I’m not sure about everyone else who reads these posts, but I often buy something with my credit card or debit card, and hardly ever carry money with me.  That is also why I hate receiving receipts.

If I’m not prepared to have cash-on-hand when I’m shopping, why do I want a piece of paper that states my purchases?  Yeah, sure, I may want to return an item or two in the future, but do I really need that purchase on paper?

That’s where the Universal Receipt Card would come into play.  It could be a part of your Credit Card / Debit Card that tracks it on a web service that you could then review at a later time.  Plus, it could be extended as follows:

  • Stores that use the URC could attach additional information to the purchases
  • Restaurants could attach nutritional information to a meal you purchased, attach an online comment card to the waiters/waitresses name, provide additional dining coupons, etc.
  • Grocery stores could create notifications attached to your common grocery purchases to alert you when one of your ‘favourite’ items goes on sale, and provide you a coupon for that item.  Also, they can allow you to request the store to carry certain items that you would like to purchase.
  • Retailers could allow you to create a gift-receipt from an item, which you could then send to another URC number, and you can state what that person can do with the gift receipt: Exchange for similar item, Exchange for <item category>, Refund, etc.
  • Information attached to a URC could be imported into money management software and attached directly to the purchases you make so you can see a break down of what the $300 purchase was from Walmart.
  • Users could easily compare prices of items purchased to other stores to get the lowest price.
  • Notes could be added to receipts to remind you where you hid your child’s birthday gifts, or whether you liked a certain product.
  • Shopping lists could be created and give you an estimate on how much your shopping bill will be.

    • And that is just a few of the ideas I have thought of, I’m sure there are many more ideas that could be done with this card.

    If anyone wants to put this into production, I would love to be one of the first with a card.  If you have any questions about how you could get started on making this real, please forward me your questions.  I have a ton of ideas on this item alone.

    Here’s hoping for a Greener Future!

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