Ahhh, Blue Chip and S&H Green Stamps, my tongue remembers these well.

Kinda makes my tongue feel all gooey just thinking about them. Bleck!!! Ok, I used a wet sponge too, but you gotta love that your tongue is always at-the-ready for that quick, lick & stick emergency.

This post will refer mainly to the Blue Chip Stamps, because I remember more about these than the S&H Green Stamps, although they were based on the same idea. For those of you that have never heard of Blue Chip or S&H Green Stamps, they were trading stamps from the mid to late ’60s, that you received whenever you bought groceries at the market or pumped gas at the gas station and I’m sure there were other places that gave them out too.

The amount of stamps you received, was directly related to the amount of money you spent at the store. As you collected more and more sheets of stamps, it was time to stick them into the Blue Chip Stamp booklet. Once you filled multiple books, it was off to the Blue Chip Redemption store to trade in your filled books for merchandise. I associate this process with a game arcade, but unlike the arcade, where you turn in 3,000 tickets and you get a plastic ring, you turn in the books for fairly descent merchandise and products that were definitely more practical.

An interesting fact about Blue Chip Stamps: Back in 1972, Blue Chip Stamps purchased See’s Candies, Inc. and since Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. had controlling interest in Blue Chip Stamps, this was another great purchase for Warren Buffet.

For my viewers that have never heard of See’s Candies, they are a California based company that started making chocolates and confections long ago in 1921 in Los Angeles, California. You gotta try them! The 1lb box of Nuts & Chews or the Bridge Mix or the…

See Wikipedia’s description of Blue Chip Stamps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Chip_Stamps

For a detailed history of See’s Candy and it’s relationship to Blue Chip Stamps, click the link below:
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Sees-Candies-Inc-Company-History.html