Digitial copies are more convenient and easy to manage than paper filing for most people. I do understand that some haven’t got their head around technology yet, possibly making it less convenient in the short-term.
3 Likes
But technology is becoming increasingly all-consuming. Those who resist could well have interesting and richer lives as they live life directly. A simple example is that once upon a time we needed something and went to the shop, or two or three, to check the market and buy something. Now many of us research products and prices for countless hours, sometime to the point of confusion. Then we spend time keeping our IT systems up, running, patched, and as secure as we can.
Photos from a smartphone need to go somewhere. The cloud? Of course it all happens by magic but there are various costs, some beyond $. The SD card? Lose your phone or have a corrupted card and voila, all is lost.
Turning off the technology turns off many interesting things like this forum, but it also maximises ‘real life time’. You get the thermal paper receipt regardless and putting it in a file takes a few seconds. Scanning each takes a minute or two. Multiply that by the numbers of things we each buy and it adds up over time. Some might find this a minor inconvenience and a superior filing system, while others would contend ‘why should I have to?’ Mandating a non-fading receipt makes sense although presents technological/economic challenges and thus a difficult path to replace today’s cheap and portable thermal printers with something else.
Could we discuss changes to technology to improve things? Ad nauseum! But as you note, there are and will always remain those who are adverse to technology they find intrusive or abusive to their lives, so it is an honest question what about them and their rights within the broad question of vanishing receipts?
4 Likes
The ATO app has a ‘capture receipt’ button for just this purpose under ‘My Deductions’
3 Likes
So you give your email address out this easily?
2 Likes
I happily hand out expendable email addresses - but they are selected for that reason and not the one(s) I use for people I care about. It’s interesting to see what spam said expendable addresses end up receiving - they get sorted into an appropriate mailbox and the address is terminated with extreme prejudice when no longer required. I reference my contacts to determine safe senders as well, and sort accordingly, in much the same way as my mobile and home phones don’t even ring - straight to voicemail - unless the number presents and is in my address book …
5 Likes
Sometimes, and I have not gotten any spam or unwanted marketing from JBHiFI, and I keep a number of addresses as does @draughtrider.
3 Likes
I got an email this morning from www.haveibeenpwned.com (run by an Australian security guy), answering in the affirmative for one of my email addresses. I downloaded the list of 3,000-odd domains, but couldn’t recognise any of them.
That said, the pwnage is to some extent hypothetical - but again, a reminder not to reuse passwords except on thermal paper.
2 Likes
oh but it gets worse!
A lot of thermal receipts contain BPA which can be transefered to and absorbed by the skin.
ref: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/03/the-health-risk-of-bpa-in-receipts/index.htm
It is more likely to be of concern to shop assistants who handle receipts regularly but it does raise health and safetly issues.
Because of this I refuse thermal receipts whenever I can.
Also as thermal receipts are a ‘plastic’ rather than a paper they can’t be recycled as ‘paper’, but the public are largely unaware of this so large amounts of thermal receipts contaminate recycled paper and cardboard streams.
I would love if legal issues re the longevity of thermal receipts forced a change in law to require paper receipts as it would be better for everyone’s health and the environment.
7 Likes
My first reaction to that was a question, that turned into an education. Thanks for posting that!
4 Likes
This topic puts me in mind of a story by one of the Australian bush poets, Henry Lawson I think but I can’t find it now. It concerns an outback woman who would borrow money and issue an IOU. She was not an itinerant and gave a good story as to why she needed the money so people trusted her.
One of the lenders carefully put the IOU in his wallet and went on his way intending to return some time later to reclaim the money. When he got it out the IOU disintegrated! The woman made this into a regular scam. She would bake the IOUs in the oven. They would look OK for a while but after that quickly turn into dust and fragments.
3 Likes
Yep, I only give out on the fly, unique email addresses when asked. Heh, the number of times I’m asked if I work for their company, having an email like <their company>@<my domain>
2 Likes
Ooh and re BPA, try saying “phthalate” 3 times fast
1 Like
“Sure I do - did you apply the staff discount?” 
