Dear Target: Stop it with the gift receipts, would you?

The BBQ Pit
1

I was getting a bit irritated with the receipts you give. I mean, I can sort of see the coupons you’ve started to print out - but even that’s a bit much, seeing as how it seems you’re linking my credit card to previous purchases and giving me coupons for things I haven’t bought in a while. But the gift receipts? Does every purchase I make need a gift receipt. For example, yesterday I bought:

[ul]
[li]Paper towels[/li][li]Laundry detergent[/li][li]A bottle of water[/li][li]Hairspray[/li][li]Tampons[/li][li]Granola bars[/li][/ul]

Please tell me which of theseyou would have me give as a gift. I’m really curious if one of them would be a suitable Mother’s Day present so I can get it shipped to my mother this week.

The** paper towels** and detergent? Well, maybe they’d make her nostalgic for all the cleaning and laundry she did as the four of us grew up, because mothers love to think about that kind of stuff, dontcha know.

Unfortunately, I drank the water, so that’s not an option. Unless I refill the bottle and ship it - she’ll never know the difference, right?

I don’t think my mother has used **hairspray ** in her life - or at least not that I can remember. Besides, it’s the $1.99 Suave kind, not anything fancy.

Tampons? I’m pretty sure my mother’s reached the point that she doesn’t need those feminine hygiene products anymore. Now, I could be wrong - I’m not in the habit of discussing her menstrual cycle or lack thereof with her. I’d frankly prefer not to. But if you, Target, think that they would be a good present, I’ll certainly give them to her. I do buy the good ones - only the o.b. for me!

Finally, the granola bars. You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten a couple of those already, so it’s not like it would be a full box. And since she doesn’t like one of the ingredients in them, those are probably out - though you’re to be commended for encouraging me to help her stretch her culinary habits with the addition of coconut.

One last thing I need to say to you. This whole renovation of the store where you move everything around? Not making me happy. At all. It’s much, much more difficult to find things and I still didn’t find one of the things I was looking for. If you’re going to do that…please get your signage corrected quickly.

2

Hey, my brother had laundry detergent on his wedding registry! And I just gave my one-year-old niece Cheerios and fruit snacks for her birthday (she’s nuts about Cheerios).

But yeah, I do agree that perishable items like that don’t need a gift receipt. It’s a waste of paper. They’re killin’ trees, man!

And if you give your mother something with coconut in it for Mother’s Day, you’re just a cad. :wink:

3

It seems that the mysterious appearance of universal gift receipts showed up right about the same time that Target really cracked down on returns…

4

I am behind this pitting 100 percent. They should ask me if I need or want a gift receipt.

Don’t just print one for the candy I just bought…there is no way I’m returning that and, frankly, if you are accepting food returns I am no longer purchasing anything food-like from your store. I do not need my edibles tampered with, TYVM.

5

No offense, but if I got a gift coupon or some such that said, “Lsura has bought you a basket of
* Paper towels
* Laundry detergent
* A bottle of water
* Hairspray
* Tampons
* Granola bars
that you can pick up at any Target,”
You’d be my new best friend.
Who the hell needs a potted plant or a Chia Pet or a plastic sculpture of who-knows-what?
Goodie-bags-we-can-all-use, like the Oscar gift bags, only applicable to daily life- those would be HUGE.

6

The last six times I’ve bought something from Target, the gift receipt portion was just a small section of the overall receipt slip; if you needed to make sure that the items you were purchasing were able to be returned by someone besides you, you’d cut it off and put it in their gift. If not, it’s a small, superfluous section of your regular receipt, regardless of what you buy. No hassle, and if you buy gifts and are careless about keeping the original receipt, oh well.

Why on earth would that make you upset? If it were a separate gift receipt that were printed after the original receipt was cut, then I could understand being a bit annoyed.

7

I don’t see why it’s a problem - it’s only three inches of paper - just pitch it. But I’m kinda laid back like that.

I will ask my son what the deal is - perhaps they are required to by some home office dude - he quit McDonald’s and is now employed at Target, the upwardly mobile little shit…

8

My wife’s cousin had a gallon of milk on her registry. She just wanted to see if she could, then thought it would be funny to leave it.

9

My guess is that it’s simpler and faster for them just to print gift receipts for all customers rather than asking if the customer wants it (and needing to explain what it is).

10

Milk’s more expensive than gas around here!

11

Yeah, but not so nice when it’s bought, wrapped, left in your trunk for three weeks, then left on the gift table at the reception.

12

“Martha! Pour out that milk - the cat’s drinking unleaded from now on!”

13

If they are anything like Wally World, food returns go straight to the back and are written off. Or at least they should be, though I wouldn’t trust some WM managers not to make their people put stuff back out, non-perishables at least. And I can’t imagine Target doesn’t do the same thing, especially as they aren’t quite as cheap as Wally is. I wouldn’t worry about Target unless maybe your local one is really really bad, whereas I’d worry more about WM any day.

I agree on the receipts. If I need one, I’ll ask. Don’t kill more trees so I can give my mom some size 5 panties that fit me, but not her…

14

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. Target knows their employees, and they know that the overlap between the subset of them who are capable of remembering this task and the subset of them who are capable of being civil enough to actually do it is so small, it’s easier just to program the registers to spit them out automatically.

15

Send her the paper towels, detergent, dirty laundry, and a re-filled bottle of water along with a note asking her to wash the laundry with the bottled water and detergent, and dry it with the paper towels.

Promise the tampons and granola bars as a reward if she gets it done before mother’s day.

The hairspray though…that one doesn’t need a gift receipt.

16

You all are missing the whole spirit of the gift receipt. It’s there so you can return things.

Next time you get one just wheel your shopping cart—hopefully overflowing—straight from the checkout to the return department.

Do some fantasy shopping. You know, get those things you always wanted but can’t afford. If they ask you why you are returning them just say, “I was just practicing for when I win the lottery. Thanks for helping me out! This is so much fun!”"

How long, you think, until they discontinue the gift receipts?

17

Target’s gift receipts and Best Buy’s receipts.

Buy 2 items and the receipt is over a foot long. No, I’m not kidding. Between the huge header, the extra large print, the full description, part number, vin number, model number, and the phone number at the bottom, asking you to participate in their latest survey, receipts should not have to be triple folded to keep them from dragging on the floor.

18

I hve no problem with Target’s gift receipts. Anything that speeds up their return line is a godsend.