Origin The practice of retailers issuing trading stamps started in 1891 at
Schuster's Department Store,
Wisconsin. At first, the stamps were given only to customers who paid for purchases in
cash as a reward for not making purchases on
credit. The program was successful. Parke established showrooms in their headquarters buildings in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh where customers could inspect and obtain premium goods.
Independent trading stamp companies restaurant in
Lubbock,
TexasIn 1896, the
Sperry and Hutchinson Company was created as an independent trading stamp company in the
United States. By 1957, there were approximately 200 trading stamp companies in operation. The intent was to get customers to be loyal to the merchant, so that they would continue shopping there to obtain enough stamps to redeem for merchandise. While one of the most popular brand of trading stamps in the US were
S&H Green Stamps, informally known as "green stamps", other large brands included Top Value Stamps,
Gold Bond Stamps,
Plaid Stamps,
Blue Chip Stamps,
Quality Stamps,
Buccaneer Stamps and
Gold Strike Stamps.
Texas Gold Stamps were given in Texas mainly by the
H-E-B grocery store chain, and Mahalo stamps in Hawaii. Even the comic-book publisher
Marvel Comics entered the trading stamp field in the 1970s, with what were known as "Marvel Value Stamps". Each Value Stamp featured artwork of a Marvel character (the first one featuring
Spider-Man), and were generally featured in the letter pages of Marvel titles (with certain titles, primarily reprints, consequently not offering Value Stamps). Buyers were encouraged to clip out the stamps and collect them (this practice was annoying to future comic collectors, with the price of comics declining if they were cut up for their Value Stamps), with Marvel offering a stamp book by mail for 50 cents; if a person managed to collect all 100 stamps in a book (the 100th Stamp was kept a mystery until it was featured in
Sub-Mariner #72, featuring the image of
Galactus), they were entitled to discounts at comic book shops and conventions (including
San Diego Comic-Con). A further series of stamps were released known as "Series B", which in lieu of singular stamps featuring only one character, were instead akin to a jigsaw puzzle; when put together, the stamps would create an entire image, typically of a Marvel star (or in one case,
Stan Lee himself). The concept was revived in 2006 for a run of stamps in
Marvel Spotlight, and again in 2017 as part of the
Marvel Legacy initiative.
Growth and decline The use of trading stamps grew with the spread of chain
gasoline stations in the early 1910s and the then-new industry of chain
supermarkets in the 1920s. Merchants found it more profitable to award them to all customers rather than cash only customers. Legal challenges regarding the use of trading stamps were raised in various jurisdictions around the US, but were often struck down. Some merchant groups disliked trading stamps and actively worked to have them banned in their areas. Following World War II, the use of trading stamps expanded when supermarkets began issuing them. By 1957, it was estimated that nearly 250,000 retail outlets were issuing trading stamps, with nearly two thirds of US households saving them. During this time, trading stamp companies had between 1,400 - 1,600 retail centers where consumers could redeem their stamps for
consumer goods. During the 1980s, there was a brief resurgence in popularity, but overall, use continued to decline. Trading stamps have been replaced by
coupons, rewards programs offered by
credit card issuers, and other
loyalty programs such as grocery "Preferred Customer" cards. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, the majority of the remaining trading stamp companies either ceased operations or converted to an online format. In 2008, the last operating trading stamp company in the United States, Eagle Stamps, closed.
Outside the United States Canada The use of trading stamps began in Canada circa 1900 but their use was banned by the Canadian government in 1905. In 1959 the grocery chain
Loblaws introduced their Lucky Green Stamps program and a trading stamp program was started by an
IGA grocery store in Winnipeg. Although faced with legal challenges the use of trading stamps in these instances was upheld as legal since they did not meet the definition of trading stamps in the Canadian Criminal Code. The
Criminal Code provisions against trading stamps were deleted, among other obsolete provisions, by Bill C-51 in 2018 during the
42nd Canadian Parliament United Kingdom By the 1960s the use of trading stamps had spread to the United Kingdom. Entrepreneur
Richard Tompkins established
Green Shield Stamps in the
United Kingdom. Although based along a similar model, the Green Shield Stamps were independent of S&H Green Stamps but carried a similar trademark. Tompkins' company began selling stamps to
filling stations, small retailers and had signed up the
Tesco supermarket chain to the Green Shield Stamp franchise in 1963. The S&H Company began offering their stamps in the United Kingdom as well but with the color changed to pink. In 1965, the
British co-operative movement began offering trading stamps as a new means of allocating patronage
dividends to its consumer members.
Hong Kong Trading stamps are currently in use in Hong Kong. ==See also==