Being eco friendly is a trend all business segments strive to meet, not out of love for populism, but because of basic safety and concern for people’s health and the state of our planet. But have you ever considered how ordinary paper receipts are affecting every single one of us? Environmentalists around the world are sounding the alarm and pushing for their abolition. Let’s see the reasons.
Why your every purchase harms the environment and your health
In cash registers, the paper is heated up at the points where printing (black lines, letters or numbers) is applied. As a rule, the thermally sensitive layer of such paper includes a colorless compound named Bisphenol-A. Even in the few seconds that the receipt is in your hands, this unusually harmful toxin penetrates through the skin into your body, adversely affecting your central, endocrine and reproductive systems. It accumulates and is not excreted from the body on its own. Cashiers, as well as employees of banks and other institutions that use cash registers, are the ones exposed to the toxicity the most.
As soon as you throw the receipts in the trash, the toxin gets into the soil. Receipts are not recycled because of the same Bisphenol A, so they are simply sent to a landfill. From there, the harmful substance seeps into the groundwater. By refusing to use receipts printed on thermal paper, you can save thousands of trees, hundreds of thousands of animal lives, and prevent the development of genetic pathologies in generations of people.
How to avoid disaster or the advantages of digital receipts
A competent and radical technological solution can help eliminate all the above-mentioned shortcomings of paper receipts. Digital receipts have become such a solution. Regardless of the segment of use – catering, trade, transportation services, etc. – digital receipts not only mitigate harm to health and the environment, they are also economically beneficial for both parties. In fact, this is an intelligent system that has none of the flaws of the merchandising of the past.
To make it easier to understand, let’s try to analyze the three main advantages of using receipts in the digital format:
- Simple accounting. Both for business owners and for buyers. The former is free from morally and technologically outdated reporting, the latter don’t have to carry a heap of papers in their wallet and fear to lose them (e.g. in case the guarantee is needed). All information is on your smartphone.
- Better interaction. Moreover, this goes both ways: customers will be able to receive notifications about the products and/or services of interest, and the business will be able to create a relevant offer for each client.
- Convenience. The more convenient it is for the client, the more profitable it is for the business. The buyer independently monitors the statistics, receives personalized offers, and, in 40% of cases, comes back to you.
Integrating digital receipts into our everyday life is a matter of time and consciousness.
