S&H Green Stamps: From 19th Century Loyalty Program to Andy Warhol's Pop Art Subject

Back in 1896, Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson launched the Sperry & Hutchinson Company (S&H) and kicked off their Green Stamps loyalty program in Jackson, Michigan. Shoppers would earn 10 points for every 10 cents they spent, which they could later trade for a range of products. Within just two years, S&H had made its way to 67 cities and was sending out 32 million catalogs annually by 1964. At its peak in the 1960s, the program had around 800 redemption centers and over 100,000 businesses involved. But by the late 1980s, that number dropped to fewer than 100 retailers. S&H was sold in 1981, bought back in 1999, and went digital as "Greenpoints" in 2000. Nowadays, loyalty programs generate $12 billion each year, with many points still left unused.