People giving their email at tills

[Northernlass99]

Went in three shops today which asked me for my email address. Not directly but....
‘Would you like a 10% off voucher emailed to you’
‘Have we got your details on our product registry’
‘Are you on our system’

I just say no thanks.

AIBU to be surprised how many people just gave their email address? They don’t know anything about what it would be used for, weather it would be sold on, would they receive spam, are the company GDPR compliant, do they have enough security to prevent hacking of your information etc.

Of course you can always unsubscribe but it may have been sold on by then.

An emailed receipt might be handy but surely at the end of the day they are just after your contact details to sell you more stuff?

I feel that now I've stopped dyeing my hair and gone grey I can get away with saying that I don't have email. They look a bit surprised but accept it. I don't really care whether they have my email address or not, I just can't be bothered spelling it out (non standard surname spelling so I always have to correct people).

Like many (must people?) I have specific email addresses for this kind of thing so I don't have to give my 'real' one.

I generally don't bother in shops though because it takes too long.

Coming from someone who works in retail.
Under new laws you can opt out of marketing emails. We ask this mainly to send an email receipt. It’s always the people who moan about giving an email who loose the paper receipt and then try and kick off for a refund with no receipt. It is there to protect you and give you options. Trust me it’s a ball ache taking the details.

So I get asked, can I have your email address so I can email you the receipt.

NO. Just give me the paper receipt.

It's just a pathetic marketing ploy. Why would anyone want to give out their email address just to get loads of crap in your inbox. Even if you've set up a special email address to give out... why?

I never give an email address out to a shop. And I never lose my paper receipt. I have somewhere I keep them. So it's not protecting me. It's enabling shops and companies to inundate you with crap.

I don't buy stuff deliberately intending to return, and I don't lose paper receipts for big purchases. Thanks for the concern but no, I don't have email for that.

YABU - if you don't want to give your email then don't but nothing wrong with those who do - happy to get an email receipt.

I hate it when they ask you as if you don’t have a choice eg you give someone something at the tills, it could be something as small as a candle, they scan it and then say ‘what’s your postcode?’ And then ‘what’s your email?’. I find it intrusive that they ask this. Sometimes I give it and sometimes I don’t but usually when I do it’s because I’m taken by surprise and am very British about not wanting to make a fuss (I know, I know). It takes away the option putting it that way rather than ‘could I have your postcode?’ Which I know is silly because I don’t have to, but it sort of makes me feel, especially when I’m in a queue and everyone before me has given the info, that it’s required to complete the transaction.

It’s not a marketing ploy as they can’t send you marketing emails without your consent. Which you can say no to but still have a paper receipt. It’s people like you who we all hate serving it’s not personal we don’t want your email I don’t want to know your name I don’t care I’m just doing my job.

I don't like email receipts so refuse simply because l ordered an item in Argos. Went to collect and got an email receipt.....except it never arrived. Which was a complete PITA as the item was faulty and needed to be returned.

Fortunately as it was Argos l could prove my case as l had the order email still.

"It’s people like you who we all hate serving"

What, for not wanting to give you my email and postcode when all I wanted was a piece of chocolate? It's not just your marketing either - who else is listening or intercepting as I give out my kids' address?? It seems to be a strong sentiment on your side.

"Just say no" .

Yabu. I have an email address used just for stuff like this. I don't want a paper receipt that I'll lose.

I always give mine. Electronic reciepts are fab. Especially if it’s something you may need to return. I can keep it on my phone and won’t lose it amongst all the others/spill water on it.

Can’t say i’ve noticed an increase in spam so I don’t think they’re passing info on. Do get a couple of sales emails- one’s with discounts are useful, if it’s just advertising I unsubscribe, job done.

In my shop we don't have the ability to print out paper receipts and the only way the credit card/till provider offers receipts is by SMS or email. However we don't get to see those details, they are simply for the credit card processing company to send the receipt (including to cash buyers) and the details are not stored on our system. We cannot add anyone to a mailing list etc from those details as they never pass through us, but we do make sure that customers know that, and they always have the option of opting out of having a receipt. Since GDPR, we would be in deep trouble if we used those email addresses (even if we could see them) for anything other than the purpose the customer has agreed to (in our case, sending a receipt to them).

Then I wouldn't be buying anything big in your shop that I'm likely to want a receipt for, notanalien. There are other shops, or maybe I can manage without. Is it just me, or does it begin to feel as if someone is desperate to sell something on this thread?

It doesn’t really bother me. I’m another who has a different email address just for this sort of thing. It’s also handy if you need to claim under guarantee. I could never find old paper receipts when I needed them.

I think you’re being dramatic and paranoid frankly. There are much more pressing issues in this world where you can better direct your anger.

It’s against GDPR for companies to opt you into marketing emails like this without your consent. When I worked at Topshop, taking email addresses at the till was for e-receipts only. It is a singular email of an emailed copy of your receipt, which can just stay in your email inbox ready to access whenever you may need it. E-receipts are very useful - many people lose their paper receipts and still want to return items. Believe it or not, more people wanted an e receipt than not.

There was a separate checkbox for marketing emails, this is unselected by default. So no, e receipts aren’t selling you anything further.

Secondly if you had any actual experience with GDPR, you’d know that an email address is a very minor aspect of personal data. No one will be able to hack you based upon email address alone, especially if it’s not associated with an account with the retailer. If there was a data breach, it would be incredibly minor in the eyes of the law whereby the data commissioners wouldn’t penalise the company as harshly as you think.

I'm more likely to delete an email than lose a paper receipt! I always say no to giving out my email address as I have to spell my first and last names and can't be bothered half the time

I give my email address out whenever they ask me but I have a hotmail type account that I only use for that kind of thing so it's no big deal.

I can't believe how many people are saying email receipts are great because paper receipts can be lost. Yes, they can be lost, but realistically, how hard is it to keep a slip of paper? Maybe it is because I have always kept my receipts, but I don't recall ever, in over 50 years of shopping, wanting to return an item (though again, like another poster, I don't tend to buy items with the intention of returning them) and not having the receipt with which to do so. They go in my purse, along with the card I have just used to purchase them.

I just say no thanks.

I got stuck behind some poor grandad who got suckered into this in build a bear the other today. It took them forever to get through all their spiel. It was ridiculous.

I don't need an email receipt, I am organised enough not to lose the paper one. Email has been around for years. If shops were so keen to provide an electronic receipt as a customer service they would have done it years ago. Asking for your email address is a way of getting around GDPR.

One of the reasons I prefer to online shop these days are the twenty questions you face at tillpoints. Debenhams and Superdrug are the worse offenders got this. No I don't want a SIM card, Jo Lo's new perfume or an exorbitant APR storecard.

Suddenly not wanting to be personally identifiable or contacted every time we make a minor purchase is being 'dramatic and paranoid'?

This thread begins to sound like an aggressive male pushing his way into a 'nice girl's' company or house. Retailers do not have a right to ask for personal contact information: they've never needed it before: those supporting it here are simultaneously saying they have no need for it now either while making needlessly aggressive statements in defence of doing so. You're ensuring that I never will in my life.

I hate hate hate email receipts!
I worked at Mothercare for a couple of years and we had to do email receipts. You had to get 40% of all the customers you served email or you got hauled into the office and bollocked. Didn’t matter that half the time the customers were just buying a packet of wipes or a jar of food on didn’t even want a paper copy let alone an emailed one!

I was quite glad to get made redundant!

Now if I get asked for my email I ask the person serving if they are targeted on it. If it’s a yes I will give them my email as I know how miserable it is asking.