Receipt Story

It's an amusing social media discussion going on.

Since 1 January 2020....it's mandated now (federal German law) that as a bakery (or any business for that fact)....that you have to generate a receipt upon purchase.  It has to be handed to the customer. 

To be honest, I kinda stop off at a bakery operation on an average of 20 times a month (figure 240 occasions a year).  Sometimes, it's for bread.  Sometimes, it's for coffee and a 'roll' or a slice of cake.  Up until 1 January, I'd never gotten a single receipt (ever).  Since then, the bakeries all cooperate...grumbling along the way.

Up until this enforcement....were the bakeries (and related businesses) cheating?  No one will suggest that in news media chatter or forums, but most people think that.

So it came up in social media this week (I suspect starting out of Berlin-City itself).....that some bakeries are telling their customers to collect the receipts, and mail them occasionally to the SPD Party headquarters in Berlin.  They were the chief people responsible for the rule and it's enforcement.  The suggestion for the clever idea...is to scribble on a note with the receipts...for the SPD to dispose of the receipts on their own.

Journalists will laugh over the effort, but I suspect by the end of 2020.....with a couple of million envelops sitting over at the SPD building....a discussion will start up about public frustration over this minor issue, and if the party made a mistake.