When will the paper receipt end?

When shopping at Whole Foods, you’re at least asked if you would like a receipt. But when you shop at most grocery stores or pharmacies around here, you’re handed a huge receipt.

There are huge problems with paper receipts, including paper waste, BPA, information disappearing on thermal paper, non-digital, etc. But what are the alternatives? In 5 years, when we tell stories about the “paper receipt”, in the way we talk about pay phones, what will have taken their place?

While I don’t accept a receipt from Whole Foods, it would be nice to have it instantly sent to my email, so I could view it on my phone immediately. And if other stores did this, there would no longer be concerns about losing a receipt. But in order to implement a system like this, there would likely have to be buy-in on a large scale, and ideally it would be standardized.

What could and will take the paper receipt’s place, and why?