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Ask HN: Why do we still use paper receipts?

10 points by cosmosa ↗ HN
Isn't it a huge waste of paper? There's a push to use less plastic bags, less plastic bottles, but not much talk of reducing receipts. In my opinion if you pay by card or digitally, the receipt should be digital. If you pay cash, I guess you might need a paper receipt, but it should be optional to receive the receipt. I think the pos industry is outdated.

18 comments

[ 14.4 ms ] story [ 930 ms ] thread
diehunde
It is optional in most places in the US. They normally ask if you want the receipt. Lots of people say no. I only say yes when I need to report expenses.
cosmosa
It is not really optional, it is always printed I think, and just thrown out by the cashier if you say you don't want it. If you do self checkout in my experience it's always printed. I think maybe gas stations are the only place where it asks you if you want a receipt.
5555624
It depends on the place. I know a couple of small, independent cafe/takeouts that don't print it and don't even ask you if you want one. They'll give you one if you ask. (One doesn't even give you a paper bill, it's displayed on a tablet at the cashier.)

Come to think of it, 7-Eleven is the same way, you have to ask for one.

fortran77
It's to make sure the cashier rings up the sale and isn't stealing from his employer.
rahuldottech
> If you pay cash, I guess you might need a paper receipt, but it should be optional to receive the receipt.

This is how it is in most places in India. Even the card machines will ask if you want to print a customer receipt. Most people say no.

CM30
Over here in the UK it is optional in many places. Most self service checkouts will ask you whether you want a receipt when you're done, and most cashiers will ask the same.

So for the most part it is optional. Only encountered one shop in the last few years that always printed the receipt out.

icedchai
CVS will email you a receipt.
Nextgrid
And then put your email in their marketing database which no doubts gets shared with creepy entities that stalk people. No thanks.

I once gave my email to a store in the UK when they offered an email receipt (I suspected something bad would happen but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt). Of course, a few weeks later I received some BS from a third-party company asking for "feedback", so there's at least one extra third-party that now has my email without me authorising that.

icedchai
If you are concerned, use a different email account for receipt purposes.
Nextgrid
I shouldn't have to create/maintain/remember unique email addresses just to keep the privacy that paper receipts already offer.
icedchai
If you're that concerned about "privacy", then yes you should.

Do you also pay in cash for everything? If not, you're already being tracked by your credit cards and will be re-marketed to... You may as well sign up for rewards/store cards and get the discounts.

SamReidHughes
It's not a huge waste of paper. It costs far less than a penny to produce that amount of paper. It's a fraction of the credit card processing fee and this way less information about customers or purchases is shared between entities.
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yesenadam
Also, maybe more significantly, BPA (a endocrine-disrupting, estrogen-mimicking plastic) is absorbed through skin from touching thermal-printed receipts. And has a variety of other environmental effects, e.g.

"A 2009 review of the biological impacts of plasticizers on wildlife published by the Royal Society with a focus on aquatic and terrestrial annelids, molluscs, crustaceans, insects, fish and amphibians concluded that BPA affects reproduction in all studied animal groups, impairs development in crustaceans and amphibians and induces genetic aberrations."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51979440_Bisphenol_...

jocoda
Fraud is/was the main reason for receipts. Without the physical receipt it's possible for the cashier to make a transaction that is not recorded by the cash register/Point of Sale terminal and they can then pocket the cash. Used to be a print receipt was the only option. Things have changed...
awareBrah
Be careful if you are a person who cares about preserving testosterone. Receipt thermal ink contains BPA which is highly absorbable through contact with skin.
EnderMB
It's an option in many places in the UK, but people often won't give out their email for a receipt because it also means that you'll be signed up to someone's shitty newsletter.

If I could pay on my phone and receive JUST the receipt, I'd be happy - but outside of receiving a copy of the receipt and having to flag future emails as spam, there isn't an option for this.