I grew up in a small town and didn't collect trading stamps until the mid-70s, when I graduated college and starting working. I collected a QuickSaver book and remembered how little the stamps were worth when I went to the store to redeem it for something. Then they went out of business.
Amazing how the image of a S&H stamp can make me feel 5 again!! :) It was my job to keep track of the book and as soon as we got home from the store the first thing I ALWAYS did was paste the stamps in. I only remember going to the redemption center once....the china was beautiful.
Submitted by officegirl on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 08:29.
Thanks for this great little story! I included the factoid about S&H still being active in my alumni newsletter. I "bought" many an item with Blue Chip and S&H stamps back in the day.
We can still get saver stamps at our small town grocery stores! (Yes I really do live in the "country") If we fill up a card of 18 stamps we get 99 cent eggs or a 99 cent gallon of milk.
You never know unless you visit small mom-and-pop stores, maybe you can too.
My mom saved up enough to surprise my dad with a recliner. And miracle of miracles, she actually had a couple of books left over, and let me get a Beatles album. ( I think it was one of the cheaper American reissues.) She was soooo old-fashioned that this memory still stands out, along with the time she actually bought me some mascara.
Submitted by krmartello on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 09:03.
My dad collected these things in a brown paper bag. They were tossed in in little tiny bits and pieces - a couple here from Skinner's Grocerette, a few more from M.E. Moses 5 and Dime, larger streamers of them from Brookshires Grocery...Then, one Saturday, it was made clear to me that the day would be spent gluing these pale green and red stamps into these cartoon booklets and at the end of it, we'd go to the south side of town and get ourselvs a surprise. About 5 hours and countless damp and wavy booklets later, we headed to the S&H Green Stamp redemption center. All those stamps, all that time, and I think we got some barbeque tools. I remember that after that, the place we tossed the Green Stamps was the trash. Still, good times...
I cannot remember the specific items we redeemed S&H Green stamps for since it was a regular activity at our house, but I REALLY remember the time my brother and I licked and pasted several books' worth of stamps to the large window in the living room. I think my mother soaked them off with a wet sponge and used paste to stick them in the books. that she was none too pleased with us is another part of the memory.
Submitted by monta gael on Sat, 04/19/2008 - 14:06.
My childhood memory of those stamps: my parents had a wall-mounted chest of drawers. It had about fifteen little drawers, which measured maybe four inches across. It was where they kept odds and ends, like paper clips, rubber bands, and... rolls and rolls of S&H green stamps. I was always struck by the iconic quality of those things. But I can't say we ever spent family time licking those suckers.
Submitted by GrayLensman on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 11:36.
The area where I grew up when I was in the elementary years of my life didn't have stores that offered green stamps.... But I remember an episode of the Brady Bunch where they were saving stamps and trying to buy something for the whole family. If I recall the episode correctly the boys had one stash, the girls had another. They ended up pooling their stamps...having a major stamp licking party and arriving at the redemption center too late.. :( Don't worry for those of you who didn't see the episode the kindly man that worked at the center opened up just for them and let them redeem their stamps. And a fun time was had by all, well except maybe for the kindly man at the redemption center. Anyway I remember being really disappointed that we didn't have stamps in our local area. By the time I was a teen and we moved to another state stamps had died off. Oh to be able to have redeemed them even just once.
I do vividly remember pasting the stamps in the S&H Greenstamp book at our red Formica kitchen table in the early 60's. I used a yellow sponge. I think we actually redeemed them for something, but don't remember what. I also remember looking at the catalogue and seeing lots of things I wanted, and realizing we would NEVER get that color TV!
Yes, we saved, licked and glued, and got many precious things for our home that we could not afford - a pair of sewing scissors, a canister set, a toaster, a set of kitchen knives, and even a bicycle for my daughter. Such a glow did they bring when we went to the stamp store! We had no money for anything but rent and groceries; they were precious to us. Wish they were still around. I remember the thrill and wish it was back.
