They got off easy.

No matter what you buy, Sears gives you pages and pages of receipt. I thought they had done my taxes by mistake form all the paperwork they gave me after I bought a screwdriver.

@Trencher93: I don't remember you complaining when your rebate check showed up. Luckily they know how to itemize a horse with a clock in it's stomach.

The Coalition for the Betterment of Large Paper Products would prefer if you referred to them as "Receipts of Size".

But yeah, I've gone to CVS and Rite Aid and gotten impossibly long receipts. Buy product X, receipt prints out with info, two coupons, instructions on how to join their "savings" program, instructions on filling out their questionnaire to possibly win X prize, their address and some other useless information. It's incredible.

You have to hand it to them though, those extra care bucks do come in handy. Especially if you're a girl, I will use them to buy silly overpriced cosmetics... their just like cash at CVS. Save a little bit of tree or save a few dollars... what would you do in a pinch?

(And this is comming from a tree-hugging, vegetarian type... girls still got to pay the bills somehow)

I once bought a pack of gum from Wal-Mart. It was my only purchase. Wouldn't think I'd get a big receipt, right? Well, no.

The receipt I got could have been used as wrapping paper for the pack of gum. It was that long.

@OmniZero: Wow! That must have been super-long!

My local hardware store (licensed by Ace) doesn't have receipts - instead, when you buy, say, a $0.10 grommet, you get an entire 8.5x11" INVOICE . On pink printer paper. CVS' couponery is nothing compared to that.

Don't most stores put their legal disclaimers on the back of the receipt? It seems like that would cut down on, well, three or four inches of printing.

I simply tear off the actual receipt & hand the add on junk back to the cashier asking them nicely to dispose of their garbage for me ...

Works every time & you don't have to be rude about it ... believe me, the cashiers where I shop are generally embarrassed by those impossibly long "receipts" ...

Suprised CVS has not caught more flack from "green" groups over this horrid waste of paper. Not to mention it's thermal paper that is coated with chemicals.

I am a male and get tons of coupons on my CVS receipts for makeup and other products I would never buy in 100 years.

I am glad this is posted on the Consumerist again. CVS needs pressure to do something about this. They can easily make each coupon smaller as a start and then take other steps to make the receipts shorter.

@winstonthorne: they're also running off a computer system from 1972.

Reminds me of my good ole Circuit City receipts. I would buy a soda from them because I was thirsty trying to find something i'd actually buy and I'd end up with a widescreen receipt about two feet long.

@starzshine: Yeah, I hoard up expensive CVS purchases and use the coupons and Extra Care Bucks wisely... generally, every 2-3 months, I buy about $50 worth of stuff for $20 - $25.

Too long receipts. The horror! They purchase the paper for the reciepts, they pay for the ink, they pay for the register to print it.

Take the receipt home and throw it in the recycling bin. It may have been composed of recycled paper to begin with.

Nice dog though

Folks, if you don't want a long receipt at CVS, don't use your Extra Care card. However, you then give up all rights to complain that you're not getting any coupons or the sale price. I'm willing to put up with it, but if you're not, that's your decision. Yes, I'm male, but my wife might want the cosmetic or feminine hygiene coupons. That's the thing about coupons...hopefully they're targeted well, but often are hit or miss.

Usually I don't find wasting paper to be a big deal - after all, its made from pine trees, which are a cash crop - but given the ammount of chemical crap that reciept paper is made with you think they could at least reduce it to one disclaimer for all their reciept coupons.

@Etoiles: I have a friend who's kept a running tally and has, to date, gotten over $1500 free from CVS. Sometimes he even gets money back instead of paying, it's incredible. Unfortunately, it also means he ends up with things like...glucose monitors that he will most likely never need. Silly.

@winstonthorne: they're running on a multi part stationary - 1 for the customer, 1 for accounts.

our Home Hardware runs the same system. the customer gets the pink copy, the office gets the gold.

not from 1972 btw. Dot Matrix printers and multi part stationary are still the most efficient system for a lot of stores where multiple copies are needed.. you can print 1 time instead of 3, 4 or more times with an inkjet or a laser.

I used to enjoy the reams of CVS bonus coupons; now, not so much. Why? Because their computer used to give me coupons for things they knew I bought with some regularity; also, the free "Extra Bucks" appeared to add up more abundantly. Now I get coupons for crap I would never, ever buy, or else the same damn coupon every time I'm there -- Zantac 175 anyone? How about some tampons for the post-menopausal woman? And every other month or so, a measly $2 extra bucks. Still, it's where I like to buy my prescriptions, so I'll keep going there.

Beautiful Aussie :)

I have a Blue Merle

I'll say it again: CVS should make coupons electronic and tied to the ExtraCare card itself, automatically applied next time you shop.

