have boxes of Green Stamps tucked away in your attic, here's good news. You can still trade them in for either cash or merchandise. Cash value of 1,200 stamps is $1.20 and you can still get a catalog by calling them at 1-800-435-5674.

read the whole thing here http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgreenstamps.html

And of course cigarette companies offer stuff like green stamps (we had plaid stamps, too) did. My brother doesn't smoke, must collects the stuff off of empty packs he finds as he jogs, etc., and has gotten cowboy boots, tents, chairs, knives, radios, etc. courtesy of marlboro. Heck, my GF got me a coach purse with some of her points! (chain smoker)

[Pab Sungenis]

2. Similar programs exist in other stores.

Lots of stores offer the current equivalent to green stamps; they're called loyalty programs.

For example, Waldenbooks and B. Dalton offers programs that give you points on a card for purchases, which when accumulated result in gift certificates. Camelot Music used to offer a punch card; spend $200.00 worth and you got a free CD. Some movie theaters (including mine) are putting together a program called "Reel Rewards" which work very much like green stamps.

It's just that there isn't a giant unified entity like S&H used to be in its heyday. Stores and chains run their own green stamp equivalents now.

[Shopaholic]

3. They're still around

Piggly Wiggly still gives them out--although they've gone to an electronic card thing in the past year or so.

[VolcanoJen]

5. FEH! Feh on electric-card-reading-thingies!!!!

Bring back the Stamp Books!!!! Stamp Out Electric Card Reading Thingies!!

Is nothing sacred? Everyone is so lazy these days... ya know? :D

[VolcanoJen]

4. How I loved those!!! Are they the same as A&P Stamps?

I can remember pasting books-full as a child. The glue tasted awful, but those overflowing books, stacking up in a corner, represented heaven to me.

What a cool childhood reminder, terrya!!!!

[playahata1]

I remember them well.

My grandfather used to bring them home all the time when I was little. Problem was, we never collected enough to do anything with them.

[Zomby Woof]

6. I was talking about those the other day

One of my old fogey ramblings... My Mom used to save them (late 60's/early 70's)... I had a nightstand lamp with a nautical theme purchased with S&H stamps. The lampshade was white with red anchors, and in the base was a red glass lamp, underneath the normal 60-watt bulb in the shade. You could have one or both lights on. I used to love the red glow in my room at night... Just one of the many cool things you could get at the S&H Green Stamps store in Chattanooga, TN.

Ah well. :-)

[Nay]

7. Wow! I forgot all about these. My mom and I saved up green stamps

and I got a quilt for my dorm room bed my first year of college. (1970)