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Who remembers the good old Green Shield Stamp Days

(32 Posts)
TrendyNannie6 Thu 30-Jul-20 20:49:07

I used to love saving up the green shield stamps from our local petrol station in the seventies, I remember I saved the books to get my first camera a brownie 257 I think it was. I was very patient think I had to collect around dozen full books, but oh what a joy when I got my camera. I think I’ve still got the box somewhere, if I remember I think we collected pink stamps as well

newnanny Mon 03-Aug-20 11:49:32

My Auntie gave me several books she had saved up after I had my appendix taken out. I was allowed to choose a gift for myself. I chose a Tressie doll and you could make her hair grow.

Georgesgran Mon 03-Aug-20 11:01:18

When we were ‘courting’ and first married, DH and I both had 2 jobs. His weekend work was at a local petrol station, in the days before self-service. Although most of the private customers took the green shield stamps, company car drivers usually didn’t bother, and he was told to keep them himself.
I seem to remember a whole set of Tower saucepans were the result.

FoghornLeghorn Fri 31-Jul-20 20:32:26

I loved saving these but so many times, when I almost had enough for my desired item after saving for months, a new catalogue came out and the ‘price’ in stamps had gone up.

Harris27 Fri 31-Jul-20 20:22:11

Petrol sorry!

Harris27 Fri 31-Jul-20 20:21:47

Yes my three brothers used to get them with their petroleum and they would argue like mad as to who,got what happy days!

Gingster Fri 31-Jul-20 19:19:59

Sorry Chewbacca didn’t see your post. Must be a common occurrence. ??

Gingster Fri 31-Jul-20 19:17:06

My friend went for an internal examination at the docs. Went to the loo beforehand and as there was no loo roll, got a tissue out of her handbag and wiped herself. During the examination, the doc said ‘ well I’ve never seen one of those in there before. A green shield stamp ! Must have got stuck to her tissue. ?‍♀️

Grannynannywanny Fri 31-Jul-20 19:08:54

EightyPercentCocoa
I only vaguely remember pink stamps but you aroused my curiosity and I had a google and found this...

A "Stamp War" broke out in 1963/4. Fine Fare starting giving away the American S & H Pink Stamps. Green Shield Stamps were being given away by Tesco and Priceright and other stamp companies competed aggressively for outlets.

Lord Sainsbury opposed trading stamps. He formed the Distributive Trades Alliance comprising Boots, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, W H Smith and other leading retailers. This challenge lead to an Act of Parliament to regulate the stamp companies. Fine Fare dropped stamps, but Green Shield Stamps remained popular for many years after this.

ladymuck Fri 31-Jul-20 18:54:59

I used to get mine in Tesco, and tried to shop on Thursdays which was 'double stamp day'.

Fennel Fri 31-Jul-20 17:31:23

One of my sons used to collect them in his teens and used them to buy a cookery book for me, Bless him, I still use it -
SuperSavers Cookbook.

EightyPercentCocoaSolids Fri 31-Jul-20 17:07:33

I still use a couple of kitchen things my mother got with hers. I seem to remember blue and pink variants. Am I right? Does anyone remember the difference?

infoman Fri 31-Jul-20 15:18:23

I still have a few booklets,wish I could find a home for them.

jaylucy Fri 31-Jul-20 10:00:31

I can remember desperately trying to save enough stamps for another Sindy doll and some clothes for her. I can't remember if I ever got enough or just what we did spend the completed books on , if anything.
My parents didn't smoke, my dad worked at that time within walking distance from home, so the only journeys by car we made were to see my grandparents 15 miles away or our once a year holiday on the East coast - no wonder it took forever!

Kate1949 Fri 31-Jul-20 09:53:55

I can remember getting some lovely things for our home when we first got married from Green Shield stamps. DH used to smoke then and he smoked Embassy cigarettes. They had coupons in the packets which you could save and exchange for goods. You used to get an Embassy catalogue similar to the Argos catalogue. We had lots of things from there. Thankfully he gave up smoking years ago.

JessK Fri 31-Jul-20 09:42:18

Can still remember collecting several books to get something for the kitchen. I can actually still taste the glue when I think about it. Those stamps were lethal!

Auntieflo Fri 31-Jul-20 09:20:27

I collected Green Shield stamps, back in the day when I was a young housewife.
I got a wheeled shopping trolley, and it did sterling service through a couple of very bad winters, hauling it through the snow and ice, filled to the brim.

Grannynannywanny Fri 31-Jul-20 00:01:20

I still have some Esso glasses. Does anyone remember the 6 inch tiger tails given in exchange for a certain amount of stamps during “put a tiger in your tank” ad campaign? My Dad was very proud of ours. We tootled along in our first car, a 3 wheeler Reliant, with the tiger tail tied to the aerial

Lexisgranny Thu 30-Jul-20 23:56:23

There was a classic episode of Heartbeat, where David became obsessed with saving green shield stamps, but I bet there were many like him.
I wonder how many babies slept in cots courtesy of Embassy cigarettes?

annodomini Thu 30-Jul-20 23:50:40

I still have my Esso wine glasses and the only champagne flutes I possess are also from Esso. I must have had quite a few tigers in my tank.

SueDonim Thu 30-Jul-20 23:04:06

Oh yes! The booklets got all fat when they were full of stamps. We used to go Margate to swap ours, our nearest branch. We had quite a few household goods from them.

I’ve forgotten what they were given away with - petrol rings a bell?

welbeck Thu 30-Jul-20 22:31:57

i remember going to green shield house where thy could be redeemed.
anyone remember drinking glasses from filling stations, also i got some little matchbox cars.
pink stamps could never lick the green shield. somehow i associated them with pink paraffin, which we didn't use.
what was the difference from esso blue.
i guess green shield was a bit like argos, having a catalogue, sealed items in boxes, all different kinds of merchandise.
that make me laugh out loud about the adorned nether regions.

Urmstongran Thu 30-Jul-20 22:30:51

I heard that joke too Chewie when it was doing the rounds. The alternative version involved a mum who showered, using a sponge that had glitter on it from the play area with her children the day before and the nurse saw the sparkles winking and said ‘my you have made an effort this morning!’.

The old ones are the best.
?

Urmstongran Thu 30-Jul-20 22:26:19

I do! My sister and I used a sponge to wet the sheets.
?

flopen Thu 30-Jul-20 22:22:55

Back in the days of the CEGB someone sent round a letter to the workers saying that the company was short of money and could they send in their green shield stamps to help. Which lots of people did.
This was back in the days of typewriters and the company found the person who sent it out.

TrendyNannie6 Thu 30-Jul-20 22:13:24

I hated sticking them in too, when I was little I used to lick the back of them ugh the taste,