History with Phil: Long before loyalty points, there were Green Stamps

S&H Green Stamps were one of the most recognizable loyalty programs in 20th century America. For decades, shoppers across the United States collected the little green stamps with their purchases and pasted them into books that could be exchanged for merchandise. The program was created by the Sperry & Hutchinson Company, usually abbreviated as S&H, and it became a cultural fixture in American households, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s.

The idea began in 1896 when Thomas Sperry and Shelley Hutchinson founded their company and introduced the concept of trading stamps. Their system allowed retailers to reward customers for shopping at their stores. Merchants purchased stamps from S&H and distributed them to customers based on how much they spent. Customers could then save the stamps and redeem them for goods. It was an early form of customer-loyalty marketing, long before digital tracking or modern rewards programs existed.

The stamps themselves were small, green and printed in sheets that looked somewhat like postage stamps. When a customer checked out at a participating store, the cashier would count out a number of stamps based on the purchase amount. Usually the customer received one stamp for every 10 cents spent, though this varied by store and promotion. The stamps had gummed backs, so shoppers could lick them and paste into special S&H stamp books.

Each book contained pages designed to hold the stamps in neat rows. A standard filled book contained about 1,200 stamps. Families often kept several books going at once, and filling them became a familiar household activity. Many people remember sitting at the kitchen table in the evening, carefully pasting stamps into their books while planning what they might eventually redeem them for.

Once enough books were filled, customers could redeem them for merchandise. S&H published large catalogs filled with thousands of items that could be purchased using stamp books instead of money. The catalogs included everyday household items such as cookware, dishes, towels and small appliances. Toys, bicycles, radios and even furniture could also be obtained with enough stamps.

An important part of the program was the network of S&H redemption centers. Small-town redemption centers often occupied modest storefronts on a main street or in a shopping area. Inside, shelves were filled with items that could be obtained with stamp books. Unlike a typical store, nothing had a cash price. Instead, everything was marked with the number of stamp books required. Customers brought in stacks of filled books and traded them for the items they had chosen. For many families, visiting the redemption center was an exciting event, especially for children hoping to pick out toys or sporting goods.

By the 1950s and 1960s, millions of Americans were collecting them. Grocery stores, gas stations and drugstores across the country offered the stamps as a way to attract customers. At its peak, S&H claimed that three out of four American households collected Green Stamps.

However, the program began to decline during the 1970s. Rising inflation made the stamps expensive for retailers to purchase, and new discount stores focused on offering lower prices instead of reward programs. Gradually, fewer stores offered the stamps, and interest faded.

By the 1980s, the once-ubiquitous Green Stamp books had largely disappeared from American shopping habits. Nevertheless, the idea behind them — rewarding customers for repeat business — lives on today in modern loyalty programs, reward points, and store membership cards.