2/8/2011:
Around the turn of the century, businesses began handing out colored trading stamps in a marketing technique that rewarded patrons for purchasing merchandise at their stores. But really, these stamps hit their peak popularity in the fifties, with the expansion of gas stations and supermarkets. People collected these stamps, put them into booklets, and then were able to trade them in for a variety of prizes—including furniture, blankets, and sporting goods.
As popular as this program was, it had its effects on businesses. The stamps cost money, as much as 28 cents on the dollar in North Dakota in the mid-fifties. Robert Butz, a lawyer in Minot, said that the use of stamps almost caused a price war in the city among businesses. It was also said that some stamp companies encouraged businesses to earn back the price of the stamps by raising prices.
However, many people enjoyed the benefits of the stamps, and so it became something of a hot topic for both business owners and consumers when a bill was proposed to outlaw the stamps. Senator A. C. Johnson of Cass County said he had received 840 telegrams requesting that he not support the bill. On this date in 1955, when a hearing was held, seventeen individuals testified on either side of the hot topic, and more than forty women showed up to listen to the debate, giving the room, as the Bismarck Tribune described it, “the air of a ladies aid meeting.”
The bill was passed by the Senate and a proposal was included to license and tax trading stamp companies. The House reworked the proposal so it became a “revival of an old law, repealed in 1953,” that required businesses to purchase a yearly license at a cost of $6,000 in order to give out stamps—a fee so high, that it was suspected few businesses would pay the price.
On March 5, the bill was approved and enacted. However, in the next session, in 1957, the provision concerning the license was repealed, though it then became necessary that all stamps be assigned some cash value—a trait still seen today on coupons that indicate a miniscule cash value. Over time, though, stamps vanished. Today’s coupons and store membership and loyalty cards are the only remaining vestiges of this once popular program.
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Trading_stamps.aspx
February 8, 1955, The Bismarck Tribune
February 28, 1955, The Bismarck Tribune
Laws of North Dakota, 1955
Laws of North Dakota, 1957