WHEN I WAS A KID

I can remember helping my mom collect trading stamps when I was a kid.  She collected both the S&H Green Stamps and Top Value yellow stamps.  If you got sent to the store to buy something, you had better not come home without the trading stamps.

Some retailers, mostly grocers and gas stations, gave you stamps with each purchase.  The number of stamps you received was dependent on how much you spent.  Each stamp company gave away saving books in which to glue your stamps - the stamps had adhesive backs just like postage stamps of that time. You then could trade in your stamp books for awards.
 
Each company had a catalog and redemption stores from which you could get great things for your house - like a new ashtray or bedroom lamp or clock.  It took a lot of books to get anything.  You could use up a whole day's saliva sticking all the stamps into the books - but who cared, it was just so exciting to get something for 'free'.
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