Major supermarkets in France to stop giving paper receipts at till

Two major supermarket chains in France have said they will stop giving automatic paper receipts to customers, following environmental rules that mean all supermarkets in France must stop habitually giving paper receipts in the future.

Système U decided to put an end to paper receipts after trialling a system without them in its supermarkets.

Carrefour hypermarkets will also start introducing alternatives to automatic paper receipts, the supermarket chain has said.

These include customers specifically asking for a printed receipt if they want one, or opting to receive an email receipt.

It is expected that the majority will not take up the offer. In a Système U supermarket which ran a pilot scheme, 60% of customers refused a paper receipt when paying with a cashier.

Thierry Desouches, director of communications for Système U told FranceInfo: “In our 1,600 stores, [stopping automatic receipts] means we will save 40,000 kilometres of paper roll. Small gestures like this can all add up to make a big difference.”

The ecological benefits are evident, but one customer told FranceInfo she was against the idea. She said: “By email? I’m not at all online, so that won’t work for me.”

But, another said: “I think it’s a good idea. We’re moving towards ecology and saving resources.”

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