Perhaps an email reminder with the details of the coupons and their expiry dates along the way..?

I'd love that, since most of the junk barfed up by the register aren't coupons we can use anyway.

Or.. free dog with every coupon.

Free toilet paper!

My local CVS has a kiosk in the store where I can scan my card and have coupons print instantly. Would be nice if the POS system could just register that I have these coupons coming and store them in their coupon system so I can print them from the kiosk when I need them. I do get coupons I would use on my receipt. Unfortunately, I don't carry the receipts around with me, so I never have the coupons with me when I'm in CVS.
Hmmm .... Maybe that's what they're counting on ... good PR - we give you coupons for your next purchase, good finances - you never redeem them ...

Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.'s?

Westley: Reicepts Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

@Aussiedogz: It's not as cute as my Aussie. He has a little lighting bolt mark on his nose. I call him "Hucky Potter" sometimes.

Perhaps we could " toilet paper " our local CVS's with receipt paper ...

@OmniZero: How large a pack of gum did you buy that that's something to brag about?

@nato0519: You should have asked for an extended warranty on the soda.

The look in that dog's eyes says he knows he's being used for some silly internet purpose

@IndyJaws:

Why can't CVS just link the receipt to the card and do away with the paper altogether?

@AMetamorphosis: Someone doesn't know about the three seashells.

@winstonthorne: Wouldn't be unussual if they deal with a lot of business clients. Generally works out to be one copy goes to the customer, one copy if for the store, one copy goes to auditing and one copy goes to finance. The colours and number of copies may vary store to store, but it's not unusal in places that sell expensive items or large volume numbers to single clients.

My peeve is with auto repair shops. It doesn't matter what you have done to your car, there is always a full 8.5x11 page (or larger) describing all the stuff they did, even if it's only routine maintenance stuff like oil changes. Why? Surely all this information can be put on a strip of tape.

@OmniZero: Usually MOST receipts are big enough to wrap a pack of gum, aren't they? Unless they are making gum packs far larger than I thought these days.

@KhaiJB: Yeah I was surprised to find out how many places still use multi-part stationary. When I worked at a print-shop they were some of our biggest-selling items.

@ElizabethD: If you've got those extra care bucks adding up uselessly, you could combine them with the useless tampons and donate them to a women's shelter.

@IndyJaws: it also helps if you put the correct gender....somehow i must have clicked the M box so now I'm a Mr. Veronica N. Whereas the bf accidentally checked F for his duane reade card so he's Ms. Stephen N.

@veg-o-matic: this works for some...but not the people who don't use the interwebs (GASP). The fact is there is still a significant percentage of this country that is either A) on dial-up or B) not online.

Beautiful Aussie Shepherd in that picture!

Can I have that beautiful dog in the photo? She looks like my Collette.

@OmniZero: I want to elect this as the COMMENT OF THE YEAR, 2009.. It had a perfect setup: "One time, they went to walmart... " It had the tension creating moment: "wouldn't think you'd get a big receipt? well, no.." And then the shocking conclusion. All of this neatly constructed in small block of text. Who would have thought that 'it was just that long..'?

@The Dude: Hey, things could be worse.

It just amazed me that I could get a receipt that I could use as gift wrap for the thing I purchased. I found it such a waste to give me a huge receipt for such a tiny purchase.

And I'm not talking about wrapping paper like it just barely covered it. This was enough to make it professional looking with all the folds and everything like that. I could've added a bow.

@OmniZero:

That was definitely the dumbest comment I've seen in a while.

@sponica: Snark aside, yes, that's true. A paper summary of said coupons would likely work just as well, bypassing the requirement for emails, still cutting down on paper.

@tbax929: Did you see what time I made that comment? I was barely awake.

Lesson for the day: Don't comment when you are more than half asleep. Otherwise you end up making an ass out of myself.

@AMetamorphosis:

A nice idea, but it's not as though the clerks have any control over the inane receipt printers. Even complaining to the store's manager would be misdirected.

Instead, I collect the receipts and mail them to corporate. It probably won't do anything either, but at least I feel I'm attempting to direct my complaints to someone (or thing) that could make a difference.

All these long receipts for known customers who shop at CSV or the other stores mentioned are probably saving the total amount of paper wasted. Print ads targeted to a smaller subset of consumers after a purchase vs. the mass mailings and inserts that go to all "potential" consumers in a given area seem to be a better use of technology and materials.

And, for the people complaining about wasting the earth's resources, how did you get to the store to buy one tube of toothpaste or one pack of gum or one grommet? Did you walk, drive your SUV, bike, take the bus?? How many other stops did you make to buy a small item at many stores?

@katstermonster: he could always donate things like glucose monitors that he doesn't need. and probably use that toward reduced tax liability