My gramma had a junk drawer in the kitchen full of sheet after sheet of S&H green stamps. She would let me lick and place them on the sheets and tell me what a good job I did, which made me feel really happy and special. I'm sure she redeemed them at times, but I think they were mostly just collected and left unused. I forgot about them until I saw your article and instantly thought of her. :)
Ours were stashed in a drawer across from the wall phone. We'd save both green and blue chip stamps and trade them with my aunts if we didn't have enough of one to get what we wanted. I have vivid memories of walking into the Blue Chip redemption center...I remember the counter that displayed the items we could redeem our stamps for and even the window where you would trade in your books and wait for the woman in the blue smock to return with the toaster or doll or set of knives. I loved it when they came out with the large stamps that were so much easier to use to fill a page. I'd forgotten about the message, "Do not mix stamps on this page." Some times we would be missing one or two small stamps and we'd go through every drawer in the house to find one. We went often, traded our stamps and felt so good about our deals. At the drug store where I worked in 1969-1972, we had the dispenser that we could use to dial out the number of stamps the customers earned. The thought did occur to me that they would be easy to filch, but I never did it. But when customers said, "I don't save those, you can have them..." I didn't pass up the opportunity to add to our collection. Ahhh. Sweet memories.
but that was only when you were in marathon mode. I remember that blue chips got kind of smeary when you used a sponge, but who cared, once they were in the book!
Green Stamps were everywhere, in little nibs, in sheets, on pages, stuffed everywhere. It was the age before native american casinos...our hope was in the something for nearly nothing investment of stamps!:)
I am assisting Dr. Dianne Harris with images for a book she has written on post-war houses in the U.S. As part of my assistance, I am attempting to track down some of the images you have included in your blog on trading stamps. While the author and publisher are handling copyright issues, we are anxious to find high quality images (300 dpi). Given your title "Scanning around with Gene," I'm hoping that you might have high quality images of these trading stamp ads? If so, I wonder if you would be willing to provide these? I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the book, our intent with image use, or anything else! You can email me at amille22@illinois.edu. Thank you for your in-depth blogging!
S&H
Wow. This one brings back memories. We were an S&H family, and I remember licking those green stamps until my tongue was numb.
I also remember that cursive "S" in the S&H logo. I thought it was the oddest little scribble until I learned to write in cursive.
Trading Stamps
I grew up in a small town and didn't collect trading stamps until the mid-70s, when I graduated college and starting working. I collected a QuickSaver book and remembered how little the stamps were worth when I went to the store to redeem it for something. Then they went out of business.
I had completely forgotten these...
Amazing how the image of a S&H stamp can make me feel 5 again!! :) It was my job to keep track of the book and as soon as we got home from the store the first thing I ALWAYS did was paste the stamps in. I only remember going to the redemption center once....the china was beautiful.
Trading stamps
Thanks for this great little story! I included the factoid about S&H still being active in my alumni newsletter. I "bought" many an item with Blue Chip and S&H stamps back in the day.
You'll never believe it but...
We can still get saver stamps at our small town grocery stores! (Yes I really do live in the "country") If we fill up a card of 18 stamps we get 99 cent eggs or a 99 cent gallon of milk.
You never know unless you visit small mom-and-pop stores, maybe you can too.
S&H and Plaid Stamps
My mom saved up enough to surprise my dad with a recliner. And miracle of miracles, she actually had a couple of books left over, and let me get a Beatles album. ( I think it was one of the cheaper American reissues.) She was soooo old-fashioned that this memory still stands out, along with the time she actually bought me some mascara.
One big Saturday
My dad collected these things in a brown paper bag. They were tossed in in little tiny bits and pieces - a couple here from Skinner's Grocerette, a few more from M.E. Moses 5 and Dime, larger streamers of them from Brookshires Grocery...Then, one Saturday, it was made clear to me that the day would be spent gluing these pale green and red stamps into these cartoon booklets and at the end of it, we'd go to the south side of town and get ourselvs a surprise. About 5 hours and countless damp and wavy booklets later, we headed to the S&H Green Stamp redemption center. All those stamps, all that time, and I think we got some barbeque tools. I remember that after that, the place we tossed the Green Stamps was the trash. Still, good times...
Stamps everywhere
I cannot remember the specific items we redeemed S&H Green stamps for since it was a regular activity at our house, but I REALLY remember the time my brother and I licked and pasted several books' worth of stamps to the large window in the living room. I think my mother soaked them off with a wet sponge and used paste to stick them in the books. that she was none too pleased with us is another part of the memory.
