Livin' the Dream with Green Stamps: A 1975 Catalog - Flashbak (2024)

Remember The Brady Bunch episode where the kids try to cash in their Green Stamps? The boys want a boat and the girls want a sewing machine. The Solomon-like Mr. Brady decides to settle the dispute by having the kids build a house of cards – the team that knocks the house of cards down is SOL.

I remember those stamps all too well. They were immensely popular during the 60s and 70s. In fact, the S&H catalog was the largest publication in the U.S. and produced three times more stamps than the U.S. Post Office! But then, as early as 1980, green stamps were over.

Little known fact: The inspiration for the names “Starsky and Hutch” came from S&H green stamps (Sperry and Hutchinson)….. just thought you needed to know.

I can’t help but wonder if green stamps could ever have a place in our debt oriented society. Everyone puts things on plastic – it’s all about instant gratification, rather than saving up for something as mundane as a toaster or bath towel.

Anyway, I’ve got an old green stamp catalog from 1975 and thought I’d share it with youfor posterity’s sake. I imagine a lot of you reading this don’t even know what a green stamp is – so, consider this a lesson in 1970s history. Let the learning begin!

Fill up a book and get a set of glasses! I suppose now you can just by a box of glasses at Wal-Mart on the cheap and not blink an eye. Back then, things like this were an “expense”, and it made sense to save up for them with stamps.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sold on the “Javit Crystal Young Love Goblet Set”.

With green stamps you get all your tobacco accessories andswank for men. Is it me, or does this guy look stoned?

The hot pink goes well with the wood paneling, don’t you think? I’m especially fond of the hamper with the “luxuriously upholstered top”.

I think it was a government mandate that all bathtubs have those “appliques” because I never knew a tub without one.

As for the Health-O-Meter, no idea what that’s about.

For the curious – that red contraption was the Schick Freedom Machine. I imagine the selling point was that you didn’t have to be tethered to the hair drier.

Totally had Whatzit. It was sort of like Legos or Tinker Toys, but like shards of stained glass.

Judging by the box, the paint-by-numbers oil paint set looks just another excuse for sweet, sweet lovemaking. This was the Seventies after all – what else would you expect? As for the Dip Film Kit, I am scratching my head – anybody remember what the hell this was?

I’d love to make a sexual pun on “soft goods” here, but I can’t think of any right now. Give me a minute.

I’m so captivated by this woman’s pants, that I can’t concentrate on these ugly polyester window treatments. It’s probably for the best.

An “electric watch”? Here, take my money!

A color TV for 150 books! Yowch. I think I’ll take that pathetic “Cricket Stool” instead.

For more of this, I highly recommendStrange and Terrible Fitness Products from the 1970s

It looks like, in a few short minutes, this couple’s about to be spreading a lot more than grass seed.

I’m all about the “Spice Excitement Design”… but this woman is kinda giving me the creeps. Perhaps we’ll end here. Please drop a Green Stamp memory in the comment section!

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