ever walk into CVS to pick up some gum, Maybe some chapstick only to get hit with this.
It's no secret that most CVS purchases come with these comically long receipts
and this, for instance, is a receipt from CVS. This is a receipt for one snickers bar,
look at this. This is for one item,
it's longer than my torso. So why are these receipts so unbearably long?
It's actually a purposeful business model that pays real dividends.
Here's how.
So I just bought gum and chapstick from the local Duane Reade.
This is my receipt.
It's a pretty standard size, right?
So I just bought the same two items from the convenience store right behind me.
And this was my receipt.
Now let's go check out what we get at CVS.
I just bought the same two items from the CVS
across the street and this was the receipt I got
based on this. Not so thorough investigation.
This clearly isn't just social media hype.
To understand why these receipts have gotten so long.
We have to understand how retailers
have historically gotten shoppers into their stores
for over a century,
retailers have relied heavily on a Now antiquated marketing scheme
circulars there.
No question there was a frenzy for them when you got that circular,
whether it was in the newspaper or in the mail.
You know, people got out there scissors and they started clipping coupons,
they could save a lot of money
by doing that. You know, every, every time you could save money.
Um That's a win.
So if you were flipping through your sunday times,
you'd likely find an insert with deals for your local tech store,
sporting goods store
and supermarket
Circulars
were advertising method disease or from the mid 19th century to the early 2000's.
At their peak, retailers were spending over $8 billion leaflets,
well, they worked
after all, print was king
until
it wasn't,
I would suggest that circulars today um are a dinosaur,
uh that that consumers are not looking at them the way they used
to the redemption is not as high as it used to be.
And typically for for the average consumer, it's junk mail,
the digital age decimated print readership,
leading companies to scramble for new, more effective marketing strategies
From its peak in 2006 to 2014, spending on Circulars dropped by $2.4 billion.
Meanwhile,
digital marketing expenditures increased from 17 billion to over $49 billion.
Of course not everybody abandoned circulars entirely.
Research by Nielsen found that 60% of shoppers
still look at paper circulars at least once
a week and companies often still pay upwards of $1 million dollars for a single run,
But I think we've all seen where the digital age is taking us.
So why did cbs are printing receipts that
themselves are kind of like slightly smaller circulars.
Cbs was brilliant.
Um Not only when you check out at cbs, you get this long list of coupons,
but it's all about targeting.
So it's really about understanding their consumer
even more so than than saving money
and frankly um they took the page out of the book from those,
you know supermarket receipts that you would get um at the end of your shopping trip.
So it's the same concept that CVS is using and it's very effective.
So what happened is the incentives that used to be
in circulars Have jumped onto receipts to a great extent.
In 2001 CBS launched its extra care loyalty program,
exchanging its mass marketing approach for a more targeted ad model.
The program rewarded faithful shoppers by offering in store discounts.
They also offered cash rewards and future coupons.
But unlike circulars of the past,
these weren't general discounts,
these were highly personalized coupons.
CBS has stated that no two customers get the same offers.
These coupons are based on your purchase history and the
input you provide when signing up for the program.
CVS tracks your purchases over time and
offers you discounts based on similar products.
Think of it like cookies for your computer for more on that.
Check out this video and CVS found the perfect
spot for these offers the bottom of your receipt,
you have to give them some credit for this when you have
a transaction you go to the register and pay for your item,
the machine spits out a receipt and you take it in your hand,
the odds are you're gonna throw it in your bag or whatever,
but you have something tactical and that is
something they see as a marketing opportunity.
CVS pharmacy was one of the first national retailers to make this change
By doing so.
The company could produce far fewer circulars,
which in turn helped out their bottom line.
CVS health has reported steady sales gains since they were introduced,
reaching $292 billion 2021.
That was up 24 billion from the year before.
So that's great news for CBS but not so much for the global supply of paper.
These receipts require a ton of paper.
Paper receipts consume more than three million trees,
nine billion gallons of water and £4 billion pounds of carbon dioxide annually.
That's as much co two as a year's worth
of emissions from over 450,000 gas powered cars.
So of course the internet has had its fun with these lengthy receipts,
Halloween costumes, scarves, handy measuring devices for young Children.
But one receipt takes the cake though,
a woman named Emma keane bought us three items from her local CVS.
To her surprise, she received a gigantic receipt,
It measured in at a stunning 5' 8".
Of course you can opt out of paper receipts and
receive them digitally but doing so isn't quite so easy.
Even Larry Merlo Ceo of CVS health admitted to CNBC that the company
could probably do a better job making the opt out instructions clearer.
By 2000 and 19, CVS had heard all the jokes and concerns about their receipts,
so we decided to make some changes.
The company started phasing out the use of toxic plastic coating on its receipt.
Additionally, the company's shortened the average length of over seat
by 20%.
I actually think that the level of customer dissatisfaction with this is unlikely
to reach the threshold where we will see
a lot of change.
This is CVS and old habits die hard.
Even their new receipts are still two
times longer than the average drugstore receipt.
But hey, maybe you'll find a coupon for $2 off your favorite hair care products.