Toast - Green Shield Stamps

About this episode

<p>Green Shield Stamps could be traded in for 'free' gifts so why did consumers abandon them? </p><p>Sean Farrington examines their rise and fall and discovers how they spawned a famous retail chain which is still trading. </p><p>The stamps were the centrepiece of an early form of loyalty scheme and were collected by tens of millions of people across the UK. </p><p>They were given out by shops with every purchase and could be exchanged for a wide range of household goods and luxury items from handbags to vacuum cleaners and even cars. </p><p>The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, speaks to expert guests including:</p><p>Sir John Timpson - chairman of the retail services provider, Timpson, who dedicated a chapter of his book on 'High Street Heroes' to the Green Shield Stamp founder, Richard Tompkins. </p><p>Professor Leigh Sparks - Professor of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling.</p><p>Alongside them, analysing the stamps' fortunes is the entrepreneur, Sam White.</p><p>Toast is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.</p><p>This episode was produced by Jon Douglas.</p><p>You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk</p><p>Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.</p><p>Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in May. </p><p>In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. </p><p>In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.</p>