2 Likes
I guess a disclaimer here- I work for an Australian company that makes exercise equipment (balls etc) that are BPA, phthalate and latex free by design.
1 Like
I’d like to think it’s also better for security if I can have every login for every site using a unique email and unique password
2 Likes
Choice receipts
Keeping copies of receipts is very important these days as receipts can fade to white in a short time in the wrong conditions meaning you won’t get a refund or repair for faulty goods if you no longer have a legible receipt. I noticed that some people have mentioned different methods of getting or keeping receipts. My printer has a scanner built in so what I do is pop the receipts in a drawer in my desk. Every 10 days or so I scan the receipts and label them accordingly, eg: Bunnings Power saw & blades. The scans are automatically dated and the date of purchase is visible on the scanned receipt. All the scans are kept in a folder on my computer. It has been handy to be able to locate a receipt that hasn’t faded when required.
I have noticed quite a few different receipt keeping apps, some involving iPhones and others using portable scanners. Would anyone who uses a receipt keeping device/app care to comment on the pros and cons of the one they use? Some seem quite difficult.
3 Likes
Hi @njwch2,
As an environmentalist and fellow health nutter, I too was scared by the news of potential health effects from BPA and thermal receipts. I decided to check the integrity of these claims, and soon found that these news reports were misrepresenting the science for the benefit of fear-mongering.
After a thorough review, EFSA (European Food Standards Authority) conclude that there is “no health concern for BPA at the estimated levels of exposure” as far as diet goes. They also said that this applied “to prenatally exposed children” (in other words, one less thing for pregnant women to worry about).
You need to consume millions times more than you already do currently before seeing any effects. Remember that dosage makes the toxin. Some great evidence-based summaries of the evidence around BPA can be found here:
“In summary, despite the scary headlines there really is no need to worry too much about BPA from plastics or receipts.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/26/283030949/government-studies-suggest-bpa-exposure-from-food-isn-t-risky
“And even when rats got more than 70,000 times what a typical American ingests, there was no change in body weight, reproductive organs or hormone levels, the scientists reported. “In the low-dose range, there really were no biologically significant changes observed at all,” Doerge says.”
Long story short: BPA is not a scary chemikill. 
4 Likes
In reality, one doesn’t really need an app. An app just makes the filing and managment of the receipt images easier.
One can just take a photo of an app using the camera on ones phone. The file name of the image can be renamed to that which allows easy recognition which purchase the receipt is for and then moved/files in a folder for later reference, if needed. It is unlikely that one will have copious number of receipts/receipt images so just renaming and filing will work for most consumers.
3 Likes
Perhaps you missed this from earlier in the discussion:
I agree with @phb you don’t need an app - as I wrote in the last paragraph of the above article.
3 Likes
Woolworths has recently introduced electronic receipts (known as eReceipts) via their Everyday Rewards program and app. Whilst this has not been mandated as the default option for all consumers, there are nevertheless several impacts which have not been considered upfront:
-
consumers without a modern smartphone will continue to utilise paper receipts. This includes the elderly who may not be IT literate, but forcing them to use eReceipts will have massive change management impacts.
-
the onus of proof of purchase by consumers becomes more important, especially as keen shoppers tend to go from store to store to find the best bargains and without returning purchased goods to their vehicles. In the case of a consumer that users public transport to go shopping to a mall and is enrolled in eReceipts, their mobile phone becomes the only evidence of proof of purchase. If they lose their phone then a vast array of services may need to be frozen or changed. Moreover, how will other food retailers (such as Coles and Aldi) view and/or accept eReceipts issued by Woolworths especially when there is a continuing problem of shoplifting occurring and what guarantees are in place to ensure that consumers will not be inadvertently accused of stealing goods merely by opting in for the convenience of eReceipts.
-
How will refunds be processed for consumers presenting eReceipts?
Whilst I support the concept of eReceipts to reduce the use of thermal paper and inks, along with lessening the likelihood of identity theft, there are societal impacts that need to be considered before consumers blindly opt in for this change. To date Woolworths has not embarked on mass change by providing rewards enticements but no doubt this will occur in the near future too.
2 Likes
