EDMONTON – A trend towards paper-less receipts is drawing mixed reactions from consumers and prompting warnings from privacy experts to do your homework before opting for digital alternatives.
“What are they doing with it besides issuing you an electronic receipt?,” Wayne Wood of Alberta’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner posited. “Are they selling it to other companies for marketing purposes?”
More and more stores are implementing systems that allow customers to retreive their receipts through email or websites. Retailers say it helps save money and the environment, though some consumers worry that handing out an email address may make them more vulnerable to spam.
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“They’re going to send you stuff constantly about their deals and promos,” said shopper Sam Watson.
But Chance Bird, an assistant manager at Edmonton retailer Pro Hockey Life, says his store treats customer information with the utmost sensitivity.
“There is no other spam email we don’t give the email address away to anyone at all,” Bird said.
Pro Hockey Life stores made the move to paper-less receipts in June. Customers still have the option of receiving a printed receipt.
Aside from cost savings and environmental impact, Bird says digital receipts offer another benefit – if you lose your paper or email receipt, the transaction is still on file in store for return or warranty purposes.
“It helps keep track of issues for warranties and returns so if customer does lose their receipt they always have a file of it in our system,” he said.
Businesses who use paper-less receipts say you can always opt out of the emails, but privacy experts advise knowing what you’re getting into before handing out any personal information.
“Make sure that you’re comfortable with the organization that you’re dealing with, that they have the proper policies in place for storage of that information and possible destruction of that information,” Wood said.Pro Hockey Life
With files from Julie Matthews.
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