Eventually everything would be scanned and the price totaled up she'd look up shocked or a little annoyed over the rising cost of milk or eggs even Corn Flakes sugar and Reese's Cups yum or my favorite back then Peppermint Patties. But then she would look at me with a sly grin and reach into her old purse and pull this book out that fascinated me for some reason. It was treasured by many and a coveted item.
Maybe you guessed it but yes do you remember the good old Gold Bond Stamps?
The practice started in the 1890s, at first given only to customers who paid for purchases in cash, to reward those who didn't buy with credit. It grew with the spread of chain gasoline stations in the early 1910's and the new industry of chain supermarkets in the 1920's. These stores found it more profitable to award them to all their customers. The trading stamps were most popular from the 1930's through the 1960's.
An example of the value of trading stamps would be during the 1970s and 1980s where the rate issued by a merchant was one stamp for each 10¢ of merchandise purchased. A typical book took approximately 1200 stamps to fill, or the equivalent of US $120.00 in purchases. And that was a great help to folks ans as I mentioned...good for business all around. It was a tradition I grew up in and never thought it would just end like that...
Really too bad I think. But reminiscing about those old stamps brought back some great memories of my Mamaw and I miss that tiny lady so much. Remember the little moments y'all cause one day those times will be gone and only those memories remain...
In closing I want to put this YouTube video on here for you to check out... ( it is related i swear and some pretty cool history) Also check the link out...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlson_Companies
Take care and come back and visit again y'all
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