I was just telling someone about how the loyalty plan for groceries was that you got the next letter's edition of the encyclopedia. (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I remember Funk and Wagnall’s at A&P but was that universal before we got computers?

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[-] flooppoolf@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago

At first I thought I was reading AI hallucinations talk. Are you saying people used to get whole encyclopedias through rewards programs? And it wasn’t a scam??

[-] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

It wasn't a scam at all! They also had specials where you could get dishes and silverware sometimes! My mom still has an entire set of blue willow that came from the grocery store in the 80s lol

[-] flooppoolf@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

That sounds really nice. I sometimes wish I could’ve experienced that 80s-90s glow. Where things really seemed beneficial rather than some big ploy for money. I guess it’s always been about the money, we just stopped hiding the fact at one point. I also don’t mean to simplify things, the past has been unkind to many people.

I remember grandmas house had character, everything in it meant something. Everything in my house is from Amazon.

[-] smort@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah I remember my parents would get a Muppets glass (like for drinking from) by buying 15 gallons of gas from the gas station. It was a neat time

[-] Iamdanno@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 11 months ago

S&H Green Stamps was one such program. It wasn't universal, but it was fairly common.

[-] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

When I was a kid we had a whole set of encyclopedias we got that way!

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Groceries were still doing this into the early ‘90s, but it wasn’t free anymore. It was just earning a discount on an encyclopedia volume every week.

They also used to give away silverware sets a piece at a time. You could also get dishrags or drinking glasses in boxes of powdered detergent. And then there were S&H green stamps.

We have similar freebies now, but it’s “join our loyalty points program and earn” or credit card points. Kohls cash, gas discounts, etc.

this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023

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