
The Flimsy Doorknob & The Forgettable Receipt - bradgessler
http://dustincurtis.com/two_stories.html
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reidman
Instead of packing slips we've been including cardstock 'receipts' with each
of the orders we ship. We write the recipient's name, circle the merchandise
they purchased, and include a hand-drawn sketch featuring characters from the
game (example: <http://forum-files2.fobby.net/0012/7914/chimera.jpg> )

It was tedious at first, but people raved about them. Eventually we wised up
and started offering store coupons to the community's artists in exchange for
drawings. It's really added value to our products and simultaneously
strengthened our community. Win/win!

~~~
10ren
Very cool. If you number them (the drawings), they could become collector's
items.

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alex_c
I'm not entirely sure I agree with the point about the receipt. I want to be
left with a memory of how awesome an experience was, not how much I paid for
it. For something like Starbucks, having a stack of receipts that are nice to
look at and inform me in a pleasant, easy to read font exactly how much money
I'm spending there might make me reconsider my expenses in a hurry.
Forgettable receipts might have an advantage after all.

Of course, this is all theory... I would love to see some actual data!

~~~
10ren
But luxury meals are enhanced by paying more for them. They are prestige
purchases, and "prestige pricing" increases sales, according to data in
marketing textbooks. How much you paid becomes a positive part of the
experience, and worth remembering.

~~~
reduxredacted
While I agree with your point, it gets lost when applied to Starbucks. There
seems to be a groundswell of people who have suddenly realised that it's
totally unreasonable to charge what they charge for a cup of coffee. The sheer
ubiquity of Starbucks has also reduced their luxury allure. Might be nice to
have a pretty receipt, but as far as Starbucks is concerned, they might want
to reduce the font of the price and ensure it smudges easily.

~~~
10ren
OH yeah, his Starbucks example doesn't really make sense - I was thinking of
the architecturally designed home and the $1000 restaurant meal. It's a bit
weird how he starts with two compelling luxury data points, then
overgeneralizing to... a $6.02 purchase.

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edw519
"I make user interfaces...You can learn more about me here, here, and maybe
here."

Hey Dustin, quick suggestion for a better user interface: put the name of the
link in the original copy so that I don't have to mouse over the word "here"
to see what it is.

~~~
huhtenberg
Also the "You should follow me on twitter" remark at the bottom of the page
sounds somewhat arrogant to me.

~~~
radley
and go the extra step and actually say @dcurtis, since someone may need to
look it up.

Suggested approach: "Follow me @dcurtis"

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Lagged2Death
Example of fancy, highfalutin' restaurant receipt:

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterme/3729304/>

~~~
timcederman
I had a booking for last Friday, but my wife cancelled it just before the
deadline for fee-free cancellation. I'm still disappointed, but the money we
saved in not going literally afforded us a last-minute weekend in Hawaii
instead.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I can't imagine a meal being better than a weekend in Hawaii.

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davidw
> The toilet paper is even custom made with the logo of the executive’s
> company embossed on each sheet

I am not sure what I would think if I were a shareholder, but "we're paying
this guy too much, and this is how he shows it" would come to mind.

~~~
ynniv
Really? Not the "20-foot-tall floor-to-ceiling windows that expose the entire
San Francisco Bay"?

~~~
davidw
That's "nice", something someone would work hard for - hopefully the reward
for a job well done. Company branded toilet paper is 'frivolous' and, as Ryan
pointed out (I didn't want to say it), I'm not sure what kind of message it
sends to have people cleaning their nether regions with your company's logo.

~~~
ynniv
A personable one? Hopefully not a lasting one...

Its tacky to decide that someone is overpaid by your perception of how they
spend their money. You make fun of a $10 roll of toilet paper, but they might
have paid twice what their house was worth or gave most of their money to
charity. Maybe the toilet paper was supposed to be funny, and you just didn't
get the joke. Its better to justify salary by productivity to the company than
by personal preferences.

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luigi
One time, at Canoe in Atlanta, the server gave us a business card at the end
of our meal (it was nice, as business cards go). Canoe also seems to use a CRM
to keep track of their customers, as they said "Welcome back" when we did come
back.

Those practices, just standard practices for any modern business really, made
for a much better experience than a pretty receipt would.

~~~
jonah
I think you're hitting on the essential point of the article which is customer
experience and creating a positive memory.

One of my clients is a high-end boutique. Their purchase experience is good by
nice retail standards - high-quality bag, tissue with ribbon, etc. But then
the do little extras like presenting your receipt in a little card stock
slipcase and hand-writing you a thank-you note a few days later. It is the
little things that matter.

I'd agree that the MASA receipt is pretty rudimentary, but as another
commenter mentioned, it's largely a factor of the POS system. (And apparently
not high on their selection criteria list.)

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javert
I bet if somebody made a receipt printer that could print nice, customizable
receipts and interface with existing equipment, they'd get plenty of
customers.

~~~
ieatpaste
How about a pc inkjet printer? They can actually be hooked up to the nice
touchscreen ones you see at restaurants. If size/perception is an issue, why
not try a small photo-printer such as the new Polaroid PoGo.

Also, as a side note, Starbucks might not be the best fit since it's a
relatively low-price-point commodity. Both previous examples were high-price-
point, luxury experiences, which would benefit from 1) the lack of a bad
reaction 2) receipt as a marketing tool since you create worth through
creating a souvenir. Starbucks on the other hand, would only benefit through
the latter, where you create worth through impressions (kind of like those
annoying magazine signup forms). This is actually not helpful since Starbucks
doesn't need any more impressions due to their many stores, and when you throw
them away from the back seat of your car, you'll indirectly attribute the
brand to junk.

