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. The use of trading stamps began in Canada circa 1900 but their use was banned by the Canadian government in 1905. International trading stamps Ī British trading stamp collecting book from the mid twentieth century. In 2008 the last operating trading stamp company in the United States, Eagle Stamps, closed. Through the 1990s and early 2000s the majority of the remaining trading stamp companies either ceased operations or converted to an online format. Their role has been replaced by coupons, rewards programs offered by credit card companies and other loyalty programs such as grocery "Preferred Customer" cards. During the 1980s there was a brief resurgence in the popularity of trading stamps, but overall their use continued to decline. Gasoline service stations stopped offering them due to the energy crisis that occurred and many supermarkets started spending more money to advertise lower prices rather than issue stamps. īeginning in the early 1970s the use of trading stamps began to decline. In 1968 it was reported that more than $900 million in stamps were sold in the United States. In the early 1960s, the S&H Green Stamps company boasted that it printed more stamps annually than the number of postage stamps printed by the US government. During this time trading stamp companies had between 1,400 - 1,600 retail centers where consumers could redeem their stamps for consumer goods. 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. Following WWII the use of trading stamps expanded when supermarkets began issuing them. Some merchant groups disliked trading stamps and actively worked to have them banned in their areas. Legal challenges regarding the use of trading stamps were raised in various jurisdictions around the US but were often struck down. Merchants found it more profitable to award them to all customers rather than cash only customers. 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. Texas Gold Stamps were given in Texas mainly by the H-E-B grocery store chain, and Mahalo stamps in Hawaii. 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. A typical book took approximately 1200 stamps to fill, or the equivalent of US $120.00 in purchases. 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. Books could also be sent to the trading stamp company in exchange for premium merchandise via mail order catalogs. Customers would fill books with stamps, and take the books to a trading stamp company redemption center to exchange them for premiums. 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. 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. Typically, merchants would pay a third-party trading stamp company for the stamps, and would then advertise that they give trading stamps with purchases. By 1957 there were approximately 200 trading stamp companies in operation. In 1896 the Sperry and Hutchinson Company was created as an independent trading stamp company in the United States. Plaid Stamps sign at Cracker Barrel restaurant in Lubbock, Texas Parke established showrooms in their headquarters buildings in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh where customers could inspect and obtain premium 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. Parke Company a Philadelphia and Pittsburgh manufacturer and distributor of food products that included coffee, tea and spices along with canned goods. Other retailers soon copied the practice of giving trading stamps that could be redeemed at the issuer's store. 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 practice of retailers issuing trading stamps started in 1891 at Schuster's Department Store, Wisconsin. 1.2 Independent trading stamp companies.
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