Stamps & More Stamps

It was bound to come. Trading stamps have become a way of life for so many U.S. housewives that the stamp people claim that 90% of American homes are saving up for "free" gifts. It is a rare grocer who can afford not to give out stamps with purchases. Nonetheless, Minneapolis Businessman Curtis L. Carlson was nagged by the fact that present trading-stamp plans develop "store loyalty" but do nothing for "product loyalty." Carlson, 48, who built Gold Bond into one of the nation's leading trading stamps, had just the solution: let the manufacturers give away stamps too, so that the housewife can collect two sets of stamps--one at the grocery shelf and one at the check-out counter.

Last week Carlson announced that his new company, Gift Stars, Inc., would do just that. With such prestigious companies as P. Lorillard, Kimberly-Clark, Minute Maid, Alcoa and Mennen already signed up for the new adventure, housewives in test areas will soon be finding a bonus of flashy blue and gold Gift Star certificates tucked into or onto everything from baby powder to potato chips. Cold sufferers who grapple for that first sheet of Kleenex, for example, will have to watch out for the coupon imprinted on the pull-out tab. Developed after a two-year study, the coupons will cost companies 1 1/4-c- for five (after a $9.500 initiation fee per product) and, unlike other trading plans, will be paid for only if redeemed for the traditional catalogue of goods that Gift Stars intends to offer as premiums. As an added fillip, the stamps will be coded for computers, which will be able to tell a manufacturer the buying habits of his customers down to marketing area, box sizes and flavors--with hopes that this might provide a guide to what the elusive U.S. housewife really wants.

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