It would be nice to see online services mimic retail merchandising techniques.

~~~
javert
Using an inkjet printer is a good idea (maybe).

No offense, but your second paragraph is way too long for a comment.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
_There is a strong correlation between comment quality and length; if you
wanted to compare the quality of comments on community sites, average length
would be a good predictor._

<http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html>

~~~
javert
I'm saying that a paragraph that long is uncomfortable to read, given that HN
comments span most of the width of the page. It needed to be broken into
multiple paragraphs.

Frankly, I'm offended that I got downmodded so much on this. People clearly
did not carefully read what I said.

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brc
Car manufacturers should take note as well : the ker-thunk of a door, and heft
of a well damped indicator stalk, the soft-feel plastic of a door handler
transmit quality, even if the rest of the car is run-of-the-mill. This is
where VW leads in giving a quality feel, even though it's cars often feature
badly in quality reports.

~~~
ynniv
I've often felt that the best part of BMW's 325 is simply the lack of poor
parts. The biggest annoyance that comes to mind is that the last door is hard
to close because the cabin is air tight. Granted, I like a specific model year
above others, but its interesting to note that slight luxury and a lack of
deficiencies has produced a car with a legacy.

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jcromartie
That receipt concept is a waste of paper mass and ink. Sure, they could
improve receipts a lot, but that's not the way to do it.

~~~
fallentimes
Why not? I think it's at least worth experimenting with to see what happens.

~~~
jcromartie
You don't need to do any experimentation to know that a full-color receipt
with lots of black on heavy stock is going to use more resources than thin
thermal paper.

~~~
kscaldef
But, that's his whole point! He's saying that it's incongruous and inadvisable
to cheap out on the design and production of the receipt when it's one of, if
not the, final impression a diner will take away from your restaurant.

~~~
davidw
Ok, and that might work when it's a $1000 meal, but not for Starbucks.

Also, why does the receipt look like an iPhone app?

~~~
bestes
Um, because the iPhone is cool? Also note he said it was more a concept, not
what you would actually impliment.

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mrduncan
As far as restaurants go, I notice that the receipts have a way of sticking
with me (pockets, etc.) long after I've forgotten about the meal. I'm sure I'm
not the only one either.

~~~
dkarl
I wonder if you can brand fat....

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bouncingsoul
Another thing you touch and interact with in a home is light switches.

It's amazing to me how nice odd light switches are. Twisty knobs or metal
buttons – anything besides the normal off-white plastic switch and cover.

They don't play as well with my muscle memory, but that inefficiency becomes a
good thing somehow: it's something I remember.

~~~
randallsquared
Actually, whenever I've been in a place with odd lightswitches, it's been
pretty annoying. First, if I have to figure out how to use it by trial and
error in the dark, that's a problem. Second, if I'm expecting to live there
for years, I'm going to have to replace them, and then, very likely, I'm going
to have a bunch of wonderfully different switches, and one that stands out
because I could get it at Home Depot, and I couldn't find anyplace to buy one
like the others.

All that said, I prefer the wide rocker switches over the lever switches that
I grew up with, so I'm not knocking change, just variety. :)

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eds
When I'm hunting through my papers for receipts, I want those things to look
like what they are--receipts. The only drawback to the existing MASA receipt
that I can see is that it's harder to make your web page look good when you're
trying to show it off on your blog later.

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gsmaverick
He makes a very good point. When you pay $500 for a meal it is very
disappointing to see a receipt like that. I never really thought of the
receipt as a marketing opportunity but now I realize how important receipts
can be as a marketing vehicle.

~~~
ankhmoop
Unless you're going to deliver a receipt that matches my meal in value, I
don't particularly see the point. I don't want some stock-printed receipt
merely intended to impress.

Receipts are just receipts, and there's no real value you can provide for me
there. Instead, remember who I am, and welcome me back next time.

I should also note that the author's point could have been better elucidated
without relying so heavily on braggart anecdote.

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ivankirigin
Houses are always works in progress. I'd like all my receipts to be digital.
You touch furniture more than fixtures.

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anc2020
Only got through the first half before my the flickering in my status bar was
so irritating I had to stop reading. Sorry Dustin but if you're talking about
user experience, please do not have my browser ajax your site every couple of
seconds.

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breck
I like this idea (would love to see test data). It reminds me of how Apple
innovates in so many ways to create a better customer experience.

When you buy something from the Apple store they ask if you'd like the receipt
emailed, printed, or both.

I generally opt for email only.

It's not quite the same thing as mentioned in the article, but it is similar
in that it's much nicer than just getting handed a flimsy receipt.

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nopassrecover
Great points and I'm still amazed by his article presentation.

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darkhorse
what about the crappy user experience of having a blog and no place for people
to comment?

~~~
reduxredacted
That's a good point, really. I mean, look at all the comments his work has
gotten here on HN. That seems like one of those rather obvious details that
was "intentionally" overlooked.

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chanux
That writing is "Simple & Amazing"

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dylanz
Excellent article. I usually don't log in to HN, or comment frequently, but I
had to bump this one up.

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danbmil99
That shit at Masa better be damn good for $400 plus tax & tip.

And what's with the forced 20% service on dinner for two?

