I came across a blog entry this morning, and it struck me as very interesting. This blog took the time to point out how important it is to check the information on your receipts. This seemed so basic to me, but also extremely important. It’s something that we should not forget to do, as it can save us from a headache later on.

It’s easy to think sometimes that once you have all your receipts in one place, you’re good to go. You won’t have to worry about anything else because you’re the most organized person you know. Nobody else has a complete digital archive of all their receipts, and you know you’ll be better off come tax time, etcetera.

But this is all assuming one thing, right? You are making the big assumption that all your receipts have the correct information on them.

So, make sure you are consistent in checking your receipts to make sure that the store name, date, amount, and items are correct. When your receipt is printed out at the register, just scan it quickly to make sure those pieces of information look right. The receipt is oftentimes the only record you have of a purchase, so you want to make sure it’s right.

Here is another great example how this simple habit can save you some cash!

Whole Foods has issued a voluntary multi-state recall of fresh ground beef that it sold between June 2 and August 6, 2008. They are concerned that the beef may be contaminated with E. coli. Bring your receipt in to get a full refund if you have purchased any beef from Whole Foods during that time. I certainly have, and will be heading over there later today.

The concern was initially limited to beef sold in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, but the recall has recently been extended to the following states:
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D. C., Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Canada.

Whole Foods is one of the most popular stores on Shoeboxed, so we wanted to let you all know of what was going on. I hope no one got sick.

To claim your refund, take your receipt (no need to bring the beef) to any Whole Foods store.

Need an afternoon pick-me-up? Make sure to bring your morning receipt.

Starbucks, one of the most popular stores on Shoeboxed, launched a nationwide promotion whereby you can get $2 off an afternoon iced coffee if you bring in a receipt from earlier in the morning. This can mean significant savings, as an iced latte can run over $4.

I love promotions, but I especially love promotions that involve receipts! Hurry though; this receipt-related coffee offer is only available through September 2.

From CNN:

The move to expand the afternoon iced drinks promotion comes after Starbucks said last week it would offer more “value” in its fall and holiday offerings. In a conference call with investors, Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the company may offer deals to consumers who use Starbucks customer cards.

Starbucks has already been testing a variety of regional promotions this summer. In some cities, it has offered discounted drinks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In July, the chain also gave away 12-ounce iced coffees on Wednesdays to customers in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Detroit who turned over an “iced brewed coffee card,” a reusable voucher distributed in stores and newspaper inserts.

Over here at the Shoeboxed blog, we love interesting stories about receipts. Receipts are such an important and ubiquitous aspect of our lives, that everyone seems to have something to say about them.

We found an interesting blog post the other day about one such receipt. Apparently, the Company CD Baby has some of the best receipts ever. They write really funny copy on their receipts, of which we are mildly jealous. An excerpt:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, March 18th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.

Your picture is on our wall as “Customer of the Year.” We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

This is one of the best receipts ever written. Anyone else have any great receipt stories or interesting receipts they’d like to share? If so, let us know, and you or your blog might be featured here soon!

I’ve heard from a lot of people that they think this year’s cold and flu season is the worst in a long while. People seem to be getting sick all over the place, and many are looking for a quick fix that can get them back healthy as soon as possible.

One of the most popular products for alleviating symptoms of cold and flu is Airborne, an effervescent product invented by a grade school teacher. Lots of my friends (and some other Shoeboxers) swear by it, and start taking it right when they start getting sick, as per the directions.

Well, as we all know, the cold and flu are tough beasts to handle, and some question the effectiveness of Airborne. A few of these people filed a class-action law suit against the company. Airborne agreed to pay $23.3 million to settle the case.

So why am I talking about this on the Shoeblog? Well, as it turns out, Airborne is offering refunds for any Airborne that customers have ever bought… if you have a receipt. Shoeboxed users rejoice! All those receipts you’ve been saving may come in handy! This is just a friendly reminder of the usefulness that comes with having all your receipts at your fingertips. So remember to scan and save your receipts just in case you need them for refunds, returns, or exchanges. You never know when they are going to come in handy.

I do lots of different things at Shoeboxed - I guess that’s the nature of working 16-hour days. One of the most entertaining parts of my job, though, is actually using Shoeboxed. We want our user experience to be second-to-none, so we all use Shoeboxed religiously to organize our receipts, and we are all veritable Receipt Mail-In addicts.

Before I started using Shoeboxed, I never did any kind of serious budgeting. Living off my parents, the money coming in always seemed reconcilable with what I was shelling out. I was content just looking at my bank account online to check my balances. But I really wasn’t able to track my spending with any sort of accuracy. Debit card statements are notoriously hard to read because of shortened store names and little reference to what you actually bought.

But then I started using Receipt Mail-In, and with basically no effort, I now know a LOT more about my spending habits. I’m now religious about asking for a receipt from cashiers, and a never forget to keep it in my wallet. I dump it in my Receipt Mail-In envelope as soon as I get back to my desk, and then mail it in whenever I feel like it. (Yes, even though I work about 30 feet from the Receipt Mail-In operation, I use USPS just like everybody else) I have hundreds of receipts in my account, and it was really interesting for me to realize that most all of my receipts are for food. Here is a sneak peak into my personal account:

It really made me step back and realize how much money I could save by eating out less, and eating at less expensive places.

