S & H Green Stamps

I grew up with S & H Green Stamps and other saving stamps around the house. There was a drawer in the kitchen where all the saving stamps were kept. My brother and I helped stick stamps in books until each book had the required number. The stamps were not self-adhesive. Filled books were collected until there were enough to make a purchase, usually a household item. You might recall a similar location in your home growing up or at your grandparents’ or another family member’s house.

The only purchase I recall making for my own home with S & H Green Stamps was a coffee pot in 1982. Saving stamps continued to be part of shopping through the late 1980s.

S & H stood for the Sperry and Hutchinson Company, which began in 1896. There were several saving stamp companies. Top Value and Gold Bond stamps were also popular.

Different grocery stores gave out different stamps. Advertisements often showed not only the product price, but the number of savings stamps given away with the purchase. The program encouraged customer loyalty, as shopping decisions were often influenced by the type of saving stamps offered. The best strategy was to primarily collect one savings stamp brand and at my house it was S & H Green Stamps.

Advertising encouraged shoppers to plan around these stamps. The September 1960 Life magazine features an advertisement showing a mother and son along with the line, “Merry Christmas in September,” and “I’m starting right now to save more S & H Green Stamps than ever for extra gifts to give at Christmas.”

Women were the primary advertising target of S & H Green Stamps. S & H claims, “No wonder four out of five women who save stamps save S & H Green Stamps.” They also appeal to women with these words, “Be smart. Be thrifty. Join the 20 million thrifty women who save S & H Green Stamps.”

Saving stamps were so much a part of shopping and culture in the 1960s, musical humorist Allan Sherman wrote a song called “Green Stamps.” He is best remembered for his song “Camp Granada,” which he performed on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Once enough savings books were filled to trade them for an item, you took them to a redemption center. The Atlanta area had five redemption centers in 1962, three in the city, one in Decatur, and one in Marietta. The Decatur S & H Green Stamp Redemption Center was located on Columbia Drive and opened in 1962. There were also redemption centers on Piedmont Avenue, Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Perkerson Road in Southwest Atlanta, and Roswell Street in Marietta. A larger store on Peachtree Street was built in November 1962, just in time for Christmas shopping.

Redemption stores advertised the brand name of products they carried. These included General Electric, Samsonite, Spalding, Kodak, Bulova and Kodak. The company also published a catalog of items available for purchase with stamps. The catalog had different names through the years but is best remembered as the “Ideabook.” In addition to household products, S & H stamps could be used to buy toys.