New-York tribune., 1908-11-08
THE TRADING STAMP.
an Improvement on the Old Pre-
miun1 Giving Method.

Most people can bark back readily to the days
when retail merchants aimed to stimulate trace
nv giving premiums of various kinds TO custom
ers whose purchases amounted to certain stated
figures The idea to issue a coupon or ticket
with each sale and these were preserved by the
customers until they represented the money valu-
alton at which the premium desired was nxed
The, he went to the merchant issuing the coupons
and exchanged them for the premium This sys-
ten, which partly accomplished the results de-
sired meant a great deal Of trouble and work
Tor the merchant He had to carry a stock of
nreiums in his store, and Of necessity the choice
was limited In variety and character
About thirteen years ago, in Jackson. Mich. a
shoe merchant by the name Of Hutchinson used the
premium idea His premiums ran mostly TO silver
ware and the man who sold him the silverware
was Mr. T A Sperry Through his association with
Mr. Hutchinson and other merchants Of the neigh
borhood Mr.. Sperry became interested In the sub
tect He felt that the system in use was not as
profitable 1t might be and far from being en-
trely satisfactory to either merchants or public
AS a result of his study he proposed to Mr.. Hutch
inson a system of issuing premiums by which the
merchants would send their customers to COM
mon headduarters, and to use gummed stamp
instead OF the inconvenient coupons or tickets The
stamps were printed in sheets, perforated much
after the manner of postage stamps. With them
were issued books intended to receive the stamps,
they were obtained by the customer with his pur-
cbasAs II was not long before practically all OF
the locar merchants were using the new invention
and sending their customers to general premium
beadouarters TO redeem their stamps. With almost
incredible quickness the new idea expanded. The
Sperrv & Hutchinson system spread until several
hundred wide-aWake retailers were working under
the new plan which, while insuring to them all of
the advantages of the premium form of advertising.
relieved them OF carrying stock of premiums that
could not compare in variety and excellence with
those issued by Sperry & Hutchinson.
Although the general system has been greatly
perfected the stamp and the stamp book as first
conceived by Mr.. Sperry remain to-day substan-
tally as they were introduced to the public.
The logical outgrowth Of the enterprise was such
that in the early spring of 1896 few months from
the date of its inception Sperry Hutchinson
moved 10 Bridgeport. Conn, and devoted their en-
tire time to the business of organizing and develop
ing II.
The trading stamp, with each succeeding year.
has become more and firmly intrenched as
important factor in the development of retail bust
ness Many advantages accrue to the merchants
issuing them the principal being that they
largely eliminate charge accounts. they are
issued only with cash sales. This benefits both mer
chant and customer The merchant has his caoital
in hand and the customer Is encouraged to thrift
mess
Sperry & Hutchinson the pioneers in the trad
ing stamp field. and they spread out their business
to such an extent that eight IT was found