So this morning? I’m eating cereal instead of going out for breakfast at one of the restaurants across the street.

Receipt Mail-In is the first receipt organization service that makes organization into a reasonable task. Sure, a lot of people save receipts, but it it so time consuming to scan the hundreds of receipts required to get the detailed analytics that Mail-In users (like me) are privy to. Aren’t you curious what you will find out about your spending habits with Receipt Mail-In?

Well, the first batch of receipts has arrived in our office, and we are putting our long-planned scanning system into place. Pretty soon we will be zipping along scanning more receipts that I can count. I think the only thing missing right now is a boom box with some high-energy tunes to keep the energy up.

This is really cool to watch this project come together, especially with all the support we have received from people. Some want it for their own personal organization, and are looking to have more time doing other things that they care about. We have also received a lot of e-mails from excited users who are happy that tax season will finally be easier this year.

Others have found the idea of Shoeboxed Mail-In intriguing because it is a really easy way to catalog everything you own. Lots of insurance policies will make you prove what you own before they can reimburse you for things that get damaged or lost. We’re not promising that you’ll be happy when your house burns down, but at least you’ll be able to get a decent amount of money back.

I hope your house doesn’t burn down, though. Seriously.

Anyway, a lot of small business owners are looking for a good receipt organizer too. Nicco Mele, one of my favorite users, sent me this great comment the other day:

I’m the founder of a small (30 employee) technology company and I have a serious receipts problem. I would love to participate in the initial program [of Shoeboxed Mail-In]. i’d be willing to go on the record, too, about my need for the service and my willingness to pay a monthly fee for the service. It’s a no-brainer even at a relatively high price point.

So whether you’re an individual trying to save time (and maybe a little money) or a small business that is trying to spend more time actually running your company rather than spending forever getting organized, Shoeboxed Mail-In can definitely help. Who’s excited for January, when Shoeboxed Mail-In is available to everyone?

If you’re ready for Shoeboxed Mail-In and would like to be notified when we launch to the public in January, send me an email at help@team.shoeboxed.com.

What’s your ecological footprint? Different businesses have been asking themselves that question in order to better implement solutions to rising environmental issues. Here at Shoeboxed, we’ve been considering the environmental issues since day one. This environmental concern was huge motivation for Shoeboxed to launch its receipt-upload feature as early as possible.

With this unique online feature, we hope that our users can join us on a mission to promote more widespread recycling of paper receipts. No longer do you have to save that paper receipt in a folder buried in your filing cabinet. Now you can simply upload all of your paper receipts onto your personal Shoeboxed account and throw the actual receipt in a recycling bin. You will have the convenience of always being able to view your entire receipt online, while also knowing that the physical receipt can again be used thanks to the recycling process.

Most receipts are printed on recycled paper; however those receipts hardly ever go back into the recycling phase. Let’s change that together. Create your free Shoeboxed account today and do your part in making that particular aspect of our society more sustainable.

When I first registered for my Shoeboxed account, I wanted to fill up my account with all my purchasing information. But alas, I am a poor college student, and couldn’t afford to go on a shopping spree right then and there just to watch the receipts go in (though I did make one or two impulse buys anyway…). So I went through my personal inbox, and dug out all my old receipts. It was a pain, but I realized that it was the last time I would ever have to sift through thousands of e-mails to find the few important receipts.

I forwarded all these e-mail receipts to my @shoeboxed.com account, and they show up just as they would have if the store had sent it directly there. Shoeboxed doesn’t care that I forwarded it, the plane ticket I bought six months ago still says it’s from Travelocity. Sweet!

Once I had all my old receipts in there, I was shocked at how much I had spent online in the past two years. Old purchases I had completely forgotten about really reminded me of how much I consistently overlook my budget. I don’t consider myself an avid online shopper, but the expenses were really racking up!

There’s just no better way to get an comprehensive snapshot of your spending than to see everything you’ve bought, all listed in one place. It’s so simple, and it’s the core functionality of Shoeboxed. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out!

One of the biggest benefits of organizing your receipts is for reimbursement purposes. Everybody has been reimbursed at some time or another, and everybody knows the rule: you’ve got to have your receipt. Despite this, it can be a pain to keep track of everything you bought. Most of us have had to “eat” an expense that should have been paid for by someone else because we couldn’t find the receipt for it.

So how can Shoeboxed help? Well, first off, everything that you buy online will be in an easy-to-read, tabular format. And they’re not going anywhere either. You will always have easy access to everything you’ve bought online.

Also, you can easily forward any of your receipts to anyone at any time. Need to send a receipt to your boss for that fax machine you ordered for the office? No problem. Just click on the receipt from the My Receipts page. Then click “Forward this receipt.” Enter your boss’ e-mail address, and you’re done. Expect your check in the mail in 4-6 weeks.

Save money, save time, save frustration, get on Shoeboxed.

Have you used your Shoeboxed account in a really creative way? Do you feel uncomfortable with all the free time you have now that you’re Shoeboxing? Tell us about it! Send us an e-mail at help(at)team(dot)shoeboxed(dot)com.