S & H Green Stamps

The green one is missing, long ago broken by too-small hands reaching for a too-tall shelf. But the rest of the set is intact, still in use today. I just used the red one to make my famous meatloaf for a young family at church who had a baby, and the blue one will be used to mix the batter for my mom’s 80th birthday cake.

I’m talking about a set of multi-colored glass nesting mixing bowls purchased in my college days. They were probably one of the first kitchen items I ever bought for myself – most of my things were hand me downs from my mother and grandmother. I have always loved to bake and I did a lot of it in my college days, having more time than money for food or entertainment. No telling how many cakes, quiches, batches of cookie dough, meatloaf, and casseroles these bowls have seen. Not to mention the concoctions my children would make when they got old enough to want to ‘help’ me in the kitchen. They’ve survived countless moves, packing and unpacking, roommates, and grandchildren. I bought them with S & H Green Stamps.

The first Green Stamps I ever saw were in a little paper booklet on our dining room table. My mother was pasting them into square that fit the various sizes. Most of them were small rectangles, but sometimes she got the larger square ones. She received them when she purchased groceries at the local Piggly Wiggly. When I asked mom what the stamps were for she explained that when you collected enough you could trade them in for merchandise. I was amazed. These little green stamps were just given to you for doing something you were going to do anyway, buy groceries, and all you had to do was keep track of them, paste them in a book and when you had enough books you got free stuff. Amazing.

I began to have a vested interest in helping collect and paste the stamps when Mom told me I could have some of the books to get my own things if I would do the pasting. Gladly, I thought, and went immediately to the S & H Catalog to browse those color glossy pages. It was almost as good as the Sears catalog – lots of kitchen appliances, dishes, silverware, kitchen and bath towels, even random things like a dog bed. My mom got a hand mixer, some dishes and several other things that we needed with Green Stamps. You could send the stamps off by mail and receive goods in turn, but we preferred to go to the local Green Stamp store.

When I moved to go to the University I was delighted to find that my neighborhood Crestview Minimax grocer offered green stamps. Not only that, the green stamp store was only minutes from my house. I saved for months, and as soon as I had enough books I drove over to Airport Blvd. to do some shopping. I spent quite a while in their large store, carefully deciding what I needed most. I handed my books, the little rectangle Green Stamps pasted accurately into their squares, to the lady behind the counter. She inspected my books, verified they were full and I had enough, and a few minutes later I walked out of the store carrying my box of brand new mixing bowls. I felt so grown up, shopping frugally the way my mother taught me, and deciding all on my own how to spend my treasure.

Sperry and Hutchinson founded their trading stamps rewards program in 1896, and by the 1960’s when I was a kid their catalog was one of the largest publications in the U.S. Another successful American business idea that was quite the popular icon for 50 years. Although I suspect my children will remember going to the Green Stamp store with me, I doubt if any of my grandchildren have ever heard of green stamps. But they have quite the history. They were mentioned as recently as earlier this year in a TV sitcom episode,; Stephen King credits his first story idea to his mother’s use of Green Stamps; Walt Kelly provided a parody of them in one of his Pogo series; they have even been mentioned in songs, including a cameo voice appearance by Mel Blanc in the song “Speedy Gonzalez” where he announces the cantina is giving green stamps with tequila.

Maybe the next time I pull out those colored bowls to make cookies with my grandchildren it’s time to tell them a story.