- Am I likely to have to return my purchase?
- Am I using cash instead of credit/debit?
- Do I want to review what I purchased to make sure everything was the correct price and/or (if it's a bunch of items) that I got everything?
- Am I being reimbursed/reimbursing someone?
- Am I in a shopping mall where I'll be bringing this merchandise into other stores with similar offerings?
if any of the above factors are true:
- Do I have an account which will let me receive a digital receipt instead?
- If not, then yes.
If none of the above factors are true: No. At that point to me it's just a waste of receipt paper and my time.
As they are mandatory printed where Iam, the only choice is do i throw it away, or do they throw it away
Here in Germany, there's a law to prevent tax fraud, which results in companies always creating a receipt for every purchase. Even if you don't want a receipt, they print it and then directly throw it away. (I don't know, if the law is dumb or the companies are).
And yeah, it's resulted in me just always taking the receipt and then usually throwing it away at home.
Anybody say yes to bump the “yes” stats so companies don’t try anything funny based on likelihood of getting away with it?
Naw that’d be weird whistle
Edit: (for dine in) I’m totally gonna review to make sure only 20% tips were charged to my card and they weren’t fatfingered… any day now… (wonder how much I’m ahead/behind lifetime on proper tip entry)
I'm gonna run an experiment in 2025 and keep every single receipt so I can itemize my sales tax. My state has a stupid high sales tax and I don't believe the sales tax tables from the IRS are accurate.
Some contactless payment systems like Apple Pay can have a receipt automatically emailed if the POS system supports it.
Avoids paper waste from unwanted, avoids missing a receipt when it was wanted, and much easier to organise.
Yeah, I always ask for a receipt at counter service/fast food eateries. Half the time, even though I only order like 2 items (3 at the very maximum if I'm feeling chippy), the order is inevitably missing something or incorrect so I like to have it as proof when I tell them I'm missing my drink order or something.
I don't know how people fly by the seat of their pants and just let places like Taco Bell or Dunkin Donuts just give them random items without proof of what you ordered lol. Maybe I'm just unlucky!
Or yeah, if I think I might have to return an item, I don't want a receipt.
Otherwise, 90% of the time, I don't want one.
Sounds complicated. Just say yes and figure it out later.
Yeah, it only matters if it happens often, and if it happens often then you'll probably get used to it anyway, so that you don't have to mentally go through a list anymore.
I default to yes if asked, so I don't have to think. Later when I'm relaxed I can make the final decision
Always ask for a receipt. Let the capitalists sweat a little over the chance of you returning your purchase.
Business purchase: receipt.
Big private purchase: receipt.
Everything else: no receipt.
Is someone gonna ask to see it before I leave the store? Then yes. Otherwise no
There are probably subtle subconscious cues that he’s unaware of himself
Does the cashier seem like she wants/needs me to take the receipt? Will she be crestfallen if I say, "I'm okay, thanks!?"
I always ask for a printed receipt. You never know when something breaks and you need to return it or you order food and they get it wrong. It's way easier to dispute stuff when you have a receipt. I'm actually surprised it's not given out by default in the US. Back in my home country it's required by law to issue a receipt.
Always? Like if you buy a juice and bagel, you are grabbing a receipt even if the exchange happens in real time? Why? I always do for groceries and wine (good luck bringing in a rotten watermelon and just telling them you bought it there yesterday), but not much else.
Yup. I guess it's just second nature to me since I grew up in a place where you get a receipt for every transaction with a registered business. It goes both ways. It's proof that you bought the item from that business/store, and it's also proof that you paid for that item in case you get accused of stealing it. And yes, I come from a third world country.
I always say no because receipts have been shown to commonly contain BPA and other cancer-causing/endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can be absorbed through your skin. The data seems to be mixed on whether or not the dermal uptake is significant enough to pose a threat, but I just don't want to take the chance.
If you have to have a receipt, try to touch it for the least amount of time possible, avoid touching the printed side, and keep it in a container or Ziploc bag in your main bag or somewhere else.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/receipt-paper-harmful/
https://www.ecocenter.org/our-work/healthy-stuff-lab/reports/receipt-deceit-toxic-chemicals-receipt-paper/test-results
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020319863
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33313651/
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/isee.2013.S-2-37-02I would guess that the exposure to BPAs from handling receipt paper for a few seconds would be incredibly minimal, especially when compared to other potential sources of BPAs like food and drink packaging etc.
Maybe don’t reuse receipts as paper towels or toilet paper, but briefly handling them enough to put in a wallet etc is probably safe in the grand scheme of things.
So yeah, I think I am going to stop using those CVS receipts as toilet paper, but they should have a warning because they look very much like toilet paper.
Crazy this is the first I've ever heard of this
I like to think about it for a second or two and then say yes. And if i get one i act like i got the right answer in a quiz.
I tend to switch it up between "No" and "Stare at them without a word until they throw it away on their own", and then there's the rare manoeuvre "Come back in after just leaving and say that I'm sorry but I realised I actually need one this time".
One of my favorite Mitch Hedberg jokes. https://youtu.be/xPq0-8dyl8I
Lol I came here just to see if someone had posted this. I think of this joke almost every time someone asks if I want a receipt.
Same, that and his escalator joke. Rip Mitch.
His joke always reminds me of Patrice O'Neal's counter point:
You left your SI in the link
Thanks, fixed it
I always ask for a receipt at gas stations with talking pumps because I want to waste their resources. It’s petty and small, but fuck them.
Fun fact! If the talking pump has buttons (usually four on each side of the screen), press all of them from the top down right when it starts yammering at you, and one or more of these magical button presses should shut its trap!
I, too, hate being audibly ad-blasted at the gas station.
Ha! I always thought I was the most petty and malicious fucker out there for doing exactly this. If they have a working hidden mute button I forgive, but if not I punish them with wasted receipt ink/paper (I don't even look at it!) and fill their trash bin much faster than it would otherwise be filled! Together you and I are going to teach these assholes a real lesson!
I only ever ask for the receipt when I wanna see how much of my food stamps are left immediately after spending some. Or for some kind of electronic device I think might break in less than 90 days.
the only place I regularly ask for a receipt is at the grocery store, so nobody can hassle me on the way out. and I do sometimes have to return grocery items
"Would you like the receipt?" "I don't know. Does it have a nice personality?"
I thought always asking for a receipt would be more common. I use it to balance my register the next morning every day. I don't mind the email or text ones but paper is just easier to remember.
TIL I'm supposed to be balancing my register every morning. Uh-oh.
TIL
I see what you did there ☺️
Balancing your register‽
Where you keep how much money you have in each account. Used to be called a checkbook when we had such things.
How much money goes in, comes out, and where we are against our budgets. The last part is probably the most important.
I've given up unless I'll need it for taxes or legal reasons. For years I thought I could organize them. But that's not me.
Can someone explain to me what's the joke ? I don't understand...
Not sure there is a joke in there. For some reason the question kind of surprises you and you have to quickly decide on the spot whether to have the receipt or not. So you end up winging it, sometimes having it, sometimes not.
Nowadays, I mostly decline but on occasion still end up agreeing, so I can relate.
When the greetings guy at Walmart asks for my receipt/proof of purchase, I handed to them an continue walking towards the exit.
I don't understand why they love to collect receipts, it is not easy to build a fortress with such, at least it won't be as sturdy as cardboard. /S
Most binary questions are answered by a series of coin tosses. One to decide between the two options, and a random number of the to decide if I shpuld follow the previous toss.
