Do you remember S&H Green Stamps? Many seniors will remember collecting the sheets of stamps and licking each one, then placing them carefully in the book meant just for that purpose. When it was time to go shopping, those stamps could be traded in for a wide variety of household goods.
Sometimes, redeeming those stamps became a family event, with everyone piling in the car to go to a redemption center to use the points they had earned through day-to-day shopping.
As one of the first loyalty programs for retail chains, S & H Green Stamps could often help a family’s budget stretch just a little bit further, which came in handy when times got tough. They really caught on during the Great Depression. They continued to grow in popularity as those who were kids during the 1930s grew into adults who could do their own shopping.
As we get older, finding ways to stretch a dollar is still important. That’s one of the advantages of a button alert – the peace of mind seniors and elderly adults get from wearing a medical alert pendant or wristband is surprisingly affordable. And there’s no licking of stamps required to get it!
According to Frontiers in Psychology, remembering good times from years past can provide a feeling of safety and can even help regulate your emotions. That makes nostalgia a key player in healthy aging.1With that in mind, let’s remember those cute little stamps that earned all sorts of rewards for those who collected them.
The Origin of S&H Green Stamps
In 1896, the company Sperry & Hutchinson– known as S&H – created a rewards program for companies in the United States who wanted to give customers an incentive to come back to their stores and other establishments. Soon the stamps were everywhere. You could get them with your fill-up at gas stations, while shopping at the grocery store, and with purchases at select department stores.
The usual rate of earning was 10 stamps for every dollar spent, so the number of stamps to lick and stick into booklets added up quickly.
These trading stamps were wildly popular. They were given out in denominations of one, ten, and fifty points. Simply stick the stamps into the free 24-page booklets that were offered by retailers and once you filled up all the pages, you had 1,200 points. You could then use those points to select items from the S&H catalog.
They weren’t always called S&H Green Stamps, and they weren’t always green. Depending upon where you lived in the United States, the stamps might have been called Gold Bell Gift Stamps, Plaid Stamps, Top Value Stamps, Greenbox Stamps, and more. Many regional chains began creating their own stamp programs shortly after S&H Green Stamps launched.
Over time, many of the copycat stamp programs failed or phased out, and they were usually absorbed by S&H. That meant that if you did have other types of stamps and the company went out of business, S&H would usually honor the stamps as if they were from their own company.
The stamps became very popular in the 1930s, though they had already been around for decades. The tough years of the Great Depression ushered in a new era for Green Stamps, as they became a more affordable way to purchase gifts and basic household items for simply shopping for the necessities at the store. Their popularity continued to rise through the years of World War II as the women at home carefully saved them for a rainy day.
But that was nothing compared to what would happen in the decades after. By the 1960s, the U.S. Postal Service had nothing on Green Stamps – S&H issued three times more stamps than the post office did. They also distributed 35 million catalogs each year during their most popular decades, which made their catalog the largest publication in the country at the time.
Redeeming the Stamps
Are you old enough to remember the S&H Redemption Centers? They were set up like department stores. Those with enough stamps could use their points to shop at the centers, which carried everything from basic linens to fine furniture. The redemption centers were found in larger cities and made for an excellent day trip for those who diligently saved up stamps for years. By the 1960s, there were over 600 redemption centers across the United States.
These centers were so much like department stores that if you were a little kid going to them with your parents or grandparents, you might not have realized that they worked on points rather than cash. So if you have a vague memory of someone taking you to a store like this where they handed over stacks of stamp booklets, you were probably at a redemption center.
The variety of products available was surprising – the S&H catalog contained over 170 pages of items, ranging from dish towels to major appliances. You could even redeem stamps for a piano! If you had at least one full page of stamps, you could get something from that catalog.
There were other ways to redeem the stamps. Some of them were truly worthy of front-page news. For instance, in 1966, schoolchildren in Pennsylvania collected 5.4 million stamps and then redeemed them for a pair of… gorillas.
That’s right. Gorillas.
One of them went to the Pittsburgh Zoo, while the other one went to the Glenwood Park Zoo. For many years after, those students could go to the zoo to see their gorillas that were redeemed with Green Stamps.
In the end, shoppers redeemed over $10 billion in products from the Green Stamps program.
If you collected and redeemed Green Stamps, you’re likely a senior adult who would benefit greatly from a medical alarm to keep you safe and secure.
What Happened to S&H Green Stamps?
The stamps were wildly popular in the 1960s but began to decline in use in the 1970s. When the company was sold to investors in 1981, only about 100 stores in the United States were still offering stamps for their shoppers, mostly in New York and New Jersey.
Do you happen to have any of those old booklets tucked into a drawer or up in a box in the attic? If you do, you might be surprised to learn that over 100 years after their launch, the stamps were still honored through an online system called S&H Greenpoints. The online catalog allowed you to redeem the stamps for a variety of items, just as the physical catalog offered during the height of the stamp craze.
Over 8 million people who loved S&H Green Stamps signed up for the online redemption opportunities, but in October 2020, the company announced that physical green stamps would no longer be accepted for redemption. Those who had online points in their program would be transferred to a new program known as Freshpoints. You can still earn points through this program and redeem them for reduced-price or free groceries; however, the points are only good for one year after you earn them.
And with that, S&H Green Stamps faded into fond memory. They are now easy to find on eBay, Etsy, and other online sale sites, where they have become a fun purchase for collectors of nostalgia.
And there are plenty of them; according to Green Stamps for Good, about 80% of all American households collected Green Stamps during the most popular years of the program.2
The Power of Nostalgia
S&H Green Stamps are one of those memories that will likely make you smile as you walk down memory lane. Though licking the stamps was a pain, seeing them lined up in the neat little booklets could bring a rush of pleasure and anticipation. After all, you could get some great prizes for saving all those stamps!
Hold onto that feeling of remembrance. Not only are the memories wonderful, they can also be very good for you in a practical sense. According to Bethesda Health Group, the power of nostalgia has been shown to reduce blood pressure and heart rates among seniors. When you talk with others about your experiences, you can look forward to better communication skills, more emotional strength and confidence, and less stress, all of which can help lift depression and treat anxiety.3
By talking about Green Stamps and other fun things about your childhood, you can preserve your family history and pass it down for the generations who will never have the same opportunities.
Alhough an alert for elderly adults can be helpful to anyone of any age, it can be especially comforting to those who are older and at a greater risk of falls or medical events. A medical alert system from Alert1 at your fingertips can provide the peace of mind seniors need to live your best life.
