Do you want a receipt

[Bunnybenty]

I moved to England not that long ago.

In other countries that I lived in, they just gave me a receipt in the shops, everytime that I bought something. The receipt was always handed to me with the purchase.

Why in the UK do they not just give the receipt to you,

instead they always ASK you if you want a receipt.

What annoys me about it, is that it slows the shopping experience down so much.

Many times I have been called back to the till, to be asked if i want a receipt.

Example: I was in a small shop this morning. I only had a certain amount of time, as i was on the way to work. I was walking out of the door, when the woman at the till shouted at me "Wait. Come back! come back!".

I thought maybe my payment hadn't gone through, so I walked all the way back to her.

She said "Do you want a receipt?".

It drives me mad!

Its a standard question in the USA as well.

A lot of tills don’t automatically print receipts, hence being asked if you’d like one.

In Italy you have to be given a paper receipts as proof of purchase to evidence that tax has been paid. The customer can be fined if they do not have a receipt.

From experience in retail we were always targeted for emails taken. Just excuses to get your email to send you emails 3-5x a day. I hated doing it and they say it’s so we can send a receipt which is untrue it’s because of targets.

I think it’s good to be asked. If I was purchasing an electrical item or clothing for instance I would take the receipt in case it needed to be returned but for grocery shopping I would probably say no unless I wanted to check if I’d been overcharged for something.

What’s the harm in being asked? I prefer it so that I’m not constantly emptying bags of receipts I don’t need or want. It becomes another item to recycle at home.

Yes, I’ve lived and worked in France and Italy. I didn’t go on social media to complain about silly things.

I grew up in america so I know how you feel, however I have a simple solution.

A) when paying, say no receipt or receipt please as you pay.

B) if A is too much, then contact your travel agent, buy a one way ticket to go and make sure you ask for a receipt before you leave 🤭

C) You see the humour in B response above and dont sweat the small stuff as it will become normal and you will soon be upset when they start asking for your email address instead.

😊😊😊

The worst part of self-service is when you click NO to the receipt and then get trapped before the exit because you have to scan your receipt to get out of the barriers 🤣

OP, I do hope if you are a driver and have moved between countries which drive on different sides of the road you are able to cope with driving on the correct side of the road. Even my husband’s Alzheimer’s addled brain manages to cope with knowing where in the world he is and can check he is driving on the correct side of the road.

Perhaps you might try and ingrain in your brain to say ‘No receipt thanks’ wherever in the world you are. Would that help your confusion? If they 'have' to give you a receipt then that's up to them to explain.

The paper can't be recycled, so that is a good issue for the consumer, but a cost issue also for the seller. I ask for one if it's something I may need to return. The hardware in my shop doesn't give paper receipts but I can send a text or email one (though I'm an independent so it doesn't sign you up to anything)

I think it started in the pandemic mainly when we were trying not to have any unnecessary contact. The push for using card only happened as well.

Think OP you just need to get over it. There's more annoying things happening.

I don’t think the argument is over receipts anymore.

Laughing at or laughing with? There is quite a difference.

Yes, Sainsbury’s are terrible for this ( sometimes Boots too). You come away with a small forest of paper that most likely ends up in the bin ( or worse, for people who seem to think littering is ok)

Ah come on! A receipt given to every single consumer across the UK for every single transaction can't be much paper? Logic being because other countries do it? How does another country doing it mean it can't amount to much paper ...

They don’t legally have to give a receipt in the UK!

There are about 55 million adults in the UK. Let's say that 40 million of them buy something each day and get a receipt, which works out at 14,600 million receipts a year just in the UK. That's one heck of a lot of trees.

Maybe other countries should follow the UK's lead on this one.

She said "laughing with"

And yet....Here you are!

And yet you continued to post ... some 6x after this? 🙄

Perhaps the friends didn't turn up...

Or... OP ditched friends to post on MN about receipts. 😁

Im allowed to if I want, you know - as an adult with free will?

Jesus christ. The people on here.

Jesus Christ, are you STILL going?

Have a day off!