An idea to help retailers trim expenses

So a few weeks ago I wrote about being at Lowes and noticing that about 50% of the lights were turned off. I think that's a decent idea for a few reasons - less power consumed, less heat generated, etc. And hey, it saves them money.

It seems like so many retailers are having difficult times, and some have recently gone away completely. I remember when Montgomery Wards closed...that was really my first experience with having a "big" retailer go away. It was such an odd idea it was really hard to understand how that actually happens. NOW, I am curious how some stores are still here. Like JCPenney. Really....who shops there? And..WHY? ;)

All kidding aside though, I have a great idea to help the retailers save some money. Now if they're a sinking ship this probably isn't going to save them. BUT, in the age of reducing overhead and sending jobs to those who most of us can't and don't want to try and understand, this is something that would be easy and painless.

STOP MAKING THE RECEIPTS 2 FEET LONG!

You know when you check out, and the cashier stands there for what seems like 10 seconds or more while the register is printing a novel? Then they turn and hand it to you? And you look at it and you can see that you purchased Colgate and a 3 way light bulb? Then it goes on and on and on and on?? Really...stop that. It's just stupid. "Go to this website and tell us what you think for your chance to win XYZ"... does anyone actually win anything? And does it take 9 inches of paper to say that? Doesn't it seem like a good idea to conserve paper, ink, and the resources it takes to print the novel? And then there's the whole thing about checkout efficiency. If we could trim 10 seconds off of each checkout, that would really add up over the day/week/month/etc. Walmart should really dig it - that way they could trim down to 2 checkers per store! Imagine the savings!

:)

Hey...just doin my part....