Where did you used to get your S&H green stamps?

I remember my mom coming home from the grocery store every week loaded down with S&H green stamps. My sister and I used to wet 'em down and put 'em in the little stamp booklets, and then look through the catalog to see what we could get for free with the amount of stamps we had. Of course, we never had enough to get the stuff I wanted.

The initials “S&H” stood for the men who came up with 'em – Sperry & Hutchinson. Other lesser redeemable stamps had been around briefly, but in 1896, S&H took it to new heights. By the 1930s these stamps could be found in almost any Michigan grocery store or gas station...the amount of stamps you received depended on how much money you spent.

People loved getting these stamps, believing they could get free gifts...but of course, you still had to spend money to get 'em.

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The S&H trading stamp craze was feverish in the 1950s & 60s and people everywhere in the country were getting numb, green tongues from so much licking.

S&H had their own centers, where you could bring your filled stamp booklets in and go home with your free item. When the recession hit in the 1970s, trading stamps got hit hard. Stores began just lowering their prices (saving themselves from buying their allotment of stamps) and eliminating the stamps altogether. Top Value - another popular trading stamp - disappeared in 1982, and the last batch of S&H green stamps were distributed in a Tennessee Piggly Wiggly in 2003.

Nowadays, there are many old S&H stamp books, still filled, just collecting dust in granny's cabinet. Do you have any? And if so, can you still redeem them? YES YOU CAN. They say S&H green stamps never expire, and, according to Karla Sullivan, you can find out “how to send in your stamps for money or set up a site to use online”.

But to answer the original question "are S&H green stamps still available in Michigan?", no they are not. S&H now has “greenpoints” instead of stamps and you are awarded them from online purchases. Find out more HERE.

Now get over to your parents' or grandparents house and look for some old S&H green stamps!

GREEN STAMP GALLERY

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THANKS TO:
Karla Sullivan

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