Merchants Declare War on Trading Stamps
Local business owners organize to reject the popular, yet controversial, loyalty program system.
The trading stamp question, so far as Tacoma is concerned, received a severe jolt at the hands of a meeting of representative merchants held last night. The meeting was an informal affair, but it served to show how local merchants stand on the trading stamp proposition. After a number of addresses had been made, all denouncing the trading stamp as being detrimental to both the merchant and the customer, the following resolution was adopted: 'We, the undersigned merchants of Tacoma and vicinity, believing the trading stamp system to be positively vicious, resulting in injury and disappointment to both dealer and consumer, hereby agree that we will not use, dispense or give away trading stamps in any form whatsoever.' This was signed by all the merchants present, and a committee was appointed to circulate the resolution to secure signatures. Trading stamp companies have made a determined effort to place their stamps with Tacoma merchants recently, and the meeting held last evening was for the purpose of offsetting the stamp concerns.
“We, the undersigned merchants of Tacoma and vicinity, believing the trading stamp system to be positively vicious, resulting in injury and disappointment to both dealer and consumer, hereby agree that we will not use, dispense or give away trading stamps in any form whatsoever.”
This early 20th-century anxiety over loyalty programs reflects a recurring tension in Tacoma's retail history—where local independent businesses have long sought to combat the influence of external corporate incentives and 'vicious' commercial models that they believe undermine local stability.
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