Just the word S&H green stamps immediately brings you back in time to what seemed to be simpler times. No cell phones, no internet, but just a time when you knew if you collected green stamps, someday when all those books were filled, something fun and new was coming. The Mr. Local History Project looks back at the green stamp craze I personally experienced growing up in New Jersey (Westfield, Scotch Plains, Cranford) and was looking for more New Jersey memories.
Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) Green Stamps Beginnings
Started by Thomas Sperry & Seelby Hutchinson back in 1896, the popular trading stamps lasted until the late 1980s as part of a rewards program started by Thomas Sperry of Cranford, New Jersey and Shelley Byron Hutchinson of Ypsilanti, Michigan. The phenonium peaked in the 60s and 70s and was part of every kid’s memory as moms collected strips of the things, only to ask you later to add them to the books that were in the kitchen drawer.
It was a young Shelly Hutchinson who came up with the idea for the trading stamps. He was working at his family’s shoe business in Battle Creek when he used the stamps to promote their shoes to local businesses. A few years later he met Thomas Sperry and they became partners relying on Sperry’s financial backing and business connections.
The retail organizations that distributed the stamps were primarily supermarkets, gasoline filling stations, and local retail stores. They bought the stamps from S&H and gave them as bonuses to shoppers based on the dollar amount of their purchase. A 1963 magazine article stated that the average supermarket paid $2.45 for the stamps needed to fill one collector book.
Advertising
In New Jersey, here are just a few ways advertisers would see S&H green stamps :
What Could You Get?
In 1972, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that over 1 trillion S&H green stamps had been distributed by retailers. Typically, families would keep the stamp books near 178 page S&H Green Stamps catalog known as the “Idea Book” which had everything from household items to sporting goods, tools, toys, and tons of items you could use around the house. The items were first-rate items too, not just knock-off Japanese items, but great homegrown items made in the USA. I certainly remember going to those redemption centers in Plainfield, NJ with my mother and coming home with something great.
But it was the journey that everyone remembers. You’d spend hours licking the stamps your mom was rewarded by food shopping at the local A&P, and I mean we used to have brown shopping bags of those books, all excited like you were going to get something so great because most of all, it was FREE. All I could remember was my mom keeping a few books to the side where she’d allow me to get something for myself. What a time, right?
Green Stamp Stories From Our Readers
We asked the public on a few Facebook Groups to remember their experiences. What everyone seemed to agree on is not what they redeemed their books for, but all seemed to remember the process of licking the stamps and putting them in the book. Here are a few of the submissions:
- Jeanne Talamini DuChemin: I got most of mine from a gas station, and I got a lot of things for my first apartment with them.
- Cheryl Ringelheim: Got my first pair of roller skates. One book. Years later fancy bird feeder.
- Carolyn Wenzel: I wanted to buy a red pedal tractor for my son, but my husband said we would not spend money on that. Rather than buying, I saved green stamps and got the pedal car anyway. I showed him!
- Linda Landiak Bender: Morristown…we got our stamps from Acme.
- Martin D. Reardon: We got our stamps from Acme. I went up to the store in Morristown (?) a few times in high school to buy things with them. I think the last thing I bought was a radio alarm clock to take to college in ‘75. It was so loud I couldn’t use the alarm function.
- Johanna Stohler: St. Thomas Church in Old Bridge, NJ, collected enough to get a school bus for their children. Of course, it was a group effort, and parishioners would meet to paste the stamps into the stamp books.
- Corinne J Levy: I am 82…. I remember them well. I recall we got a folding card table along with other items. We lived in Bernardsville at the time.
- Stuart Weinberger: I saved enough for a toy cash register and pretended I was a grocery store. I used stuff from the kitchen, like soup cans and stuff like that. The good thing about the stamp is that it taught me at an early age how to save so I could get what I wanted!
- William Thomas: In the ’60s, I walked into the redemption center in Union City, N.J., and they had a tiny car on the showroom floor called the King Midget. Imagine a street-legal car you could get with stamps! To a young boy, that was pretty cool!
- Elaine Livingston: I got most of my baby equipment for my first baby with them.
- Scott Keeler: They gave Green Stamps at the Bernardsville A&P and had Plaid Stamps shown here. Lick, paste into your little books, and redeem for merchandise. I remember seeing the Nantucket home of the late Walter Beinecke Jr., director of the S&H company.
- Amy Johnson Maitland: I got all my college dorm supplies.
