Do you remember Green Stamps?

[imperialismispasse]

I remember my parents saving these when I was just a young dude. You got strips of stamps when you bought groceries,then you pasted them into a booklet and went to some place (Service Merchandise?) and could buy stuff with them. What a weird thing, what was the purpose of these? I was too young to really know why they were given out or redeemed.

[KitchenWitch]

1. My mom used to save them

She redeemed them for things like small kitchen appliances.

[terrya]

2. I sure do

My mom used to collect them. You could get them almost anywhere...the grocery store, the gas station. You could buy almost anything with them...my mom bought stuff around the kitchen, mostly.

[rustydog]

3. I remember green stamps and the gold stamps

they are the membership shopping cards of today.
:hi:

[redwitch]

32. my friend's mom worked at the yellow stamp store

she got all the albums Leslie Gore ever recorded at that store.

[AllegroRondo]

4. Ah, yes

I remember my mom was exstatic when she finally got enough books filled to get an entire china set. She had been saving them for years.

[LynneSin]

5. Our family also collected Green Stamps

My brother and I would fight over who had the rights to paste them into the book

[imperialismispasse]

8. Oh my god yeah that's the booklets right there

Thanks for the memory

[Sequoia]

44. I remember that booklet.

Our dad got a BBQ with them. The good ole days.

[Cathyclysmic]

6. My grandma, who is a packrat, still has booklets of them. n/t

[imperialismispasse]

7. I suppose there's no place to redeem them anymore

[LostinVA]

11. Oh yes, there is

www.greenpoints.com

[imperialismispasse]

12. WHOA

[LostinVA]

13. My aunt redeemed a bunch of books a few years ago

[begin_within]

9. We colleccted both S&H Green stamps and Blue Chip stamps.

[no name no slogan]

10. Created by Minnesota businessman Curt Carlson

Here's a good story about him:
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199902/22_zdechlikm_carlson/

Carlson Companies is one of the biggest companies in the hospitality industry, owning TGI Fridays and Radisson Hotels among other brands. They are also one of the largest employers in Minnesota.

[Ravenseye]

14. We got a Television with them

My two brothers and I collected the stamps, and our three step-sisters did as well. It was sort of a competition between the six of us. We wanted a canoe, and they wanted a sewing machine.

In the end our dad talked some sense into us and we pooled our stamps and got a new color television for the whole family to enjoy.

:evilgrin:

[imperialismispasse]

15. Sounds like a good compromise

A canoe would have been fun though. :D

[Ravenseye]

16. I agree

My brother Greg though I think had the hots for my oldest step-sister Marcia and he always made us compromise.

[imperialismispasse]

18. Wait a minute here

I think I'm catching on to something... ;-)

[LostinVA]

40. That's the Brady BUnch!

[Ravenseye]

43. Tee Hee (nt)

[RebelOne]

17. I remember them well. I got a lot of good stuff with them.

And you went to a Green Stamp redemption center to exchange them.

[Shakespeare]

19. They're still around (sort of).

http://www.greenpoints.com/account/act_default.asp

[xultar]

20. I remember them. How old are you?

[imperialismispasse]

22. In my mid 20's

I think they were just on their way out when I was a kid. How old are you?

[xultar]

24. I'm 36. I remember them too. But I was thinking they were on the way

out when I remembered it. I guess I remembered the way I wanted and not how it was! I keep forgetting that I'm on up there!


Wow you have a great memory if you remember them. I know some 20 year olds that don't even know about rotary phones.

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. I am 35 and they were on their way out when I was just a tot for the most

part. I lived in North Carolina, New York,Wisconsin and Michigan and they were not big at any time in my childhood. :hi:

[Tom Kitten]

21. Got my first baseball mitt with them...

" signed" by Ron Perranoski!

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. Was that before or after the season

('63) he went 16-3, 1.67 — in relief?

[Tom Kitten]

36. after...

it was in 1965 when he was 6-6 but had a 2.24 era...
I loved those Dodger teams from the mid 60s...Koufax, Drysdale, et al...

[Oeditpus Rex]

38. Koufax was my idol

Hell, I guess he still is. Sports idol, anyway.

Do not get me started trippin' down Dodger Memory Lane. :crazy:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. I remember them!

My mom collected them, and they were still around in the mid-1960's, when I was a newlywed.....

I did use the Blue Chip stamps more.....got lots of great stuff, some of which I still have!

:hi:

[Fenris]

25. My grandmother recently suffered a series of strokes

She's in a very poor condition at this point, but is capable of speaking and maintaining semi lucidity. We're going to have to go through the house she and my late grandfather lived in and prepare it for sale. When my mother asked my grandmother if she wanted certain people to have certain things, the only thing she said is that she wanted my father to have a non-descript, barely noticed mirror that hangs in her hallway, because it belonged to my great grandmother and she saved up her green stamps to get it.

I thought that was very touching. Communication from another time.

[ScreamingMeemie]

27. You went to a redemption center strictly for the redemption of the stamps.

My grandmother remembers them fondly. I, at 35, am too young to remember them ever being very big in any of the states we lived in (New York, North Carolina, Michigan or Wisconsin).

Service Merchandise was a store unto its own. :hi:

[redqueen]

28. Yes, I do.

Wonder why they stopped doing that.

[LostinVA]

42. They still do redeem them -- and give them out is some states

www.greenpoints.com

[LibertyLover]

29. Heck yes

I used to have the job of pasting them in the books. Mom would accumulate several months' worth and then I'd have to paste them in. Sometimes instead of using a sponge to apply water to the adhesive, I'd get our German Shepherd to lick them. He loved the taste of the paste. About once a year we'd count up and books and check out the catalog. Mom usually got something for the kitchen or the bath with the stamps, although once I remember she wanted a new drill and got it with Green Stamps.

[redwitch]

33. LOL! I am picturing Timmy and Lassie

in their black and white farmhouse kitchen!

[ChickMagic]

30. You betcha

We had a redemption store close to where we lived and you could even get a washing machine.

[Kali]

34. essentially the same thing as those damn "loyalty" cards they use now

I remember still getting them in the early 80's when I moved to Tucson - prolly still in a drawer someplace.

[In_The_Wind]

35. We saved tons of 'em.

It was a job I enjoyed.

[yellowcanine]

37. Instead of lowering prices grocery stores gave green stamps.

I believe they were more or less replaced by coupons.

And then someone (Costco) had the brilliant idea, "Why not just have low prices?"

[blindpig]

39. I worked in a Green Stamp warehouse

back in the 70's. Bunch of pricks.

[Science Of Myth]

41. I get 'em confused with food stamps

but my mom used to get em I remember

[JitterbugPerfume]

45. I used to collect them back in the day

got some cool stuff too