My Own Ethical Dilemma
A week or so ago, I used the “self-checkout” lane at Kroger. When I was finished, I went to pick up my receipt, and noticed the woman who had been ahead of me in line had left her receipt behind. Normally I would just ignore it, leave it there, and go on my way, but her receipt had Goodwill coupons printed on the back, and mine did not. Yes, I use coupons at Goodwill, and Kroger is the only place I can get them.
The woman had used cash to pay, so there was no personal information on the receipt, and she had left about 10 minutes before I finished ringing my purchases up, because one of my items refused to ring in at the sale price and I had to have an employee come override it. Getting an employee at the self-serve lanes is always a struggle. 
So my question to you is - would you take the receipt for the coupons, figuring that the person who left it was long gone and never coming back, or would you leave it there just in case? I’ll post my answer in a little while in the comments as to what I did. I never thought I’d call something like this an ethical dilemma but honestly I thought long and hard about what to do before I decided. What would you have done? (Assume the coupons were for something you actually need and use.) Leave a comment and tell me what you think!
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January 28th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I would have just taken it, if it was something I would use. I would think it would just end up the trash anyhow. Now, if she would have forgotten a bag of groceries-I would have taken them to customer service.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I don’t see anything remotely wrong with using the coupons. She left her receipt behind because she didn’t have any need for it. Heck, she didn’t even take it and throw it in a trash can.
If you don’t mind me asking, what moral qualms do you have with it?
January 28th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I don’t see anything wrong with it at all. It wasn’t like you stole one of the items she purchased. She paid with cash and probably just did not need the receipt. When I pay with cash, I usually don’t get a receipt either.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I’d use it without a second thought. Lots of people leave their receipts behind; I always figure they just don’t want them.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I’d take it and use it.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I’d take it, and I’ve done so in the past. My Stop & Shop has self-checkout, and it often prints out coupons based on what you’ve purchased. If someone leaves behind a coupon that I could use, I grab it.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I would take it if it were something I could use. The attendant working the self serve area is just going to throw it away.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
The way I see it is…even if it makes me think if such a thing is ethical or not even for a second, I shouldn’t do it. It means that some corner of my mind says that it is unethical.
Personally I wouldn’t take it. It might be stupid to think this way, but I would feel as if I took something from somebody else. I believe that if we did not earn it, that money (in this case the savings) wouldn’t stay with me for long.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Given the time that had elapsed since she left and the fact that she paid cash, I would have taken the receipt/coupon.
I had no idea Goodwill gave out coupons. I’m not sure they do here.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
As long as there is no personal information on it, I would take it. It’s her own fault for not taking it. Besides, how many people actually shop at Goodwill.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
If you hadn’t taken the receipt, it more than likely would have been thrown away. The original owner left it and I doubt sincerely that they think… ” Hey, I need to go back and get that.” People that care about receipts know when they dont get them, which is point of purchase. Being you have it, using it at Goodwill will cover any bad Karma you may have accumulated by taking a receipt that isnt yours.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I’m one of those people who just leaves their receipts behind willy nilly. If that was my receipt you found I would say “Go for it! One person’s trash is another’s treasure.”
January 28th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
It depends what she bought. If she just bought food, I’d take it. What are the chances that she’d want to return food? She probably just left the receipt because she didn’t want to deal with it.
If the receipt was for something expensive, though, I’d try to find a store employee to give it to.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I did indeed take it.
My ethical dilemma was that *I* find value in my receipts, and if I forgot one, I would probably go back and fetch it. But, if I had already gone home, probably not. So I thought about it and decided that it would just get thrown away so I took it, cut off the goodwill coupons, and threw the remainder away.
And there we are.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I’d definitely use take it and use it! I immediately thought of the coupon that I lost somewhere at Walgreens (I couldn’t find it once I got to the register, but had it earlier). I hope someone found it and used it.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I would have taken it. I had a coupon for a dish washer detergent that I usually don’t get. With the coupon, it was still more expensive than what I usually get so I left it on the shelf. As I went to grab the bottle of the stuff I usually get, someone left a coupon on the shelf for the product I usually buy. Someone else did the same thing as me. I took the coupon and bought what I usually buy cheaper.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I would’ve taken and used it. If the person came back in as I was leaving, sure I’d mention it to them, but for the most part, assume they’re not concerned if they walked off without it. I also scan the parking lot as I walk in or out of grocery stores for coupons someone might have dropped - it usually doesnt turn up anything I want, but a couple of times it’s been worthwhile. I see picking up a neglected receipt in pretty much the same way.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I would have taken the receipt to use the coupons. I don’t take receipts, but I do take spare coupons that people leave behind at the U-Scan lines of Kroger.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I would have taken it.
