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Long Receipts Get Shoppers in a Twist

But some like the extra coupons

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 2, 2009 9:48 AM CDT

(Newser) – Buy a pack of gum at a New York drugstore, get a foot-long receipt. That’s just one example of the paper-trail overload generated by many retailers in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports. What was once a record of your purchase has become a ribbon of countless coupons, contests, and reminders. “The receipt issue has gotten out of hand,” says one shopper, whose complaints are echoed by others: "You feel like you have a very special document in your pocket, when in reality you bought a Sprite at a Best Buy."

Receipts have existed since 1884, when cash-register maker NCR built machines that offered paper records as a way to ensure employees weren’t up to any funny business. Little changed until this decade, the Journal notes. Now, some customers have stopped wanting their receipts at all. But others find their coupons exciting. When “it curls around,” notes one, “I know I'm getting something."

A shopper looks at her receipt as she pushes a cart through a Wal-Mart superstore in Turnersville, N.J.
A shopper looks at her receipt as she pushes a cart through a Wal-Mart superstore in Turnersville, N.J.   (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)
Receipts burst out of a wallet, a common sight these days.
Receipts burst out of a wallet, a common sight these days.   (Shutterstock)
April Englebert displays the portion of her grocery receipt that details the amount of money saved by using her coupons, outside a grocery store in Portland, Ore.
April Englebert displays the portion of her grocery receipt that details the amount of money saved by using her coupons, outside a grocery store in Portland, Ore.   (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
Blackbird
Sep 2, 2009 5:05 AM CDT
I always ask the checkout person to throw the receipt away for me if its not a major purchase.
spdavid
Sep 2, 2009 3:39 AM CDT
Kroger's version of this isn't too bad.Usually I get several coupons most for something I well may buy and generally have bought in the past (use that kroger card and they keep track).It can be a slight annoyance but hey we all have bigger stuff to worry about.Does waste a lot of paper,so recycle what you can't use.
Realist
Sep 2, 2009 3:34 AM CDT
Surely with all of the technology in place nowadays we must be close to simply sending an electronic receipt to the institution that issued the debit/credit card used to make the purchase? Then you can print out receipts as-needed either online or at an ATM. (Doesn't help with cash purchases, I suppose)

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