Friday, June 18, 2010
3:30 AM
Green Stamps
Back Back in the 60's and 70's, grocery stores, and other businesses offered green stamps as an incentive to get customers to shop their establishments. S&H Green Stamps had a nice catalog ordering service, and then, they also had an actual store in most cities. Most everyone's mom collected green stamps. Depending on how many you managed to save, you could trade them in for just about anything in any price range. They had small ticket items and large ticket items. My mom loved to save up a big stack of stamps and then go spend part of a whole day wandering around the store, deciding on the item for which she would trade them. She usually bought things for the house although I always tried to get her to get me some toys instead. There were two toys in particular that I wanted for several years. Once, was a toy police motorcycle that I could actually ride on, and the other was a realistic toy piano. They were in the green stamps catalog every year so I spent a LOT of time staring at them and dreaming of the day I might eventually talk my mom into getting one of them for me. One day, I got the crazy idea that if I cut the pictures of them out of the catalog, they would come to life. I don't know why I decided that. I was only about 3 so I guess my skull hadn't fully hardened yet. LOL I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was when I cut them out and immediately realized that they weren't going to come to life at all. Not only that, but I had fixed it so I couldn't look at them in the catalog anymore either. Major bummer. lolEventually I did get a realistic toy piano, though I don't think my parents bought it with stamps. However, I never did get the police motorcycle. Mom kept finding coffee pots and toaster ovens instead. LOL
I have another funny story relating to green stamps but I think I'll wait and share it when I get to the post about Colorforms or Romper Room because those two things were responsible for the wrath I endured on that fateful day when I used my mom's precious toaster-buying stamps for something other than they were intended.
I have another funny story relating to green stamps but I think I'll wait and share it when I get to the post about Colorforms or Romper Room because those two things were responsible for the wrath I endured on that fateful day when I used my mom's precious toaster-buying stamps for something other than they were intended.
LOL