Set the way-back machine for S&H
My childhood memory of those stamps: my parents had a wall-mounted chest of drawers. It had about fifteen little drawers, which measured maybe four inches across. It was where they kept odds and ends, like paper clips, rubber bands, and... rolls and rolls of S&H green stamps. I was always struck by the iconic quality of those things. But I can't say we ever spent family time licking those suckers.
Didn't get the opportunity...
The area where I grew up when I was in the elementary years of my life didn't have stores that offered green stamps.... But I remember an episode of the Brady Bunch where they were saving stamps and trying to buy something for the whole family. If I recall the episode correctly the boys had one stash, the girls had another. They ended up pooling their stamps...having a major stamp licking party and arriving at the redemption center too late.. :( Don't worry for those of you who didn't see the episode the kindly man that worked at the center opened up just for them and let them redeem their stamps. And a fun time was had by all, well except maybe for the kindly man at the redemption center. Anyway I remember being really disappointed that we didn't have stamps in our local area. By the time I was a teen and we moved to another state stamps had died off. Oh to be able to have redeemed them even just once.
We used a sponge
I do vividly remember pasting the stamps in the S&H Greenstamp book at our red Formica kitchen table in the early 60's. I used a yellow sponge. I think we actually redeemed them for something, but don't remember what. I also remember looking at the catalogue and seeing lots of things I wanted, and realizing we would NEVER get that color TV!
My sole memory of green stamps...
To the tune of "Greensleeves:"
Green stampds were all she gave
Greenstamps were all I took
Greenstamps were all I saved
And I pasted them all in my green stamp book...
http://f2.org/humour/songs/greenstamps.html
Green Stamps
Yes, we saved, licked and glued, and got many precious things for our home that we could not afford - a pair of sewing scissors, a canister set, a toaster, a set of kitchen knives, and even a bicycle for my daughter. Such a glow did they bring when we went to the stamp store! We had no money for anything but rent and groceries; they were precious to us. Wish they were still around. I remember the thrill and wish it was back.
My gramma had a junk drawer
My gramma had a junk drawer in the kitchen full of sheet after sheet of S&H green stamps. She would let me lick and place them on the sheets and tell me what a good job I did, which made me feel really happy and special. I'm sure she redeemed them at times, but I think they were mostly just collected and left unused. I forgot about them until I saw your article and instantly thought of her. :)
brought back many memories
Ours were stashed in a drawer across from the wall phone. We'd save both green and blue chip stamps and trade them with my aunts if we didn't have enough of one to get what we wanted. I have vivid memories of walking into the Blue Chip redemption center...I remember the counter that displayed the items we could redeem our stamps for and even the window where you would trade in your books and wait for the woman in the blue smock to return with the toaster or doll or set of knives. I loved it when they came out with the large stamps that were so much easier to use to fill a page. I'd forgotten about the message, "Do not mix stamps on this page." Some times we would be missing one or two small stamps and we'd go through every drawer in the house to find one. We went often, traded our stamps and felt so good about our deals. At the drug store where I worked in 1969-1972, we had the dispenser that we could use to dial out the number of stamps the customers earned. The thought did occur to me that they would be easy to filch, but I never did it. But when customers said, "I don't save those, you can have them..." I didn't pass up the opportunity to add to our collection. Ahhh. Sweet memories.
sponges worked better...
but that was only when you were in marathon mode. I remember that blue chips got kind of smeary when you used a sponge, but who cared, once they were in the book!
Green Stamps were everywhere, in little nibs, in sheets, on pages, stuffed everywhere. It was the age before native american casinos...our hope was in the something for nearly nothing investment of stamps!:)
Re: Stamp scans
Dear Mr. Gable,
I am assisting Dr. Dianne Harris with images for a book she has written on post-war houses in the U.S. As part of my assistance, I am attempting to track down some of the images you have included in your blog on trading stamps. While the author and publisher are handling copyright issues, we are anxious to find high quality images (300 dpi). Given your title "Scanning around with Gene," I'm hoping that you might have high quality images of these trading stamp ads? If so, I wonder if you would be willing to provide these? I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the book, our intent with image use, or anything else! You can email me at amille22@illinois.edu. Thank you for your in-depth blogging!