trading stamp

A stamp given by way of a premium upon the purchase of merchandise, redeemable in merchandise according to a previously arranged plan. A memorandum in writing given by a merchant to a customer upon the purchase of and pay ment for goods in cash, which expresses in money value a small percentage of the price of the goods bought and paid for, and entitles the recipient, after he has accumulated a certain number of such memorandums, often known as coupons, to use them, to the extent of their designated value, in payment for any other goods of the merchant which he may afterward desire, or goods of some other person or trading company that has undertaken to redeem the coupons. 52 Am J1st Trad St § 2. In its ultimate analysis the use of trading stamps by a merchant is simply a form of advertising, resorted to for the purpose of increasing trade; merely an instrumentality or incident of a business, not a business in itself in the commercial sense. 52 Am J1st Trad St § 3.