Green Shield Stamps

Green Shield Stampswas a British sales promotion scheme that rewarded shoppers with stamps that could be used to buy gifts from a catalogue or from any affiliated retailer.  The scheme was introduced in 1958 byRichard Tompkins, who had noticed the success of the long-established Sperry & HutchinsonGreen Stampsin America.
For just a few years, the scheme was so widely adopted that it was referenced in rock songs.  But it suffered whenTescoceased to use it, as part of a price-cutting policy that became standard nationwide.  To retain business, Green Shield allowed customers to buy gifts from the catalogue with a mix of stamps and cash, but soon the catalogue became cash-only, and the operation was re-branded asArgos.  Stamps were withdrawn altogether in 1991 and the company entered voluntary liquidation in 2002.
Trading stampsfirst became popular in the United States.Sperry & Hutchinsonbegan offering stamps to United States retailers in 1896. The retailers bought stamps from S&H and gave them as bonuses with every purchase based on the amount purchased. The stamps were given away at filling stations, corner shops and supermarkets. When the customer had collected sufficient stamps in collectors' books, the shopper claimed merchandise from a catalogue or S&H Green Stamps shop.
Richard Tompkinspurchased the nameGreen Shieldfrom a luggage manufacturer and founded Green Shield Trading Stamp Co in 1958, along similar lines to S&H Green Stamps. They were popular during the 1960s and 1970s. Competingtrading stampschemes included Pink Stamps (a UK operation ofS&H Green Stamps),British consumer co-operatives'dividendstamps, Blue Chip and the short-lived UK operation of King Korn.
In the early 1960s, Green Shield built a new headquarters office block in Station Road,Edgware,Middlesex(a suburb on the north-west London fringe). With the end of Green Shield Stamps, the block was renamed Premier House.
TescofounderJack Cohenwas an advocate of stamps; he signed up in 1963, shortly after his competitorFine FareadoptedS&H Pink Stamps, and Tesco became one of the company’s largest clients. But Cohen was a fan ofpile it high and sell it cheap, and in the mid-1970s Tesco faced cost problems associated with not integrating its stores. In 1977 Tesco launchedOperation Checkout, price-cutting aimed at countering the new discounters such asKwik Save. A decision was made to abandon Green Shield stamps, saving £20m a year and helping to finance price reductions.
In the context of a price war, and higher prices where the stamps were sold, consumers prices were rising to cover costs – and asinflationwas high, the value of the stamps was going down. On the high street the main suppliers of Green Shield stamps became the filling stations. Aimed at company drivers, who didn't care about the cost of fuel, competing stations began to offer double, triple, quadruple and even greater multiples of stamps. As sales slowed and other retailers abandoned the scheme, Green Shield Stamp catalogue shops began to offer part stamp-redemption and part cash for the goods in their catalogue. The proportion of cash accepted was slowly increased until the goods could be purchased, outright, without the need for any stamps. With this groundwork laid, the catalogue stores, warehouses and vehicle fleet were rebrandedArgosin July 1973. The company suspended sale of stamps in 1983, then had a short revival in 1987 involving 2,500 shops, finally ceasing in 1991.
One stamp was typically issued for each 6d (2½new pence) spent on goods, so large numbers of stamps had to be stuck into the books. At a later stage, a second denomination of stamp was added, worth 10 of the original stamps, which somewhat alleviated this problem.
Finally, towards the end, there was a single large stamp worth 40 standard stamps.  This was printed with a carmine background around the traditional green shield logo.
Progressive rockbandGenesis, in the song "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" from their 1973 albumSelling England by the Pound, invented the “Knights of the Green Shield” to allow the pun "Knights of the Green Shield stamp and shout". This was part of a comic theme related to supermarkets and encapsulated in the album's title.
British comedy rock groupBonzo Dog Doo-Dah Bandreferences a woman who runs a fictional “Green Shield Library” in the song “Piggy Bank Love,” written byNeil Inneson their 1967 debut album “Gorilla.”
Jethro Tull, another progressive rock band, also mentioned Green Shield stamps in the song "Broadford Bazaar", which was abouta townon the ScottishIsle of Skyewhich band leaderIan Andersonlived near: 
"We'll take pounds,francs, and dollars from the well-heeled,
And stamps from the Green Shield".
Nikki Suddenwrote a song called "Green Shield Stamps" for his last official albumThe Truth Doesn't Matter. It describes his childhood in Britain, and how his mother used to save the Green Shield stamps. There is also an acoustic solo version from the Cake Shop, New York, on 24 March 2006, recorded two days before his unexpected passing.
Michael Flandersmakes reference to them in the opening patter to theFlanders and Swannsong "Sounding Brass": "We now turn to number two on your song sheets. Don't strain your eyes trying to read them, though, because I shall be telling you exactly what comes next; in any case, these rather fanciful titles that we print on the programmes bear no relation to what we're going to sing. It's a dead waste of ashilling, is what I say. You don't even get green stamps. Well worth collecting, those stamps, my goodness; you know that really is a very nice suit."
In "Waldorf Salad," a1979 episodeof BritishsitcomFawlty Towers, an American tourist sarcastically asksBasil Fawlty, "What do you get for living in a climate like this? Green Stamps?"
In "Oh What a Beautiful Mourning," a 1972 episode ofSteptoe and Son, Harold reminds the vendor that he is due treble green stamps after taking his horse and cart through a car wash, then later hands the six stamps to his father saying jokingly "Another half million and you can get that motor bike you always wanted."
In "The Class of '62", a 1991 episode ofOnly Fools and Horses, it is mentioned thatRoy Slaterplanted three thousand stolen Green Shield stamps onTrigger, which led to Trigger spending 18 months in a young offenders' centre.