This is a brief post about an encouraging experience I had the other day. A few months ago we wrote about Software Advice’s receipt poll. Namely, they were asking whether readers were in favor of paper receipts or doing away with the small slips. I wrote a follow up that included the poll’s results and an anecdote about standing behind what I presumed to be a small shop owner spending more than $50 dollars on eight rolls of receipt paper.

The other day I had a more encouraging experience. While checking out at the Whole Foods in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, the cashier asked if we wanted a paper receipt. This is nothing new as I have been asked this before only to respond no while the cashier threw away a second copy. This was different however. After replying in the negative, no receipt was produced. Not one for the cashier or me. When asked, he said that they started doing it a few days prior and he estimated that 80% of the people checking out declined a receipt.

On a related note, the Washington Post just carried an article claiming that BPA (Bisphenol-A), a chemical that may lead to health problems has been found in paper receipts.

Perhaps this is the start of a small shift toward paperless receipts at retails other than Apple.  Small steps often lead nowhere. On occasion though, they can be the start of a movement.

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