Don’t be so soft

What’s behind the increasing practice of electronic receipts?

I’m good at a few things in life, OK at a few more, and pretty terrible at a lot. Into the last category falls car maintenance. Nonetheless, as a safety-conscious person I understand its importance. And so it was that I found myself in a local branch of a major retailer of car parts the other day buying a replacement headlamp bulb, and asking for it to be fitted (by the very helpful Louise – sorry Louise, I won’t be submitting the online customer feedback, for reasons which will probably become clear in this post). I paid for the service, and was then asked

Can I just have your email address to send the receipt?

Er, no.

I’d heard about this practice, but, oddly, this was the first time I’d encountered it. It was immediately obvious to me what was going on, or at least what I assumed was/is going on, but I thought it might be helpful to draw attention to it.

The law (regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (as amended)) outlaws the sending of unsolicited email marketing to individuals, unless the recipient has previously consented to receive the marketing. As much as this law is regularly flouted, it is both clear and strict. It is, however, subject to an important caveat – email marketing can be sent if the sender has obtained the recipient’s email address “in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient”.

This is known as the “soft opt-in” and it seems clear to me that the practice of sending e-receipts is tied up with the gathering of email addresses for the purposes of sending marketing using the soft opt-in provisions. As much as we might be told how helpful it is for our own records management to have electronic copies of receipts, there is something in it for retailers, and that something is the perceived right to send electronic marketing.

I should add, though, that soft opt-in is subject to further qualifications – the marketing must be in respect of “similar products and services only”, and, crucially, at the point when the contact details are collected, the intended recipient must be given the chance to say “no” to the marketing. (See the guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office for further details).

I wasn’t given the chance to say “no”, but I chose not to give my details. If I had given those details, and if I had then received email marketing, it would have been sent unlawfully. I would have known that, but a lot of people wouldn’t, and, importantly, it’s quite difficult to prove (or remember) whether one was given “a simple means of refusing” marketing at the time the sale was made. So it’s a relatively low-risk tactic for marketers.

So my advice is to say no to e-receipts, demand a paper one, and if you do want to retain a record, why not just photograph the receipt when you get home?

The views in this post (and indeed all posts on this blog) are my personal ones, and do not represent the views of any organisation I am involved with.