The True Cost of Paper Receipts

Unknown to most the use of paper receipts is one of the more significant expenses of a retailer, largely unnoticed. While digital alternatives are becoming more mainstream, many stores still need to have printed receipts, adding to operational expenses within a monthly budget. We wanted to look deeper into what different types of businesses truly pay for paper receipts and attempt to provide insight into just how much each month retailers pay in this relatively small yet important area.

Overview of Costs of Receipts

Before looking at some specific retail examples, let’s take a look at some basic numbers behind the cost of printing receipts.

• One receipt roll = 9 meters in length

• Price per roll = €0.37

• Average receipt length = 20 cm

• Total receipts per roll = 45 receipts

• Cost per receipt = €0.0081

This, therefore, enables us to get the cost implications from one form of business to another. (Small disclaimer: we’ve asked retailers we directly work with but also looked into market data. Not all retailers are printing the same size receipts, nor will they be paying the same per receipt roll. Therefore these estimates act as a blended average).

1. Large Big-Box Electronics Retailer

Let’s start by analyzing a large electronics retailer with 50 locations and a higher transaction volume. On average, this retailer processes about 100 transactions per day per store, for a total of 5,000 receipts daily across all locations. With an average cost of €0.0081 per receipt, we can estimate the following:

• Receipts per day (per store): 100

• Receipts per day: 5,000

• Cost per day: 5,000 × €0.0081 = €40.50

• Cost per month: €40.50 × 30 = €1,215

Even with 100 transactions per day per store, the retailer incurs about €1,215 per month in paper receipt costs. While this may seem manageable, these expenses can escalate when considering other operational costs like printer maintenance, ink, and electricity, which further increase the overall financial burden.

2. Food and Beverage Chain (270 Locations)

Now let’s consider a food and beverage chain with 270 locations across the country. On average, this chain processes about 300 transactions per day at each location. This amounts to 81,000 receipts per day across all locations:

• Receipts per day (per store): 300

• Receipts per day: 81,000

• Cost per day: 81,000 × €0.0081 = €656.10

• Cost per month: €656.10 × 30 = €19,683

For a business like this, which operates at high volume, the cost of paper receipts can quickly add up, resulting in a monthly expense of nearly €20,000. Digital receipt solutions could provide significant savings in such an industry.

3. Grocery Chain with Self-Serve Kiosks (400 Locations)

In our final use case, we’ll examine a grocery chain with 400 locations, which has deployed 10 self-serve kiosks at checkout in each store. Each kiosk processes about 100 transactions per day, which results in 1,000 receipts across all kiosks per day per store:

• Receipts per day (per store): 1,000

• Receipts per day (all stores): 1,000 × 400 = 400,000

• Cost per day: 400,000 × €0.0081 = €3,240

• Cost per month: €3,240 × 30 = €97,200

Despite the added convenience of self-serve kiosks, the volume of receipts generated in such a grocery chain can result in an expense of nearly €100,000 per month. This demonstrates how even technological upgrades can still be impacted by the costs of traditional receipt printing.

The Environmental and Hidden Costs Though these direct financial costs are simple to determine, other factors make the price of paper receipts costlier than it seems and entail factors for the retailer’s consideration. Manufacturing, shipping, and then disposal are all extremely environmentally detrimental due to the core material used in thermal paper for receipts. Some studies have claimed that such papers carry harmful chemicals like BPA or BPS, which leak into the environment if its processing is not well disposed. Moreover, paper receipts mean deforestation, waste, and carbon emissions. In addition, for the retailers who are willing to make that footfall, digital receipt adoptions are a good option to save money and help in environmental sustainability.

This does not mean the actual cost of the paper receipt lies in the receipt roll as such; these are, therefore, big electronics retailers for whom even a food chain, let alone even a grocery store with its different self-service kiosks, the cost really adds up. Some companies pay tens of thousands of euros every month, so the real financial pain is there. With more retailers fighting to reduce costs and increase efficiency, digital receipt solutions become a strong alternative. It’s about digitally aligning the business to the growing consumer demand for ‘green’ operations apart from saving operational costs.

Are you a retailer looking to understand how to shift from paper to digital receipts? Reach out to our team to learn how you can deploy this solution with minimum development effort and at low cost. Contact the team