The big, bad green machine. Se the little key where you would load the stamps and then lock them up?
First of all, thank you to my seller friends at eBay for sharing their Green Stamps photos with me. I encourage my readers to go buy from these people if you are looking for vintage Green Stamps memorabilia. I am going to post their eBay sites at the bottom of today’s post. Also thanks to Meg at http://soupisnotafingerfood.wordpress.com/ for her vintage stamp machine picture. Please go visit her cool site when you have a minute.
Mom emailed me some information about Green Stamps that I thought you would like for Monday’s blog. Really, Mom is a great source about what went on in Jachin. For awhile, she wrote a column in “the Choctaw Advocate” that was called “Jachin Jots.” The “Advocate” was the local periodical that came out every Thursday. More on that, later.
Here is what Mom wrote me after reading my Green Stamps post:
We bought S & H Green Stamps. We gave them to customers when they bought groceries. [For] a reward. For each dollar they spent, we gave one little stamp.
Since our rural customers rarely went to Meridian, MS, our nearest town with an S & H store, we would take their books in for them and redeem the stamps for a gift.
This was time consuming, but we wanted them to get sheets, pans and pots, dishes, curtains, etc., for their homes. I can still see Aunt Dossie with a paper bag full of S &H stamps.
She would rip them apart, wet them with a wet sponge, and stick them into books. We had a truck full of gifts when we got back home from that store. I’ll bet you and Ben went with me, too.
We also took Food Stamps. They were kind of like little Monopoly dollars. They could only be used for food. The customer separated the food items from clothing, medicine, gas, animal feed, hardware, etc. This was a bit time consuming, but no real problem. In later years, we also participated in the WIC program. I was teaching school most of the time, but (I think) this stood for “Women, Infants and Children.” The qualifying people would come in with a “voucher” to fill.
Check out this picture of the prize book. I’ll bet the model lady has never really played the guitar before. I play the guitar, and I wouldn’t attempt a chord with long nails!
My friends who were nice enough to share their photos (in order of appearance on post):
Green Machine
Meg at Soup is not a Finger Food. What a fun blog name! More about Green Stamps here…
http://soupisnotafingerfood.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/sometimes-my-life-feels-like-a-house-of-cards/ Thank you, Meg!
Vintage Stamp Book — 1969 “S&H” GREEN STAMPs
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/STAMP-BOOK-VINTAGE-1969-S-H-GREEN-STAMP-10s-50s-FOLDER-3-1-2-X-6-FULL-/350876375580?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:CA:1123 Thanks, Bruce!
Idea Book Catalog
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251340721562&ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:US:1123 Thanks, Jim!
Collectible 1960’s Filled S&H Green Stamps Quick Saver Book
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121164840698&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123 Thank you, Marlinkc!
thewritesteph.com 
That is EXACTLY how I remember the green machine!! I so love that you did blog posts on green stamps…I don’t know that most even remember them.
It’s those little things that people don’t think of, right? You are a great commenter, Terri!
Weren’t there Gold Bond stamps, too, that were similar to Green Stamps? I seem to remember my mother getting them at the grocery store, filling up these bulgy books and then redeeming them for . . . no idea what sort of stuff! I think the Gold Bond company originated here in Minnesota with Curt Carlson and it somehow grew into the mega big Travel and Entertainment empire run by his daughter today. Anyway, enjoyed the visuals for this post, Stephanie. Really retro!
Thanks, Faith! Glad you enjoyed. The booklets were from the 1960’s. The catalog looks like it was from the 70’s. The guitar lady really makes me lol.