Why Paper Receipts?
In the United States, receipt use results in the annual destruction of more than three million trees and nearly nine billion gallons of water. The manufacturing of receipts results in the annual production of nearly 300 million pounds of solid waste and the emission of the same amount of greenhouse gases as more than 400,000 cars on the road. Moreover, the vast majority of thermal paper receipts have a coating made of BPA or BPS, putting people who frequently handle receipts in contact with potentially harmful chemicals.
What kind of receipt do you like to use the most?
In response to this question, 42 percent of respondents indicated a preference for paper receipts, 34 percent indicated a preference for both paper and digital receipts, 17 percent indicated a preference for digital receipts, and 7 percent indicated a preference for no receipt at all. When the data is broken down by age category, we notice that the choice for digital is greatest among customers who are 44 years old or younger, and the preference for not receiving a receipt is highest among customers who are 16 to 24 years old.
70 per cent of those who prefer digital cite the fact that it is better for the environment and easy to store as the reason for their preference.
What we finding?
Over a third of those surveyed said that they often dispose of paper receipts without giving it much thought. A further one-third would like to see businesses make more efforts to cut down on the use of paper receipts. More than a quarter of those who participated in the survey voiced their worry about the fact that the United States uses 256,300 tonnes of thermal paper for receipts annually. Also, twenty percent of those who participated in the survey were clueless as to why we still use paper receipts.
The vast majority of people living in the United States want retailers to provide digital receipt choices.
One in four individuals would rather have digital alternatives or none at all, with the majority of members of this group being younger than 44 years old.
Paper receipts are preferred by slightly less than half of respondents, with the bulk of supporters falling in age groups older than 45.5 times a month, customers say that they have lost receipts that they had wanted to save.
