From the 1930s through the 1980s, Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) distributed Green Stamps to customers at select grocers, drug stores, department stores, and gas stations to reward them for their purchases.
Shoppers accumulated these stamps, pasted them into free collector’s books provided by S&H, and exchanged or “redeemed” their full stamp books for discounts on store items or catalog products.
If you think this sounds like what we refer to today as a “loyalty program” or “loyalty scheme”, that’s because it’s one of the earliest examples of one.
