Reply #1: actually, they're still alive

[soothsayer]

according to the straight dope



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Green Stamps, believe it or not, are still around. But like everything else in the world they've gone virtual. You now have to lick your monitor. But more on that later.

Sperry & Hutchinson, distributor of S&H Green Stamps, was probably the most popular of quite a few competing stamp companies. Sperry & Hutchinson began offering stamps to retailers back in 1896. The retail organizations bought the stamps from S&H and gave them as bonuses with every purchase based on the amount you bought. The more you bought the more stamps you got. Eventually you saved up enough stamps to toddle down to the redemption center with a sore tongue and trade them in for merchandise. No kidding--when I was younger my mom got a toaster this way.

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Stamps programs faded away during the recession of the 1970's. Sperry and Hutchinson was sold by the founders' successors in 1981, and was purchased from a holding firm by a member of the founding Sperry family in 1999. At that time, only about 100 stores were offering Green Stamps. Eventually, though, the company rebounded with the birth of the Internet and now offers "greenpoints" as rewards for online purchases. (http://www.greenpoints.com)

If you still have boxes of Green Stamps tucked away in your attic, here's good news. You can still trade them in for either cash or merchandise. Cash value of 1,200 stamps is $1.20 and you can still get a catalog by calling them at 1-800-435-5674.

read the whole thing here http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgreenstamps.html

And of course cigarette companies offer stuff like green stamps (we had plaid stamps, too) did. My brother doesn't smoke, must collects the stuff off of empty packs he finds as he jogs, etc., and has gotten cowboy boots, tents, chairs, knives, radios, etc. courtesy of marlboro. Heck, my GF got me a coach purse with some of her points! (chain smoker)