New Jersey Connections – Thomas Alexander Sperry, the S in S & H
Many didn’t know that the S in S&H was a Jersey guy. While born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Thomas Sperry moved to Jersey and landed in Union County in the town of Cranford along the Rahway River, then known as the “Venice of New Jersey.” He had a farm he called Osceola Farm just off Raritan Valley Road. He had a son Terry Jr in 1898.
The Sperry’s had issue with fire. Both Thomas and William’s homes were destroyed by fires. Sperry Sr.’s home along the Rahway River was destroyed by a fire in 1912, causing an estimated $150,000 in damages, including the loss of many paintings — many from the Charles W. Morse gallery. Sperry’s horse trainer and chauffeur were able to rescue several paintings from the house’s music room before they were stopped by flames, including an oil painting of Sperry’s son on the horse on which he had won a ribbon the previous day at the Plainfield Horse Show. After a firefighter threw down a painting of Sperry’s wife in her wedding gown, Mrs. Sperry was quoted as calling out “Don’t save that! Save something worthwhile (Source: Wikipedia). Sperry’s estate, which is a large property, is now the home of the Riverside Condominiums off Riverside Drive in Cranford. William Sperry’s home also was consumed by fire in March 1900. He rebuilt as well.
Additional Sperry Properties
William Miller Sperry (1858–1927) is the namesake of the William Miller Sperry Observatory in Cranford, New Jersey. According to his sworn passport application, he was born on September 14, 1858, in Bristol, Tennessee. He moved to Cranford in 1898 and succeeded his brother Thomas Sperry as president of S&H Green Stamps. William and Thomas are buried in Fairview Cemetery (Westfield, New Jersey). Sperry was the donor behind Sperry Park, which borders the Rahway River in Cranford. The site is also part of the Rahway River Parkway, the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation greenway.
S&H Green Stamps in the Twenty-First Century
Economists say the recession of the 1970s heavily impacted S&H Green Stamps; consumers weren’t buying as much, and retailers had to cut back on incentive programs. Sperry and Hutchison still offered a version of the historic stamps with online redemptions. The company changed its name to S&H Greenpoints, and its website, www.greenpoints.com, was launched in 2000.
On December 7, 2006, S&H Solutions was purchased by San Francisco-based Pay By Touch. The purchase price was in excess of $100 million in cash and stock. Pay By Touch shut its operations in 2008 and sold its assets to other corporations.
In 2013, Anthony Zolezzi, founder of Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Pet Promise Natural Dog Food, and Greenopolis Recycling Rewards, purchased the company with plans to relaunch it.
Fast-forward to today, and we find Carl Norloff, CEO of S&H Green Stamp Interactive. He hopes people will hold onto the physical stamps as they have plans.
S&H Green Stamps were the crypto currency of the time. So we encourage people to hold to them because who knows. S & H interactive is coming.
Carl Norloff – Carl grew up in the Bernardsville area and is rebuilding the S&H brand.
Share Your Comments
WHERE did you get your S&H green stamps?
What did you get with them?
Post in the Comments section below and share the memories.
Who can find The Beatles and Pat Boone songs that mention S&H Green Stamps? Tell us in the comments. 🙂
Additional S&H History
More Stories About Cranford
I grew up in New Jersey and was the designated stamp lickerer in the family. Like many, we had a kitchen junk drawer where the stamps went. I was probably 11 and remember being so excited to go to the redemption center and get a baseball glove. I can’t remember where the redemption center was but we lived in Bridgewater.
You’re readers may be excited to know that the brand is back with a modern twist. In 2021 I acquired the brand and we are in the process of gearing up to launch with a fun contest. It’s early but if anyone wants to join us at greenstampsforgood.com we’ll throw in 1000 stamps so you’ll be ready when things pop in your area.
I remember when a competing company introduced “Plaid Stamps”. Some retailers began to offer both, especially gas stations. At a time when most customers paid with cash it presented a problem for station attendants to juggle cash, change and two books of stamps. Add a windy day and it was a circus.
Our non-profit is based in The Basking Ridge Bernardsville Bridgewater area and would love top partner with you. Bernardsville is also turning 100 in 2024 so there’s a connection. Best of luck on the relaunch.
What is the significance of the Value of the stamps being “1 2/3 mills” ? What is a mill?
Born Fitkin Hospital at Neptune, N.J. raised 07720.
My mother purchased her clear crystal wine and water goblets with green stamps sometime the 1960’s. They were etched with grapes. I’m trying to find information on them, but have not been able to find anything. Is there anyone out there who would know anything at all about these? Thanks, SJA – West Rutland VT