Your purchase is free if you do not receive a receipt
I’ve seen it at places like Panda Express and parking garages. The sign reads, “your purchase is free if you do not receive a receipt.” I’m confused!
So here’s a scenario:
- I order a product or service
- I receive the product or service in exchange for money
- I do not receive a receipt
- I alert the cashier that I did not receive a receipt and that my money should be refunded
- Instead of going back into the cash register system and printing a receipt, the cashier gives me my money back!
WHAT!? I haven’t yet had the situation where the receipt has been forgotten. But, if I do, and tell the cashier that I didn’t receive a receipt, I’ll bet that she will just print one out for me.
Take a look at this picture from a local park. “Your parking is free if you do not receive a ticket.” To even have a chance to receive a ticket I have to pay. Should I have simply drove in past the attendant and refused to “receive a ticket”? Wouldn’t my parking be free? What a confusing idea.
This reminds me of the blog inspired by Seth Godin called This Is Broken.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:28 am
I always figured this was a way to keep the employees honest… if there is no receipt then they didn’t ring up the sale and may be pocketing the money. It’s a way to get the customers to police the employees.
I’m sure it sucks for morale, though, having the customer hoping you’ll screw up.
October 28th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
This explanation makes it clearer for me. I did not think about the check-and-balance aspect of this. Thanks for the comment.