Paper receipts - something we need?

RumRat

Doshwaster wrote: »

I've read about a chap who likes dressing up as a wizard who has put a contactless chip in the end of his wand so that he can make magical payments.

He'll get arrested for that eventually...;)

lammy82

Gvard wrote: »

1) What are the things you like or hate about getting paper receipts?
2) How do you feel about digital email receipts? (Imagine if retailers never used this information for marketing emails but solely for sending receipts)
3) How would you ideally get your receipts?

1) I don't like having paper receipts generally
2) That would be fine but it's a faff to have to spell out or type in my email address
3) I'd like the full details of the transaction to be sent to my payment card or Google Pay so instead of just a one-line reference/merchant name I can see the full receipt there showing exactly what the payment covered, either when reviewing the transaction on my phone or by logging into my bank/credit card provider.

Takmon

elsien wrote: »

I don't have any banking apps set up on my phone. And I tend not to store passwords on my laptop.
So if I get an email on my phone with a link saying log in to your account to check your bill, it's just too much faffing around to crank up the laptop and sign in. Whereas if I get a paper bill, I open it, quickly cast an eye over it to check it's correct then file it till needed.
Paper is quicker and easier for those of us who only have tech turned on when we need it. And easier to read. Call it a generational thing, and my eyesight is fine, I can find things on paper bill more easily.

But by not having the bank apps and storing things electronically your just making it more time consuming to keep track of all your finances.

I do almost everything from my phone. If i'm out somewhere and have a free 5 minutes i can check every account i have and update a spreadsheet, check all my bills are correct, transfer money etc. It's so quick and easy i end up doing most of it when i have a spare few minutes at work.

If your making the most out of your money and getting as much interest and rewards payments etc from the bank you will have many many accounts to keep an eye on. Using your method you have to go through paper statements and take time logging into each banking website on you laptop to keep an eye on it all. So this waste a lot of your personal time you could be doing other things with.

When things are time consuming this often discourages people from taking full advantage of multiple accounts and means they lose out on thousands of pounds of money each year.

elsien wrote: »

My admin works perfectly well for me, poor or not, and I'm not planning to change it any time soon. I don't need to access receipts when I'm out and about so can't really see why only accessing them at home is a problem.

Surely the only time you really need a receipt is actually when your out in the shop and proving your purchase. Having to store hundreds of paper receipts often means they get lost or are difficult to find; so people are discouraged from returning items if they go faulty after a certain period so lose out then.

It probably works well for you but i know that getting paper statements and paper bills from energy companies etc means you end up getting worse deals. Plus when you consider you probably don't take advantage of offers that would be time consuming with your current admin methods i would be willing to bet this is costing you a not insignificant sum each year.

elsien

Takmon wrote: »

But by not having the bank apps and storing things electronically your just making it more time consuming to keep track of all your finances.

I do almost everything from my phone. If i'm out somewhere and have a free 5 minutes i can check every account i have and update a spreadsheet, check all my bills are correct, transfer money etc. It's so quick and easy i end up doing most of it when i have a spare few minutes at work.

If your making the most out of your money and getting as much interest and rewards payments etc from the bank you will have many many accounts to keep an eye on. Using your method you have to go through paper statements and take time logging into each banking website on you laptop to keep an eye on it all. So this waste a lot of your personal time you could be doing other things with.

When things are time consuming this often discourages people from taking full advantage of multiple accounts and means they lose out on thousands of pounds of money each year.



Surely the only time you really need a receipt is actually when your out in the shop and proving your purchase. Having to store hundreds of paper receipts often means they get lost or are difficult to find; so people are discouraged from returning items if they go faulty after a certain period so lose out then.

It probably works well for you but i know that getting paper statements and paper bills from energy companies etc means you end up getting worse deals. Plus when you consider you probably don't take advantage of offers that would be time consuming with your current admin methods i would be willing to bet this is costing you a not insignificant sum each year.

I don't have hundreds of receipts, not sure why you think I would. I keep the big ticket ones and bin the rest - if I've bought a five pound pack of socks I'm not going to keep the receipt for 12 months in case they wear out quicker than expected. I keep the instructions for the gadgets and clip the receipt to that, I don't spend hours searching.
Paper bank statements don't cost me any more. I do have a couple of current accounts to take advantage of different offers. Sadly my income is nowhere near the level where shuffling money round accounts is going to earn me thousands - I feel you're being a little optimistic there.
My current utility deal was no more expensive with or without paper bills as long as I signed up on line.
Out of interest, what offers do you feel I'm missing out on? Because I'm fairly sure I'm not losing out on significant sums because I prefer a bit of paper to look at.

