Trading Stamps

Trading Stamps, small gummed stickers given by retail merchants to shoppers as a form of promotion and a reward for their patronage. Stamps are issued in amounts in direct proportion to the value of the purchase.

The customer accumulates trading stamps until enough are saved to be redeemed for merchandise or cash at stores or redemption centers operated by the company that issues the stamps to the retailer. The unit of redemption is a stamp or saver book, which usually contains 1200 or 1500 stamps, according to their denominations, and represents a redemption value of about $3.

The earliest records of trading stamps in the U.S. date from the 1890s, when Schuster's Department Store of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, instituted a plan called the Blue Trading Stamp System. Beginning in the early 1900s, trading stamp plans became popular throughout the United States and Europe. Initially, the stamps were given solely on cash purchases in order to limit credit sales. Today stamps are issued by only a small number of retailers.