Here's one that should be familiar to the old timers. Who remembers S&H Green Stamps?

My mother was a passionate saver of them, and she gleefully pasted them onto the provided booklets. She would dreamily gaze at the things she could get in the S&H catalog. If she sent us to the store for something, no matter how small, if we lost or didn't have the stamps for any reason, we faced her stern disapproval.

I mostly remember them from the 1960's. They went on, I have seen, until the late 80's, but the craze seemed to die down sometime in the 1970's. The incentives were not as good, it seemed, and fewer stores were involved in them.

For every penny you spent, you received a one point stamp. The weekly shopping trip for a family of seven could yield a lot of stamp buildup.

S&H Green Stamps were created by Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson. Think the latter's parents were literature fans?

There were other stamps, but S&H ruled them all. They were so big that, for a while in the '60's, the S&H Green Stamp Catalog was the largest publication of any kind in the world.

It was a cool incentive plan, and my mother was far from the only housewife who religiously saved them. I'm sure there must have been some who did not participate, but I didn't know any.

I have been listening to Stephen King's Carrie in my car, preparing for the upcoming remake. Which I happen to be excited as hell about. That cool prank, that everyone has already seen, has really added to the anticipation.

Early on in Carrie, King writes that Carrie's mother, Margaret, obtained a clock with green stamps. Carrie considered asking her if the use of green stamps was sinful, as so many other things her mother decried. Carrie was afraid to ask and I don't blame her. It got me thinking about the days of green stamp saving and redemption.

Looking back, the Green Stamp craze was a wistful time, when hard-working people scrimped and saved for luxuries. Few regular people had credit cards, and those who did did not seem to abuse them.

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