My mom collected S&H Green Stamps. Stores back in the day gave out S&H Green Stamps for purchases. The more a person bought the more stamps they received. Gas stations were big for giving out stamps to lure customers in.
S&H stood for Sperry & Hutchinson. They were brilliant entrepreneurs in coming up with this idea. Some people have the knack for creative thinking.
Mom would take her stamps and place them into books designed to hold such. It took several filled books before she cashed them in on anything of value. This retail marketing tool was used from the 1930’s until late 1980’s. Because of inflation and changing times, S&H Green Stamps went the way of the dinosaur.
My first camera was obtained via S&H Green Stamps. Don’t ask me how but I must have sweet-talked mother into getting it for me. I remember my brother Jim and me finding loose stamps on grocery store parking lots. Evidently some people saw no need to keep them. As Mr. T would say,
“Foohs!”
These ‘found stamps’ were taped inside mom’s books rather than licking the attached glue. Many times the small paper squares sported tire tracks. No telling what else was on them.
The biggest item I recall mom getting was a floor lamp. I’m sure it took several books and many years before she had enough. Stores these days offer similar promotions mostly through magnetic cards. If you buy something, a set amount of credit goes into an electronic bank. Walgreen’s currently has this plan. They call it Balance Rewards.
You can’t cash in the Walgreen’s accumulation but you can apply it to other purchases. My wife refers to these ‘Balance Rewards’ as hers. That’s okay with me.
I just read where S&H Green Stamps may attempt a comeback. Some guy named Anthony Zolezzi bought the name and is working on a modern plan of reintroducing them. Supposedly it was to be operational on Earth Day – April 22, 2015. That day has since come and gone with no announcement.
Mr. Zolezzi is a renowned wheeler dealer so I suppose he’s still working out the bugs. Like I mentioned earlier some people were born to be entrepreneurs. Take that man Phil Swift hawking the waterproof spray able to plug holes in a boat. Phil’s product is called Flex Seal and has been around forever. It’s mere automotive undercoating with a fancy name.
By showing the public different uses for undercoating Phil Swift has made millions. Flex Seal is now manufactured in various colors. I’ve never been entrepreneur smart. I’ve come up with ideas but never put them in play. Maybe that’s a good thing?
A fellow I know came up with an idea for a board game. It’s called ‘North to Alaska’. This guy had 50,000 of them made using his dad as bankroll. This was about the time electronic games became popular. To make a long story short, the old man suffered a huge financial loss while son still has thousands of the games packed away in a warehouse.
I suppose you could say ‘North to Alaska’ went the way of S&H green stamps and dinosaurs!
Failure doesn’t upset me, yet losing hard earned dollars does. The saying “nothing ventured, nothing gained” often comes to mind. That might be good advice for young people, but to us retired geezers, “nothing ventured” seems the best way to fly. This is especially sound advice when trying to hang onto valuable retirement dollars in an unstable economy!
I like to write junk... 