Second look

I should be better at checking restaurant bills and store receipts.

Often I just whip out my debit card and slip it into the folder holding the restaurant bill, or I hand my debit card to the cashier without looking at the receipt. My guess is that a lot of us do this, which doesn't make it any better. Technology is great but its not infallible. Furthermore, error-prone humans usually administer the technology so we shouldn't take for granted that its always correct.

While dining out with friends recently 1 of the friends reviewed the restaurant bill and found 2 mistakes. An entree costing nearly $20. was listed twice, and a $2.59 beverage was not listed at all. Upon bringing these to the attention of our server the bill was corrected and each couple paid half.

With this experience fresh in my mind, once I'd returned home from the grocery store I took a look at the receipt instead of immediately throwing it in the trash. I discovered that none of the sales prices had been recognized! Everything I'd purchased was either on sale, was 'buy 1 get 1 free', or was 'buy 5 for $5.' yet none of the adjusted prices were reflected. I took the receipt back to the store and explained that, although the cashier had swiped my discount card, none of the discounts appeared on the receipt. They agreed to give me the savings which amounted to $8. If I would have immediately thrown the receipt away without looking at it I wouldn't have known.

So I've made a new commitment to review restaurant bills and store receipts more often. If I find a mistake - even one that doesn't benefit me - I'm going to advise the server regardless. I believe that if you find a mistake, you find a mistake. Its hypocritical to only request a correction to a mistake that benefits me. If the server neglects to add the dessert onto the check, I'm going to tell them that too.

You don't want to mess with Karma!

Receipt

The other day Spouse & I stopped into a store for 3 specific items, and upon locating them, headed to the check-out. This was not a shopping trip, but rather, a quick duck-in to pick up 3 specific times.

When we finished checking out, the cashier handed me this giant, long, register receipt. I swear the thing was nearly 2 feet long - for 3 items.
I gave the cashier a surprised look and said "All this for 3 items?" She just rolled her eyes and made some indecipherable noise/comment.

As we walked to our car I said to Spouse that, with all the emphasis for people to "go green" these days, its surprising that retail chains haven't tried to use less paper by shortening their receipts.

When I looked at the receipt there was all kinds of 'extra' information on it that really isn't necessary. Most of us don't even look at the receipt, and simply throw it in the trash when we get home anyway.

The receipt had an entire paragraph thanking me for shopping at the store, knowing there are lots of options to consumers these days. Another complete paragraph outlined their return policy. The receipt contained a request that I go online and complete a customer survey, which would garner me a $5. gift card to use in the store. The name of the store manager, his email address, and his phone number were on the receipt. Even items that were going to be on sale the following week (read: not on sale now) were listed on the receipt. It was ridiculous!

This got me to thinking about how much money companies could save it they reduced the length of their register receipts. My receipt could easily have been less than 1/2 its length and still given me all the necessary info. But if a company cut the size of their register receipts in 1/2, they would spend only 1/2 their current budget on the actual receipt tape that goes into the registers.

To quantify this, let's just say that any of the major retail chains (Best Buy, Sears, Target, WalMart) spends $100,000. a year on receipt tape. If they cut the length of their receipts in 1/2 by removing all the useless info that nobody reads anyway, they could save $50,000. a year. And that's saying nothing of the trees they'd save.

Why don't retailers understand or implement this? Anyone know?

Crush du Jour: Grant Bowler