CVS is famous for its absurdly long receipts. One man had a hilarious idea for how to put one of his receipts from the pharmacy to use. He posted about it on Twitter and got the internet laughing.
“One of my blinds broke in my bedroom so I just went to CVS,” tweeted @andrewnolan2, sharing a picture. Sure enough, the receipt blends in perfectly with the long window blinds.
One of my blinds broke in my bedroom so I just went to CVS pic.twitter.com/0QghmXKZ7R
— andrew (@andrewnolan2) December 5, 2018
He’s not the only one who experienced the famous long CVS receipt.
A woman in Washington D.C. bought three items at her local pharmacy and got a ridiculously long receipt in return. She even measured it and found that it came to 5 feet, 8 inches.
“Some personal news: CVS gave me a 5’8” receipt today,” tweeted Emma Keane, whose Twitter handle is @eckeane, on Oct. 3, 2018.
Well, let’s make it clear: she didn’t whip out a ruler to measure the receipt. She knew that she herself was 5 foot 8 and it was at least as long as she was tall.
Not everyone is entitled to such a remarkable long receipt experience at CVS, though.
Keane clarified that she’s an ExtraCare member, a specialty program at CVS that offers coupons and rewards. Her nearly 6-foot receipt was full of potential coupons for her to use. So, only VIPs get the really long receipts, apparently.
Keane continued laughing about the receipt, tweeting out a picture of it taped to an office wall under a note that said, “How many CVS receipts tall are you?”
“Quick update: nothing builds team camaraderie like the ole CVS receipt measuring stick,” she tweeted on Oct. 11.
The internet has long joked about the excessively-long receipts offered at the pharmacy.
During Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle back in May 2018, the Duchess’ long veil was compared to a CVS receipt. Other memes have also poked fun at the pharmacy.
“Insane fact,” reads one meme, “the sun is approximately 8 CVS receipts from earth.”
It just goes to show that the internet can make a heyday out of any subject, even pharmacy coupons.
In fact, the trope has become so popular that it was featured on Know Your Meme, a website that explains internet jokes to help people catch up. In 2008, a satirical Facebook group called “One Million Strong Against Unnecessarily Long CVS Receipts” was started. The group mocked the pharmacy chain, saying in its description that people didn’t need receipts that were a third of their own height.
But some people took offense at the wasteful amount of paper being used on receipts.
Internet commenter Maria C Jimenez had some helpful advice on how to avoid being part of wasting paper on long receipts.
“Get the CVS app, you receive your receipt by email and also your coupon that you can send to your card if you choose to,” she wrote. “You get also special discounts. At the point of sale, you can ask also for a paper receipt, which is small.”
And the topic has even garnered attention from some big names.
In 2009, The Wall Street Journal ran an article about the increasing length of store receipts. The Huffington Post has also shared Tweets on the topic. And Twitter continues to be a place where users upload photos of themselves holding absurdly long receipts for small purchases. One of the winners might be the woman who scored a 33-inch receipt for a single gallon of milk. Her picture was uploaded to Flickr in 2009 by user Scott Greenway.
But believe it or not, there’s an actual reason why CVS wants its customers to have a printed receipt with all their rewards stated on it.
In 2010, following rumors that CVS would be digitizing their receipts, a marketing spokeswoman from the company spoke up to explain.
“When you give rewards, you want people to feel excited,” said Helena Foulkes. “You want them to know that they’ve earned the reward.”
Whether or not that’s everyone’s reaction is up for debate.
There’s now even a Twitter account with the handle @CVSReceipt, which exists solely for the purpose of continuing to poke fun at the retailer’s excess of paper rewards.
Regardless, it seems like the retailer is sticking to their usual methods.
CVS is the largest pharmacy retail chain in the country. In addition to medical and pharmaceutical services, the company sells grocery staples as well as common drugstore items such as makeup, travel items, snacks, and more. They offer membership discounts … which they clearly don’t plan to stop any time soon.
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