After paying up on a coffee shop yesterday, i was wondering how much paper is wasted on receipts all around the world.<p>I don't know if are there any solutions out there (i live in Portugal), but what i've thought of was that a service could be implemented that would setup a device at the venues that would generate a bar/qr code for the bill, which could be scanned by the customer using a mobile app.<p>the mobile app could even integrate with an on-line personal finance management app.<p>what do you think?
The Apple stores (in Canada, at least) have the ability to email receipts to the email address associated with your credit card instead of printing one. By the time I walk out the door my phone buzzes with a copy of my receipt coming into my inbox. I absolutely love this - it also helps that I don't have to save my receipts for warranties since I can instead just run a search for them.<p>I hope more stores catch onto this model.
It wouldn't be hard for eg the Nectar card in the UK to be extended to support this. The principal use case I see is for expense submission rather than personal accounting; rather than having to photocopy each receipt and send them all to finance, log on to the loyalty card website and tick the transactions that need to be shared with one's employer.
I like the idea of electronic receipts. If you weren't bothered about wasting paper you could print the code on the paper receipt; otherwise, you'd need a dedicated device to transmit the QR code.<p>I wonder how big the QR code needs to be in order to encode all the information on the receipt; those thermal receipt printers aren't that great. How about an app that uses the phone camera to scan the entire receipt, then reads the text? That way you don't need any dedicated equipment at all.<p>I've always liked how the Apple store sends me a receipt to my email address. However, I'm not sure I'd like to give my email address to every coffee shop just so they could mail me a PDF.
The guy who won Entrepreneur magazine's Student Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009 did so with the idea of paperless/digital receipts. You can see his service here:<p><a href="http://www.3secondreceipts.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.3secondreceipts.com/</a>
<a href="http://paperphobic.com/" rel="nofollow">http://paperphobic.com/</a><p>I thought something like exists. Just searched a bit on searchyc and got it. This idea does not exactly match your thoughts, but somewhat close.
I think that a problem this large would (perhaps) be best solved by the credit card companies themselves (unless folks don't mind giving out their email address to every cashier). They already know who I am, what I'm buying, and when, so it'd make sense if they were to handle the digital receipt as well.<p>But I highly doubt they'd implement this b/c its not their core business.
Delicious idea.
hard implementation, mostly because (in)compatibility with existing hardware/software already in stores.<p>One way to minimize the compatibility issue with existing software, is create a (hardware) printer (generic), that print on screen, and generate the barcode so the user may scan.<p>i love the part of "integrate with an on-line personal finance".
there are also some legal issues.<p>bring it on!
I would love to have this kind of solution. Not only to save trees but also avoid having a wallet full of small papers. My wallet looks like a fat monster most of the time.
yReceipts offers this service for any retailers already. We are live in the UK and Australia, soon to be live in the US and other European countries. You can send receipts via email from any POS, the customer receives an email with an attached PDF. We have a website where you can login and see your receipts etc.<p>New features currently being developed include exporting directly to accounting programs.
www.yreceipts.com