It also boasts an offer to take a survey and possibly win a $500 gift card. The rules pertaining to said contest are printed on the receipt, and that long block of type could cure insomnia.
And how many items had been purchased to be awarded this 15-inch receipt?
That would be one: a small TV set.
If you buy something today, look out. You could very easily trip over the receipt as you walk out the door. When buying a pack of gum, you might end up with something that looks like the Dead Sea Scrolls. It's the same old story. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier and less complicated.
Right.
I got one receipt from J.C. Penney, and it's close to a foot long.
And it's to mark a purchase of what?
That would be a single T-shirt. It was an extra-large, so maybe that had something to do with it.
This receipt has the store number, 1950, plus the store address and phone number. It also has the shirt's UPC number, 883412110075, the number of items purchased (1) and the numbers of items exchanged (0).
That's not all. According to the receipt, if I go online and tell J.C. Penney about my visit, I can get a coupon for 15% off.
The receipt also mentioned that "Sesame Street" portraits are available.
Why?
Why all of that information?
Some of it is key for returning merchandise, said Tim Lyons, a J.C. Penney spokesman. But a receipt is also a valuable marketing tool.
"It goes right into the customer's hands," Lyons said. "It's valuable real estate."
It doesn't appear that stores are playing Big Brother when it comes to receipts, consumer activists say. They are a form of advertising. But activists urge caution. Redeeming a receipt coupon, for instance, might tell the merchant about your buying habits.
Before computer-style registers became standard in stores, a receipt was a skinny, puny thing - particularly if you bought only a few items. Granted, the grocery store receipt could be a whopper, but it was still only about an inch wide and fun to roll up.
Today?
At many grocery stores, you don't just get a receipt but an accompanying strip of coupons. Just what a consumer needs, a string of coupons after shopping.
Some stores print coupons for other businesses on their receipts. On the back of my Vons receipt I found coupons for a jewelry store, a car wash and an ice cream maker.
I bought some toilet paper, and lo and behold, I'm now eligible to land a watch battery for $4.95.
The longer receipts are a product of the information age, said Dave Heylen, spokesman for the California Grocers Association. They "provide customers with more options, more opportunities," Heylen said.
One company, Apple, is going another route. It offers the choice of having your receipt e-mailed to you.
So it's goodbye paper.
That would mean I could actually use a kitchen drawer for something other than warehousing wads of paper.
Silverware, perhaps?
