Waste not, want not!

Yesterday I decided to exercise one of my favourite past-times; spending money! Really, who doesn’t like the thought of buying something new (unless it’s groceries, because no one likes grocery shopping)? You rush home with that new purchase in your hand and you try the clothes on again or download music to that new iPod or bask in the amazingness of what you just “had to have”.

There comes a time in the whole process when you need to cut off the tags, or remove the Point of Sales stickers or undo all those damn twist ties that hold all the packing material in place. And of course, the dreaded second glance at the receipt - the one part of the adventure everyone hates about shopping because it is then, and only then, we start to realize we’ve shrunk our savings another few dollars.

This brings me to my point. Yesterday’s purchases consist of a sweater and a scarf from two different locations (Gap and Lululemon Athletica – important to my point but not just yet). After reviewing the receipts, it’s come to my attention the wasteful use of paper that was used for just two measly items. The combined length of the two receipts was a staggering 29 inches!!! Over two feet of register paper, and a whole lot of wasted ink was used to prove I bought a sweater and a scarf.

Now, I’m sure that both Gap and Lululemon both have environmental stands in the crusade to save the planet, but one would never know from their wasteful use of paper with every transaction. And from a marketing perspective, has anyone informed them of how much money they could save by shortening the amount of register paper they use? I’m sure it’s in the millions over a couple years!

And as for the stores that use tissue paper and designer bags with every purchase, don’t get me started!