“As the customer chooses, there is no problem”: the end of the systematic printing of receipts in August 2023 had caused some commotion, but the measure taken in the name of ecology is now becoming common practice consumers.
Noon struck. At the self-checkouts of the Super U store in Montgeron, in Essonne, students from the nearby high school scan sandwiches, drinks or trays of sushi. “Did you see? No one takes a ticket,” observes the store’s owner, Antoine Bresson.
The Cooperative U brand (formerly Système U) had anticipated the movement, by putting an end to the systematic printing of receipts, which include details of its customers’ purchases, from April 2021.
A simple and inexpensive measure to implement – the paper budget of a supermarket is of the order of a few thousand euros per year – it is also rather beneficial for the image of distributors.
Result: two years later, at the checkouts of the 4th largest French food distributor (behind E.Leclerc, Carrefour and Intermarché), only one customer in two now chooses to print a paper receipt.
“We always suggest that customers print the receipt, specifying that with the loyalty card they can also receive them” or find them in the distributor’s application, explains Fahima, a cashier for 9 years in the Essonne store, which employs around 70 people.
She notes that older people are more attached to printed tickets than younger generations.
“Historically, the store sells a lot of non-food products, clothing, bazaar, in which case customers are more likely to ask for the ticket for questions of guarantees or exchanges,” specifies its boss Antoine Bresson.
– “Budget management tool” –
At the national level, 28% of French people say they refuse “more than before” the printing of receipts, according to an OpinionWay survey carried out at the request of the technical federation of mass distribution Perifem.
It’s still quite little, but “it’s a strong increase, by six points compared to the previous year”, notes the general delegate of Perifem, Franck Charton. “And we see that through the loyalty card, via email or SMS, the French are moving towards dematerialization.”
In addition, the concerns raised when the measure came into force have been generally allayed: printing is still possible and dematerialization can even prevent the thoughtless from misplacing the piece of paper providing guarantee.
It was the “anti-waste and circular economy” law, passed in 2020, which provided for the end of the systematic receipt to reduce waste production, in this case, the printing of some 12.5 billion receipts. published each year in France — nearly 400 per second, according to the Ministry of the Economy — and often immediately thrown away by consumers.
But the entry into force of this measure had been postponed twice, from January to August 2023, due to soaring prices in stores.
Several consumer associations, including UFC-Que Choisir and Familles Rurales, recalled that this ticket was “a family budget management tool” for many households, which makes it possible to “verify the accuracy of the transaction amount” .
In certain cases, a ticket remains systematically printed: at a restaurant or hotel; when the warranty must be recalled on the ticket (for household appliances or telephones for example); for canceled operations or when the ticket concerns a provision of services (hairdresser, mechanic, etc.) for an amount greater than 25 euros.
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