Regarding this story, turns out, every year at this time, Target has an internal clash of the titans over whether or not to automatically print guest receipts, according to a former employee.

“To print or not to print” gift receipts around this time of the year was a daily “knee jerk” reaction. One minute the CEO then (Bob Ulrich) would send down a mandate to “print gift receipts on all transactions.” Of course the word of Bob was “God” so we’d jump right on that change to implement across the chain of stores ASAP.

The next minute, the EVP then (Bart Butzer) would walk down to the closet Target store (just a block from headquarters in downtown Minneapolis), make a purchase, see the gift receipt being auto-printed (without a customer asking), run back to his office and dictate to someone else on our team “stop printing gift receipts on all transactions.” And, of course they’d jump like a “good little soldier” and implement that ASAP. Then, we’d have a team meeting or discover the contradiction and it would go back and forth … turn this function on/off, on/off…

By that time the “rule of law” ended up being sent down from good ol’ Bob Ulrich (he loved getting involved in small little details of the business operations) that he did not want ANY REASON or EXCUSE for a guest to not have a receipt to make a return. So, his mandate won out and we printed them for every transaction (even if you just bought a pack of gum or soda).

However, if you need to get a gift receipt for your purchase, just take the receipt to the Guest Service area of any Target store. They should be able to scan the barcode on the receipt and issue you as many gift receipts as you like.

So there you have it, a little bit of inside track on the furious battle over gift receipts, and a solution if you need one printed. Thank you, anonymous former Target employee, the mystery is solved.

PREVIOUSLY: Target No Longer Automatically Prints Gift Receipts?

(Photo: IntangibleArts)

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