Interesting other self-checkout dilemmas.
1. If you have produce and you don’t know exactly what it is (example: you know it’s a tomato, but don’t know which of the four varieties on the screen it is), so you just pick one, and it turns out to be slightly cheaper (50 cents a pound maybe) than what you remember the price being in produce. Do you make a big deal about cancelling it out and selecting the correct one?
2. Do you scan a coupon and keep it instead of putting it into the slot for coupons? What if there is no slot for coupons?
3. Do you use a coupon in conditions when you might not be able to use it with a cashier?
I admit that I have done all three. In the first case, I was in too much of a hurry to figure it out, and the difference was minor. I am pretty sure I have had it happen in the opposite direction too though. The second and third case happened at one time. I had a coupon which said “$2 off $10 in Food Lion brand merchandise”. I purchased $10 worth of merchandise, not all Food Lion brand though, and just to see if it would work, scanned the $2 off coupon (well actually I typed the barcode in because the coupon wouldn’t scan), and it took it. For what it is worth, I tried it another time on a $3 purchase and it did not work so I assume that the logic that checked if the coupon was valid was faulty. By the way, it did not ask me to put the coupon anywhere so I just kept it.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Use the coupon you found. I can’t answer about the other questions because I won’t use the self check-out.
Often, if I have a coupon I don’t intend to use and its about to expire, I’ve given it to someone who I notice has the item. Its all a wash in the end I think.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Take it.
I have noticed it is very common for people to leave their receipts if they have to grab them.
Not too long ago I was putting in gas fill up data into one of my spreadsheets and I gagged as I thought I had accidentally put premium gas into my car. I was wrong, it was the receipt from the previous customer.
The previous customer probably did not know there were coupons of any sort nor cared. No problems with what you did.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Take the coupon. I’ve chased after a person who left their receipt behind because I need my reciepts for input. The woman said she didn’t need it, please toss in trash, so I did. I am guessing most people who leave it behind don’t care. I care not for coupons necessarily but for tracking expenses.
As for coupons? Well she probably didn’t want it.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I would say take it. If you would not have seen the woman in front of you at all would you still have the same qualms? I don’t use receipts, just my Banks online program (except for at restaurants where I add my tip to the total, I am always skeptical that waiters with add more than I said).
One time in Linens ‘n Things I found a circular in and isle. It was very close to the employee door to the back so I wondered if they put it there for reference. After several minuets I decided to take it. It was a 20% off coupon and I figure it it was for the employees then they had others, or could go get the one I used from behind the register!
January 29th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I would take it if it were a coupon I used.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I’d have taken it without thinking twice if the coupon was one I’d use. I see people leave receipts or those checkout coupons behind all the time, either because they forget or because they just don’t want them. I’ve never seen anyone come back for a receipt.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I would assume she’s not coming back for it…I see so many discarded receipts in and around stores that I believe a vast number of people thus don’t care. So I probably wouldn’t think twice about it.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
She wasn’t coming back for it–no way. They’re yours!
January 29th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I would have taken it. I have also taken the coupons left there that print out when you scan your store card based on recent purchases. But only if I would use them.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I would have taken it and not have given it a second thought.
If someone leaves a receipt and gets out the door, unless it’s a big purchase where they might want to return it, they aren’t gonna go back. Not worth their time to throw away something too many people consider to be trash. Better to let the cashier toss it.
Which on the other hand is what will happen if you didn’t take it.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I would have taken it. Like Dave said above, if I have extra coupons that I don’t use I’ll leave them on the shelf by the item. There have been several times when someones generosity has helped me get something because of it. Maybe the person left their receipt on purpose so someone could use the coupons…
January 29th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Very interesting question. Yes, the previous customer appeared to have abandoned the cash only receipt, so it is in “open play” for the taking, as store personnel are likely to just trash it if they find it lying about. But be advised that many times, if you as the customer belong to a store’s shopping club/bonus program/whatever they are calling it, if you have swiped your card before processing the purchase, even though you pay with cash, the retailer is colllecting information on you as a customer. While the next customer may not find personally identifying information on your receipt, your bonus/club card number is usually on there somewhere. I just thought I’d put that info out to share for discussion purposes!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I would have taken it.
Like finding a dollar note on the roadside and no one else is around.
Your concience can be clear. use it.