They go back earlier than the 50s-60s. My Uncles Alec & Dave Taylor, my mother's two brothers, had a trading stamp scheme called Union Jack going in the 30s, which of course WWii put an end to. And after the war my Uncle Emmanuel Winner [uncle also of the film director/restaurant critic Michael W], Auntie Bessie's husband, ran Star stamps (I worked for them for a few months after university and before settling into full-time work), but he got driven out of biz in early 60s by the much bigger & better funded green Shield Stamps, which kept going until 1991.

~M~