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!

So just say "dont worry about the receipt" and toddle off.

Hopefully not as a teacher as you seem a bit stupid to think the two are comparable!

It's to save paper. Other countries obviously have their own way of doing things. It would actually save quite a lot of paper and of course litter throughout the whole country. I've got into the habit of just saying at the point of sale that "I don't want a receipt thanks" or "yes please". It becomes second nature once you get used to doing it.

If you keep getting called back just say before you walk away “I don’t need a receipt thank you”

It depends what you’re buying. If I’m buying something expensive that I might want to return then I expect a receipt. If buying a pint of milk then it’s usually unnecessary and just creates litter.

You wrote in your first post it is only in the UK I have experienced this! Do you not remember 😂😂

Just rude to everyone else 😂😂

Well maybe we are ahead of the curve!

As it's "only in the UK" you have experienced this. Good on us!

Then why are you here?

Really curious 🤔

They are two completely different sentences.

Learn the English language.

"I've only experienced this in the UK"

Does not mean that i think

"this only happens in the U.K."

I tell them that I do/don't need a receipt as I tap my card, job done.
I don't like wasting time.
It might save a tree or two.

If you don't like rudeness, why are you fine with people being rude to me on this thread

I've been called stupid twice now .I've been called unwell.

Strange that you don't like rudeness, but your fine when it is directed at me.

You are hypocritical

Of course it's a massive amount of paper waste.

Try saving all your receipts for a year and then imagine that for every single person.

Mumsnet is good for news updates and information about different topics. I like reading about those.

Mumsnet is not a place for kindness, empathy and support. We all know that

We must read different threads then.

I have found some of the threads on here very moving in terms of the support, understanding and empathy.

There are some arses that pop-up regularly who takes delight in twisting the knife, but they are in the minority.

But I am still Mumsnet bewildered why you posted if you are not expecting anyone to be supportive etc.

It doesn’t save paper as often they just bin the receipt in front of you.
it's also a pain for returning anything if you say no thank you but they don’t tell you that.

I was refusing receipts for a long time but I've started requesting a receipt at every till and cashpoint now. I realised that it was putting me at a potential disadvantage to not have one (I might have the transaction on my bank statement but it isn't itemised) and only saving the retailer money, so it was daft to put myself into that position.

I take a receipt now because I dont have a bag as proof I haven't shoplifted i dont have every bank app on my phone so when I'm getting my dads shopping we always get a receipt as I cant just bring it up on my phone and security guards seem to prefer to shout and embarress people rather than check the tills/footage (yes I saw it in real life not on tiktok before anyone says "it never happens") so before I was less inclined to get a receipt now ive a regular forest full of paper scraps

Yes, I've noticed that, they just throw it in the bin. I'm sure a lot of it is to make returns more difficult

I remember when the paying for a bag thing came in. Drove me mad. Loads of shopping, nah was planning on juggling it home 😂 we’re all used to it now so take our own bags 😂

You’re bonkers OP. If I think I might need the receipt in case of returning something I say “yes”, if not I say as I’m paying “I’ll just leave the receipt thanks.”

It adds no more time to the interaction than any other at a till: “do you need a hand packing?” “Do you need any bags?” “Cash or card?” “Do you need a receipt?”

These are all normal questions. If you know it’s the norm here then stop getting into mad self-inflicted, stressful scenarios over it. Just say “no need for a receipt thank you” as you hand over your cash or tap your card.

YANBU, but so many people don't care about receipts so that's why they ask now

English people are really embarrassed about handing out receipts. A lot of people don’t want them and it’s a really stressful mini interaction that retail staff have to go through hundreds of times a day.

Back when I started working, handing out receipts was a part of the mystery shop/audit and you could fail it for not handling out the receipt. It was an important fraud prevention thing and you weren’t supposed to keep unwanted customer receipts by your till either.

But, as I said, people get embarrassed about handing them out.

Customers can be knobheads about a lot of things and min wage retail can be soul destroying. If people wouldn’t even hand their money to me then they would get a counter full of change back. People get really shocked when you treat them the same as they treat you.

It’s to save paper. So do you want a receipt or not? If so, wait or ask for it, if not walk away. If you’re this stressed about a minor inconvenience, you may have bigger personal issues to address!

I own a shop. I ask customers if they would like a receipt when they have paid. Till rolls are far from cheap so I'm not printing unnecessarily. No one waits until you have pretty much left the shop to shout that question out. If you've walked away, you clearly don't want a receipt!