Trading stamp
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Trading stamps were small paper stamps given to customers by merchants in loyalty programs in the United States, Canada and the U.K. which predated the modern
loyalty card A loyalty program or rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program. Single-company vs. coalition programs Loyalty prog ...
-based and online programs. Like the similarly-issued retailer coupons, these stamps only had a minimal cash value of a few mils (thousandths of a dollar) individually, but when a customer accumulated a number of them, they could be exchanged with the trading stamp company (usually a third-party issuer of the stamps) for premiums, such as toys, personal items, housewares, furniture and appliances. In Hong Kong, trading stamp programs continue to operate.


History


Origin

The practice of retailers issuing trading stamps started in 1891 at Schuster's Department Store,
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. At first, the stamps were given only to customers who paid for purchases in
cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...
as a reward for not making purchases on
credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...
. Other retailers soon copied the practice of giving trading stamps that could be redeemed at the issuer's store. One example was L. H. Parke Company a Philadelphia and Pittsburgh manufacturer and distributor of food products that included coffee, tea and spices along with canned goods. They established a trading stamp program in 1895 under the name Parke's Blue Point Trading Stamps for customers who purchased Parke's products in grocery stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 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

In 1896 the Sperry and Hutchinson Company was created as an independent trading stamp company in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. By 1957 there were approximately 200 trading stamp companies in operation. Typically, merchants would pay a third-party trading stamp company for the stamps, and would then advertise that they give trading stamps with purchases. Large retailers were usually given a discount on the stamps while smaller retailers generally had to pay the full cost of adopting the trading stamp program. 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. Customers would fill books with stamps, and take the books to a trading stamp company redemption center to exchange them for premiums. Books could also be sent to the trading stamp company in exchange for premium merchandise via
mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
catalogs. An example of the value of trading stamps would be during the 1970s and 1980s where the typical rate issued by a merchant was one stamp for each 10¢ of merchandise purchased. A typical book took approximately 1200 stamps to fill, or the equivalent of US $120.00 in purchases. 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 Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, Plaid Stamps, Blue Chip Stamps,
Quality Stamps Quality may refer to: Concepts * Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property * Quality (physics), in response theory * Energy quality, used in various science disci ...
, Buccaneer Stamps and Gold Strike Stamps. Texas Gold Stamps were given in Texas mainly by the
H-E-B H-E-B Grocery Company, LP, is an American privately held company, privately held supermarket chain based in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, with more than 435 stores throughout Texas and Mexico. The company also operates Central Market (Texas) ...
grocery store chain, and Mahalo stamps in Hawaii. Even the comic-book publisher
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
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 Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
), 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 Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the p ...
), they were entitled to discounts at comic book shops and conventions (including
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
). 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 Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...
himself). The concept was revived in 2006 for a run of stamps in ''
Marvel Spotlight ''Marvel Spotlight'' is a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book. It stood out from Marvel's other try-out books in that most of the featured characters made their first appearance in the series. The series or ...
'', and again in 2017 as part of the ''
Marvel Legacy Marvel Legacy is a 2017–18 relaunch of a line of American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is concurrent with All-New, All-Different Marvel and Marvel NOW! 2.0. Publication history On April 22, 2017, Marvel Comics announced Marvel ...
'' initiative.


Growth and decline

The use of trading stamps grew with the spread of chain
gasoline station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...
s in the early 1910s and the then-new industry of chain
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
s 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 WWII 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 trading stamps. During this time trading stamp companies had between 1,400 - 1,600 retail centers where consumers could redeem their stamps for
consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike an intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good. W ...
. In the early 1960s, the S&H Green Stamps company boasted that it printed more stamps annually than the number of
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
s printed by the US government. In 1968 it was reported that more than $900 million in stamps were sold in the United States. Beginning in the early 1970s the use of trading stamps began to decline. Gasoline service stations stopped offering them due to the
energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...
that occurred and many supermarkets started spending more money to advertise lower prices rather than issue stamps. During the 1980s there was a brief resurgence in the popularity of trading stamps, but overall their use continued to decline. Their role has been replaced by
coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in ...
s, rewards programs offered by credit card companies and other
loyalty program A loyalty program or rewards program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of one or more businesses associated with the program. Single-company vs. coalition programs Loyalty progr ...
s 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 A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
provisions against trading stamps were deleted, among other obsolete provisions, b
Bill C-51
in 2018 during the
42nd Canadian Parliament The 42nd Canadian Parliament was in session from December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019, with the membership of its lower chamber, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2015 federal election held on Octob ...


United Kingdom

By the 1960s the use of trading stamps had spread to the United Kingdom. Entrepreneur Richard Tompkins established
Green Shield Stamps Green Shield Stamps was a British sales promotion scheme that rewarded shoppers with stamps that could be used to buy gifts from a catalogue or from any affiliated retailer. The scheme was introduced in 1958 by Richard Tompkins, who had no ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. 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 station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...
s, small retailers and had signed up the
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
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 The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7,000 registered co-operatives owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started w ...
began offering trading stamps as a new means of allocating patronage
dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...
s to its consumer members.


Hong Kong


See also

* Big Bear Stores - chain of supermarkets with their own trading stamp program called "Buckeye Stamps". * Blue Chip Stamps - US company that produced trading stamps. * Carlson Companies - originally Gold Bond Stamp Company, issuer of Gold Bond Trading Stamps. *
Green Shield Stamps Green Shield Stamps was a British sales promotion scheme that rewarded shoppers with stamps that could be used to buy gifts from a catalogue or from any affiliated retailer. The scheme was introduced in 1958 by Richard Tompkins, who had no ...
- first trading stamps issued in UK. * S&H Green Stamps - US company that produced trading stamps. * Thomas Sperry - co-founder of S&H Green Stamps. * Two Guys - a chain of stores that issued its own trading stamps program. * Federal Trade Commission v. Sperry & Hutchinson Trading Stamp Co. * Canadian Tire money - a similar system at Canadian Tire stores in Canada, using
scrip A scrip (or ''wikt:chit#Etymology 3, chit'' in India) is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit (finance), credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitative payment of employees un ...
instead of stamps.


References and sources

;References ;Sources * * * {{Customer loyalty programs Customer loyalty programs Cinderella stamps