Firstly, how far back the history of receipts goes was pretty surprising at first. It’s one of those things that you don’t really consider the history of because they have become such an overlooked aspect of life. Seeing that the concept of receipts has been pretty unchanged for so many years, besides technology advancements, is pretty cool. It’s one of those things that fully connect us to the humans that were around generations ago. Not to get too deep into anthropology but I love this type of stuff, it is so fun to see concepts remain relatively unchanged throughout thousands of generations. Receipts being one of the earliest forms of human writing is a bit silly but does check out.
Receipts have always had such a variety in ways they’re done and it’s pretty fun to look at. Almost everywhere has a different receipt format that they fill and represents them as a company. Working retail also gives you insight on the receipts at what stores you work for, theres always different information provided in different formats so working in stores and being able to decipher the information gives you even more understanding of other receipts. I’ve worked with old and new receipt printers and they all have some sort of malfunction or error that happens no matter what and seeing how that affects the actual receipts is always fun, I have had a couple misalign and only print half the receipt.
Unrolling the Scroll of History: 5 Fascinating Facts About the Evolution of Receipt Paper
I also read this article ^ which specifically talks about the history of receipt paper itself. Receipts seem like one of those things that remains an indicator of social and technological advancement, from hand carved, hand written, multiple types of printing and now digital. They are one of those seemingly uninteresting things yet there is so much history attached.
