It occurred to me recently that while my local grocery shop has all my details thanks to their persistence in getting me to sign up for their bonus card, they still force-feed me paper receipts of my purchases every single time. This might be for legal reasons (proof of purchase, etc.), but I would say the time has come to offer a smarter alternative via the magical, new-fangled system called e-mail.
Imagine you are in the self-check-out lane, finishing up your purchase, and instead of having the blaring machine implore you to grab the multiple bits of paper (receipt, coupons, customer copy of the receipt), you're given the choice of sending it to your e-mail address. The e-mail would include the UUID of your purchase, and links to CSV/PDF files of your purchase, plus coupons and other marketing garbage. As an added service, at the end of the month you would receive a tally e-mail of all your purchases, also with CSV/PDF versions downloadable from a secure site.
Why has no store chain implemented this yet? They'd save money on paper purchases, it would speed up the check-out process, and they have a reason to send me an e-mail that they can fill up with marketing stuff!
4 comments:
Cool idea Slater. Earlier today I was having a similar conversation with the U.S. Tax Bureau. They were saying that the only way to get me my records is fax or snail mail, and that email was unsecure.. Hopefully SquareUp (the mobile payment system) will update some of these everyday transactions and make the financial data more import-able.
Hi there. Couldn't agree more with your thoughts on paperless receipts. We actually provide exactly the service you are describing in your post. Any retailer using our application can provide you with an email receipt for your purchase. You can also collect and view your receipts in a free online portal. No more paper. No more lost receipts.
Check out www.yreceipts.com and feel free to getintouch@yreceipts.com if you would like to hear more.
All the best. Let's leave paper behind.
Alex
The article was quite interesting. Good going...
I would like to draw your attention towards an article on “Inventions that revolutionised the world”. Every schoolchild knows that the scientific genius and inventor, Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. Though the credit to make electric bulbs commercially viable goes to him, many believe that he did not invent the bulb and bought patents from those who did.
To read more interesting facts check http://www.sinapseblog.com/2010/11/inventions-that-revolutionised-world.html
Apple already do this
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