It was interesting to learn about the history of when receipts were started, even in a different form. It’s clear that throughout history, record-keeping and documentation was just as important and thought of as it is today. Based on what historians have deciphered, it’s interesting how different civilizations thought of the use for receipts. Such as Egyptians using it to make sure their citizens don’t have issues on being charged twice; and how the Romans increased the supply of receipts as their banking systems and long-distance trade increased. It makes me wonder now, if those who wrote out receipts, for even a small trade, thought about if they would be discovered in the future as historical documentation.
It seems in modern times, we take receipts for granted and care less about the information they could give us or how they help us. Working in retail, more than half the customers I would get daily would said to just throw the receipt away; that they didn’t even want an email of it. And too many times, those same people would be coming in again to return their items, but then have no receipt or proof of purchase. Which made both of our lives more difficult in that moment. I personally prefer having paper receipts for this reason. That way there’s no issue if I need to return something, and I can look back on what I have purchased in the past.
