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It's a shame that receipts don't have machine readable output. QR codes can hold a little over 1,200 characters, which should be more than enough for most rece

It's a shame that receipts don't have machine readable output. QR codes can hold a little over 1,200 characters, which should be more than enough for most receipts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code#Storage Edit: related link: https://www.quora.com/Can-and-how-cash-register-receipts-be-transformed-to-a-QR-code-and-scanned-with-a-smartphone-app-so-it-can-become-digital?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Can-and-how-cash-register-receipts-be-...

omn1 11y ago
Yeah. Some receipts also have barcode on them, but it's not guaranteed that it contains all required information.
- zo1 11y ago
  Or that it's not encrypted. Probably, most of the time, it's simply a record pointing to a database. Useless to everyone except the creator who has context and access to the database.
ap22213 11y ago
Partly, because they're designed that way. Stores that are mandated to issue receipts are giving away trade secrets. If the format was standardized and easily readable then it'd be much easier for competitors to analyze their data.
tonyedgecombe 11y ago
I'd be happy if they made the store name, date and total more prominent, it's amazing how often that is hard to find despite it being the most important information to the customer.
- omn1 11y ago
  Exactly. Even the term for the total changes with every receipt. I disovered all the possible terms you can imagine, like "sum", "total amount", "overall",... (in German obviously)
wyldfire 11y ago
I think it'd be awesome for some commerce/business organization to champion electronic data on paper receipts. But I think it's much more likely that we'll sooner see itemized electronic receipt data from the smartphone-based payment brokers (Apple Pay, Android Pay, etc) -- assuming it doesn't already do that.
zo1 11y ago
QR codes can hold even more than that. V40 stores just over 3000 characters. You could do some pretty amazing things in QR codes by base64 encoding compressed textual data.

omn1 11y ago

Yeah. Some receipts also have barcode on them, but it's not guaranteed that it contains all required information.

zo1 11y ago
Or that it's not encrypted. Probably, most of the time, it's simply a record pointing to a database. Useless to everyone except the creator who has context and access to the database.

ap22213 11y ago

Partly, because they're designed that way. Stores that are mandated to issue receipts are giving away trade secrets. If the format was standardized and easily readable then it'd be much easier for competitors to analyze their data.

tonyedgecombe 11y ago

I'd be happy if they made the store name, date and total more prominent, it's amazing how often that is hard to find despite it being the most important information to the customer.

omn1 11y ago
Exactly. Even the term for the total changes with every receipt. I disovered all the possible terms you can imagine, like "sum", "total amount", "overall",... (in German obviously)

wyldfire 11y ago

I think it'd be awesome for some commerce/business organization to champion electronic data on paper receipts. But I think it's much more likely that we'll sooner see itemized electronic receipt data from the smartphone-based payment brokers (Apple Pay, Android Pay, etc) -- assuming it doesn't already do that.

zo1 11y ago

QR codes can hold even more than that. V40 stores just over 3000 characters. You could do some pretty amazing things in QR codes by base64 encoding compressed textual data.