I stopped into CVS to pick up a little bag of candy for a present. I took it to the cash register, tapped in my frequent shopper number and stuck my credit card into the reader. Like the Chef of the Future, zip, zip, at that point I should have been done. But I'm a person who likes his receipts. Ever since I got my first credit card, I have collected them after purchases to match up against my end-of-the month bill. Even though I can now get them texted or emailed to me, I still prefer the paper version. I opted for that on the reader, and waited for a short slip of paper. But out spit a receipt that could have served as a guide as to who was tall enough to ride Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
The "receipt" part of the receipt took up precious little space: the actual tally for my bag of candy consumed less than 3 inches of paper. But likely based on my past purchases as noted in my frequent shopper account, the rest of the yard long reckoning contained coupons for shaving cream, Band-Aids, vitamin C and a host of other sundry items that I had picked up over the last year or so. Beyond that there was an invitation to provide feedback. Upcoming promotions. Legal disclaimers. Status of my frequent shopper account. All things I neither needed or wanted. And all those notes add up: estimates are that US businesses generate about 180,000 tons of paper receipts per year.
But it turns out that at issue is not just the use of trees, but the ink, or more precisely, the coating. Many of those paper receipts are not printed on regular stock, but on coated paper using a thermal process. That's what makes them shiny and liable to fade or smudge when scratched with a fingernail. It's cheap, which is why it's used. But it's also potentially hazardous to your health. That's because the coating on the paper is usually BPA, the same stuff that was banned from baby bottles and sippy cups in 2012, and phased out of water bottles for adults shortly thereafter. That coating also makes the paper unable to be recycled.
That one-two combo of environmental impact and a known toxin is what led California Assemblyman Phil Ting to introduce a bill that would require businesses to provide electronic receipts by default unless a customer asks for a paper one. Patterned after a similar measure aimed at plastic straws, the bill would give businesses until 2022 to comply. Green legislation? Healthier living? Moving physical assets to electronic alternatives? Adding to California's progressive pedigree? Check, check, check, check. Legislation made in liberal heaven.
Not so fast. The "Skip the Slip" legislation was derailed by the "Keep the Receipt" campaign organized by the American Forest and Paper Association. They and their business associates leaned on the members of the State Legislature to first scale it back, and then eventually kill the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Assemblyman Ting said, "We are very disappointed. We think this bill made a lot of sense and had clear environmental impacts." But Big Paper went to battle with a full ream. Said Lobbyist Jessica Mause, "We're pleased that legislators recognized paper receipts are not only preferred by the majority of consumers, but are also safe for consumers and employees." Probably helped that they were not writing receipts, but rather checks.
As it turns out, the battle isn't over, just switching coasts. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has announced his intent to introduce similar legislation banning BPA coated receipts. It would require all stores and banks that issue paper receipts to use recyclable paper, and even for large stores and banks to provide receptacles in which to dump them. Repeated violators would incur fines of as much as $1,000. Soon receipts could join foie gras, flavored e-cigarette and wild bird poaching as outlawed in the Big Apple.
Speaking for myself, even if this becomes law, if I buy a pack of mints in New York City I'll still be able to get my sliver of paper and check it off against my monthly reckoning. And those end of month tallies themselves? They keep trying to get me paperless there as well. They can dream.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford has an accounting system that works. Mostly. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The "receipt" part of the receipt took up precious little space: the actual tally for my bag of candy consumed less than 3 inches of paper. But likely based on my past purchases as noted in my frequent shopper account, the rest of the yard long reckoning contained coupons for shaving cream, Band-Aids, vitamin C and a host of other sundry items that I had picked up over the last year or so. Beyond that there was an invitation to provide feedback. Upcoming promotions. Legal disclaimers. Status of my frequent shopper account. All things I neither needed or wanted. And all those notes add up: estimates are that US businesses generate about 180,000 tons of paper receipts per year.
But it turns out that at issue is not just the use of trees, but the ink, or more precisely, the coating. Many of those paper receipts are not printed on regular stock, but on coated paper using a thermal process. That's what makes them shiny and liable to fade or smudge when scratched with a fingernail. It's cheap, which is why it's used. But it's also potentially hazardous to your health. That's because the coating on the paper is usually BPA, the same stuff that was banned from baby bottles and sippy cups in 2012, and phased out of water bottles for adults shortly thereafter. That coating also makes the paper unable to be recycled.
That one-two combo of environmental impact and a known toxin is what led California Assemblyman Phil Ting to introduce a bill that would require businesses to provide electronic receipts by default unless a customer asks for a paper one. Patterned after a similar measure aimed at plastic straws, the bill would give businesses until 2022 to comply. Green legislation? Healthier living? Moving physical assets to electronic alternatives? Adding to California's progressive pedigree? Check, check, check, check. Legislation made in liberal heaven.
Not so fast. The "Skip the Slip" legislation was derailed by the "Keep the Receipt" campaign organized by the American Forest and Paper Association. They and their business associates leaned on the members of the State Legislature to first scale it back, and then eventually kill the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Assemblyman Ting said, "We are very disappointed. We think this bill made a lot of sense and had clear environmental impacts." But Big Paper went to battle with a full ream. Said Lobbyist Jessica Mause, "We're pleased that legislators recognized paper receipts are not only preferred by the majority of consumers, but are also safe for consumers and employees." Probably helped that they were not writing receipts, but rather checks.
As it turns out, the battle isn't over, just switching coasts. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has announced his intent to introduce similar legislation banning BPA coated receipts. It would require all stores and banks that issue paper receipts to use recyclable paper, and even for large stores and banks to provide receptacles in which to dump them. Repeated violators would incur fines of as much as $1,000. Soon receipts could join foie gras, flavored e-cigarette and wild bird poaching as outlawed in the Big Apple.
Speaking for myself, even if this becomes law, if I buy a pack of mints in New York City I'll still be able to get my sliver of paper and check it off against my monthly reckoning. And those end of month tallies themselves? They keep trying to get me paperless there as well. They can dream.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford has an accounting system that works. Mostly. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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