Takmon

elsien wrote: »

I don't have hundreds of receipts, not sure why you think I would. I keep the big ticket ones and bin the rest - if I've bought a five pound pack of socks I'm not going to keep the receipt for 12 months in case they wear out quicker than expected. I keep the instructions for the gadgets and clip the receipt to that, I don't spend hours searching.

A recent example is i had an email receipt for a £12 pack of Socks. After 8 months they came apart on some stitching, with the receipt i got a replacement of the whole pack without any hassle.
So that saved me £12 which may not sound a lot but every penny helps and the lower your income the more it's worth.

elsien wrote: »

Paper bank statements don't cost me any more. I do have a couple of current accounts to take advantage of different offers. Sadly my income is nowhere near the level where shuffling money round accounts is going to earn me thousands - I feel you're being a little optimistic there.

People on here have earned thousands just by taking advantage of switching offers which doesn't require much money to do at all. The offers currently are not as good but there are always several hundred pounds on offer.
But again even getting the best interest rate on any money you do have is extra money in your pocket for little effort.

elsien wrote: »

My current utility deal was no more expensive with or without paper bills as long as I signed up on line.
Out of interest, what offers do you feel I'm missing out on? Because I'm fairly sure I'm not losing out on significant sums because I prefer a bit of paper to look at.

Using a comparison site if i took advantage of a deal which didn't require me to operate the account online i would cost me a couple of hundred a year more and i'm quite a low user anyway.
I don't know your particular usage pattern but everyone i have helped switch energy providers have saved a good sum of money and the cheapest deal always required online billing.

But your a regular user of the internet so i'm assuming you use comparison sites for all your insurance and energy etc so hopefully your on good deals already.

JP1978

bsms1147 wrote: »

I often don't take or care for receipts, but if there was a quick way of having them emailed that would convince me

What if part of the contactless data (in future) that was transmitted contained your email address that you could have receipts sent to (providing you opt in first)

Just yesterday found out many receipts aren't recyclable, which is another mark against them.

Or one step further, an app on your phone where NFC (Contactless) received the receipt as you paid for the purchase - or after you had paid via other means.

JP1978

I now use Onedrive app on my phone to take pictures of the receipts and then bin them, sorry and all that, I am not giving shops my email address - a, I will get bombarded with adverts from them and b, it takes forever reading it out - what if the cashier types it wrong, your 'proof of purchase' if you paid by cash has gone forever.

theoretica

It would take a major reworking of a number of systems, but wouldn't it be nice if the receipt was automatically digitally linked to the statement of the card you paid with. No more staring at the screen wondering what that transaction was. No more mislaying them. Less paper and no cluttering up of email or considering a separate one just for email.

Robisere

Admittedly I have not read all 3 pages of this thread, but I use any one of 3 cards to pay. Two are contactless, one is not so it depends upon circumstances which one I use. They go into the Rear RFID pocket. I don't pay by phone because I have one of these to carry my cards and my ID if needed: driving License in its front pocket: -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gritin-Signal-Blocker-Keyless-Blocking/dp/B07H9SSNH9/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Gritin+Car+Key+Signal+Blocker+Pouch%2C&qid=1566665483&s=gateway&sr=8-5

At night it also holds my car key fob. It works, it is not large, fits neatly and unobtrusively into my front trouser pocket. If I think I might need cash (market day) I stick a tenner or such in the front pocket of the wallet.

seatbeltnoob

Gvard wrote: »

So recently I couldn't stop thinking about why in 2019 where we have things like card payments and contactless we still have to deal with paper receipts or in the best-case scenario spend time at the till spelling our email which is time-consuming and frustrating.

I am currently studying this problem and would love to get your opinion:

1) What are the things you like or hate about getting paper receipts?
2) How do you feel about digital email receipts? (Imagine if retailers never used this information for marketing emails but solely for sending receipts)
3) How would you ideally get your receipts?

Any answers would be appreciated

you need receipts with contactless, much more so. On the screen most of the time the pdq doesn't even have the amount payable on screen. Customers dont even know how much they're paying, they're taking buy what the cashier is telling them. I always get a receipt to confirm that contactless has taken the correct amount.



This is paticularly bad when the cashier enters the amount manually into the card machine system and the total isn't digitally totted up.


I dont think paper receipts is that really that bad ecologically, they are tiny, thin pieces of paper. The carbon footprint is likely to be super low. I have receipts that I collect in a box, and go through them each month and discard the ones not needed and keep everything related to business expense, warranty/guarantee purposes etc.



The pile, once flattended and compacted isn't that much to be honest. Compare that to 4 wheely bins worth of rubbish that's taken away each month. It pales in comparison.



I feel like some people just want to feel like they're doing the right thing and doing their bit. But cutting back on odd bits of paper is a drop in the ocean.