Smartphone app for digital receipts & paperless payment

Is there actually Digital receipts and paperless payment? Since I was fed up with the paperwork of hospitality and cash register receipts and all the garbage, I started looking around for solutions. One person who is already working on a comprehensive app for digital receipts and paperless payment is Amir Karimi from Bremen - I arranged an interview with him. Some time ago, he himself got fed up with the many and actually also superfluous cash register receipts. Now he is developing his admin App, with which you can easily collect receipts to simplify shopping and save all the thermal paper waste. Have fun!

Who and what is behind the admin App for paperless receipting?

Our team consists of developers, programmers, designers. Or, as we say: visionaries. With our skills, experience and enthusiasm for creative challenges, we create sophisticated digital solutions. Our goal: the development of excellent products that are conveniently usable for everyone. To achieve this, as software architects we design virtual environments in which people can move naturally and intuitively. And thus perfectly integrate technological innovation into real life worlds. Our goal is: Always ahead. And so are our software solutions. We can keep up with the rapid pace of technological development.

Because we know the latest possibilities from the world of programming and find ways to apply them in the best possible way. To do this, we go through our everyday lives with an alert eye and discover where software can create optimization potential.

What problem are you solving with paperless receipting?

The way purchases have been receipted in retail stores up to now brings with it a whole series of problems. For one thing, according to a study, 14 out of 19 receipts printed at German checkouts are made of thermal paper. This is coated with the chemical bisphenol A, which is considered extremely hazardous to health because it has hormonal effects and can even be carcinogenic. This is why the EU is banning thermal paper from 2020 onwards. In addition, till receipts as we know them consume vast amounts of paper - even though they often end up in the trash right at the checkout. Apart from the environmental aspect, it annoys me that something is produced at great expense only to be thrown away again at the end. (Article recommendation: Save paper waste)

But that's not all: collecting and storing relevant receipts is a pretty messy business for consumers. Receipts crumple, fade or get lost. How many times I've looked for receipts! The app admin solves this problem because all receipts are stored in a central location and can be searched at any time from any location: The app creates a digital receipt directly at the time of purchase and archives it for the customer - and in a folder system that he can create individually according to his needs. At the same time, the software recognizes which receipts may be relevant for income tax returns and files the items separately for the user accordingly. If required, users can release folders for the tax advisor or partner, for example. This not only reduces the burden on the environment, but consumers can also get more money back when filing their tax returns - a real win-win situation.

How does the admin App quite practical?

Of course, we attached importance to this during development, admin as intuitive as possible to ensure a smooth process at the checkout. In practice, it all works like this: Users register once in the admin app, which they have previously downloaded onto their smartphone free of charge. When paying at the checkout, the digital receipt is transferred directly to the customer's smartphone via NFC (or alternatively QR code) without contact. There, a push message then appears on the screen that a new receipt has been added. In the app itself, the user can then sort the receipts - for example, into special folders - or mark or "remember" them so that particularly important receipts are grouped together in a kind of favorites list. This is particularly helpful for warranty receipts, for example.

In addition, there is the option to share folders permanently or for a certain period of time. Accountants or tax consultants can then access the receipts in the folder from their devices and see when new ones have been added. This saves users the hassle of scanning and time-consuming transmission of receipts: All they have to do is place their receipt in the relevant folder at the touch of a finger.

About the hardware: NFC devices are used at the retailer. They are simply integrated into the existing POS system and are already available in many places - around 60 percent of all terminals in Germany are already equipped with NFC. The RFID-based technology means that no mobile Internet connection is required. So no one has to worry that the app won't work if their smartphone has no reception.

I think the digitization of receipts has come relatively late. Why hasn't anyone dared to do this yet?

It is always difficult to break old habits. Compared to e-commerce, retail is not yet familiar with digital invoicing, and for a long time it was not even allowed. Then there were a few experiments, for example by Deichmann, with receipts that were sent to the customer by e-mail after being queried at the checkout. In other countries, for example England, this is quite established - but in Germany it has not caught on, I suspect because Germans are very careful with their data, and because it also took longer at the checkout until you transmitted your data. In online retail, on the other hand, the digital receipt has caught on because it's the most practical solution and people have had to deal with it more or less from the start.

Why is there no other way to digitally acknowledge so far?

I think the solution for the retail trade has to be suitable for the masses. But there's a risk here, of course, because the system has to be established at the checkout AND with consumers at virtually the same time. That is, of course, a challenge that no one has yet dared to take on. Instead, there are isolated solutions, for example from individual retail chains that offer the service in their apps, but only as a supplement to the normal receipt.

We've looked at all this and want to take a chance on a solution that takes all these specifics into account. Consumers shouldn't have to download a different app for each retailer, which is confusing. With admin we have all the receipts digitally in one place. This would allow us to revolutionize the retail industry. At the same time, it would relieve consumers and retailers, and returns and exchanges would be much easier. No one would have to search for an old paper receipt when an item no longer works or they don't like it after all, they would just enter the item, store, day of purchase, or other information to search through the stored receipts and be able to show them accordingly. It's simple and ingenious, or rather: ingeniously simple.

Where can our readers get the admin app? 

Those who want to say goodbye to the paper receipt can download admin free of charge for the iOS and Android operating systems from 2019.

Great - you have our support!

Personally, I find this app for paperless payment simply more than timely. Not only because of the paperwork and all the garbage for private purchases, which may not even need a receipt. Thermal paper also has consequences for our health - because it contains the dangerous chemical BPA (bisphenol A), which messes with our hormone balance. This causes confusion in the Waste separationbecause thermal paper must not be disposed of in waste paper. It belongs in the residual waste. Because many people do not know about it, BPA gets into the Recycling-The water is then recycled into the water cycle and ultimately into our waters via detours. 

What do you think about receipts in general and what do you think about the app idea for the digital receipt?

I look forward to your comment and this interview.

Stay clean,

PS.: In the article Zero Waste Apps I have provided the best apps for avoiding waste. Maybe you'll find some smartphone apps there that will simplify your everyday life.