GeM Coupon Book for McKelvey's in Youngstown Ohio. 1942 (cropped to avoid repetition) Top Value stamp found in book.
Trading stamps are small paper coupons given to customers by merchants. These stamps have no value individually, but when a customer accumulates a number of them, they can be exchanged with the trading stamp company for merchandise.
Gold Bond trading stamps are dispensed in strips at the time of purchase and pasted into books for saving.
The practice started in the 1890s, at first given only to customers who paid for purchases in cash, to reward those who did not purchase on credit. It grew with the spread of chain gasoline stations in the early 1910s and the then-new industry of chain supermarkets in the 1920s, and merchants found it more profitable to award them to all customers. Trading stamps were at their most popular from the 1930s through the 1960s.
An example of the value of trading stamps would be during the 1970s and 1980s where the typical 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.
Customers would fill books with stamps, and take the books to a stamp company store to redeem them for items. Books could also be sent to the stamp company in exchange for merchandise via mail order.
GeM Coupon Book for McKelvey's in Youngstown Ohio. 1942 (cropped to avoid repetition) Top Value stamp found in book.
Trading stamps are small paper coupons given to customers by merchants. These stamps have no value individually, but when a customer accumulates a number of them, they can be exchanged with the trading stamp company for merchandise.
Gold Bond trading stamps are dispensed in strips at the time of purchase and pasted into books for saving.
The practice started in the 1890s, at first given only to customers who paid for purchases in cash, to reward those who did not purchase on credit. It grew with the spread of chain gasoline stations in the early 1910s and the then-new industry of chain supermarkets in the 1920s, and merchants found it more profitable to award them to all customers. Trading stamps were at their most popular from the 1930s through the 1960s.
An example of the value of trading stamps would be during the 1970s and 1980s where the typical 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.
Customers would fill books with stamps, and take the books to a stamp company store to redeem them for items. Books could also be sent to the stamp company in exchange for merchandise via mail order.
GeM Coupon Book for McKelvey's in Youngstown Ohio. 1942 (cropped to avoid repetition) Top Value stamp found in book.
Trading stamps are small paper coupons given to customers by merchants. These stamps have no value individually, but when a customer accumulates a number of them, they can be exchanged with the trading stamp company for merchandise.
Gold Bond trading stamps are dispensed in strips at the time of purchase and pasted into books for saving.
The practice started in the 1890s, at first given only to customers who paid for purchases in cash, to reward those who did not purchase on credit. It grew with the spread of chain gasoline stations in the early 1910s and the then-new industry of chain supermarkets in the 1920s, and merchants found it more profitable to award them to all customers. Trading stamps were at their most popular from the 1930s through the 1960s.
An example of the value of trading stamps would be during the 1970s and 1980s where the typical 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.
Customers would fill books with stamps, and take the books to a stamp company store to redeem them for items. Books could also be sent to the stamp company in exchange for merchandise via mail order.