Paper vs Digital Receipts

**siggy_freud** · 11-08-2012, 06:27 PM

I hate paper receipts. Nowadays, I think it's a waste of resources. Unless I MUST have the original, I recycle everything after scanning it, saving it on my hard drive, and backing it up on my Google Drive account.

**thesimplemoneyblog** · 11-09-2012, 03:11 AM

I wish there was a better, more cost effective system. I mostly have hard copies, but I occasionally keep some digital copies. It is just such a pain to scan them all in. In an ideal world, I would have all of my receipts scanned in, but I just do not have the time to do that, so I end up just keeping most of them as hard copies. If they were electronic, I wouldn't store them in the cloud, I would just store them locally on my own external drive.

**bjl584** · 11-09-2012, 04:22 AM

Originally posted by geneg12345 View Post

Hey everyone -

I am a huge daily deal shopper, and I just found a way to incorporate my addiction into my schoolwork.

Could you let me know what you think about paper vs digital receipts?
Do you mind paper receipts?
What worries you about digital receipts?
Do you have any suggestions for managing/organizing your receipts?

Thanks, and happy shopping!

Gene G.

I don't mind paper receipts. I do howver mind super long paper receipts. Shop at a Kmart and you will understand what I mean. Digital receipts don't worry me. There is nothing personal on there. It looks just like a paper receipt. Your credit card number isn't on there or anything. I organize paper receipts for major purchases in my filing cabinet. Minor purchases like gas or groceries get thrown out.

**AccountantSalary** · 11-11-2012, 02:01 PM

There are receipt scanners you can buy that will put all your paper receipts into your computer, and classify them into budget categories automatically, depending on what accounting software you have. Type in "receipt scanner" into Google.

**disneysteve** · 11-11-2012, 04:33 PM

As tech savvy as I am, nothing beats paper. I have receipts in my files dating back to when we bought our house in 1994. Some of them have come in handy more than once. Had I saved those things electronically instead, who knows if I'd still have access to them. We've been through 4 or 5 home computers since then.

If something is important enough to save, I want it on paper.

**sherylgray** · 11-12-2012, 02:42 AM

Digital receipts, for me is really helpful. If you got some stuff which have warranty over it then it will be of great help. Have a soft copy of it in your mail, phone, etc. No worries about the paper. With paper receipt, I think more than 30% of people have to face issue with paper receipt.

I think it is a great point to discuss.

**Nika** · 11-12-2012, 06:14 AM

I think digital ones are better, especially for expensive things - the receipts you intend to keep long after your cc statement comes in.

If the company knows what they are doing - it work beautifully. I never have a concern for example when buying 2K macbook or an ipad about Apple's digital-only receipt. It is even better. THEY can always find it.

Other companies, like BuyBuyBaby, won't find anything, so you better keep that paper.

**disneysteve** · 11-12-2012, 06:28 AM

Originally posted by Nika View Post

I think digital ones are better, especially for expensive things - the receipts you intend to keep long after your cc statement comes in.

For those of you who prefer digital receipts, do you not worry about losing them due to tech changes? As I said, I have important paper receipts dating back nearly 20 years. If I had instead stored them electronically, some of them would now be on floppy discs that I wouldn't even be able to access anymore. Who knows what technology we'll have 10 or 20 years from now. I certainly don't expect to be able to access info that I've got saved on my desktop today.

**kork13** · 11-12-2012, 07:34 AM

Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

For those of you who prefer digital receipts, do you not worry about losing them due to tech changes? As I said, I have important paper receipts dating back nearly 20 years. If I had instead stored them electronically, some of them would now be on floppy discs that I wouldn't even be able to access anymore. Who knows what technology we'll have 10 or 20 years from now. I certainly don't expect to be able to access info that I've got saved on my desktop today.

When you get a new computer, do you not transfer all of your data to the new system? Do you not keep a digital backup of your data on an external hard drive? These two things will keep your records intact as technology evolves. You won't go from one generation of technology to the next with no means of bringing your data forward with you -- it changes fast, but not that fast. I have all of my financial records, important receipts and other files/documents stored digitally. It goes back 8 years (since I first left home for college).

The problem with keeping paper receipts IMO is the lack of stability. Most stores now use heat-senstitive receipt paper that degrades over time or is ruined by sitting in the sun. Even before heat-sensitive paper was used, the ink used previously also tends to fade over time. DS -- All of those receipts that you have saved, have you looked at them recently? Are you sure you can still read them?

I find it a much better technique to save any important documents digitally (or scan them in as PDF images) when you first have them before there's been time for the paper copies to degrade. I can keep all of my important records on my computer (and automatically backed up on a hard drive the size of a card deck), rather than keeping large cabinets or file folders filled with receipts and documents that are slowly losing all of the information I'm trying to keep.

**feh** · 11-12-2012, 09:36 AM

Most of my receipts are delivered by email these days. I keep them in a separate folder.

**BMEPhDinCO** · 11-13-2012, 08:00 AM

Many shops (ie, Banana Republic) are switching to emailing you receipts (of course, this means you are now on their email list). For things like clothes, groceries, gas that would be fine for me.

But like Steve said, I have often referred to the paper copies of receipts for household things (roof when it leaked, water heater, etc).

So for minor things, yes to digital. For important major things, I want the paper.

**nimisht** · 11-20-2012, 08:24 AM

I prefer digital receipts. I generally put all my paper receipts in a "shoe box" and they just come out at tax time. I know there is some software that will allow you to scan and create a searchable index of your paper receipts. If not, a regular operating system may allow you to do just the same as long as you follow some naming convention for your scannable files.

**disneysteve** · 11-20-2012, 08:35 AM

Originally posted by nimisht View Post

I generally put all my paper receipts in a "shoe box" and they just come out at tax time.

I hadn't even thought about taxes. Yes, I definitely use paper receipts for doing my taxes. I suppose I could e-mail all of my receipts to my accountant but it is far easier to do it on paper.

Paper vs Digital Receipts