Green Stamps Come to China

Green Stamps Come to China

fiction
edward w pritchard

see also Green Stamps and China- march blog

When we were kids in America in the 1950's if one had a good organized Mother and an average or more amount of income in the household the family would collect Green Stamps. It was quite exciting.

Green Stamps were given as a premium with each cash purchase and had originated in the 1890's, but were most popular in the 1950's as households began to consume lavishly. In a time before credit cards they were a rebate, depending on dollars spent and additionally because of the gifts they generated mildly encouraged spurious consumption. Green stamps came in varying amounts and were given at time of purchase by the selling merchant and the family then rushed home and put the stamps in a premium book to be saved until enough stamps were collected to trade them in at a special location for gifts displayed on the premises. The business model of the green stamps was similar to postal stamps, sold at schools to encourage saving habits in good children. The postal stamp model was similar to war bonds that had been sold in America in World war two to finance the war debt. However, the excitement of green stamps and their other color "stamp" competitors was primarily because they could be traded in for neat stuff, like picnic baskets, imported dishes, baseball gloves, things for Dad's car, lawn chairs for vacations and things for Mom around the house. The practice and popularity of the stamps went out of vogue in America because of the increasing sophistication of the American consumer and the growth in credit cards and revolving debt. In the 1990's the original company that started the program way back in the last century sold the company in a spin off and although the idea attempted several comebacks in America, to date it is a passe product in America.

Not so for green stamps in China in 2012. The concept was exported from America to China and was reborn with a vengeance because of the rapid growth in the Chinese consumer market and the gambling tendencies of the Chinese population.

In fact a powerful trade war is now being waged between the United States and China because of the green stamp product; with the Chinese calling it a virus exported from America to China and the US companies involved claiming they are helping to bring the Chinese consumer into the twenty first century and bring Chinese households the conveniences of modern life.
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