How to End Mile-Long Receipts at CVS

When shopping at CVS, beware the paper snake.

Ridiculously long paper receipts — which reports say can run up to 5 feet, typically plastered with coupons and other offers — long have amused or horrified customers at the drugstore chain.

Environmentalists and others have complained about this practice. And yet, the receipt snakes persist to this day.

Fortunately, there is a way customers themselves can end the paper plague.

Three years ago, Helena Foulkes — who was then president of CVS Pharmacy — appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and announced that shoppers soon would have the ability to opt out of the practice.

“We heard loud and clear that while our customers love receiving coupons and special offers, many wanted a paperless option,” Foulkes said at the time.

Today, sure enough, CVS alludes to this option on its website — alas, without offering much detail about how to do it.

But CNBC recently detailed how to slay the paper snake:

“Consumers need to sign up either online or at a local CVS drugstore for the CVS ExtraCare Rewards program, which allows shoppers to earn special rewards or discounts on many items in the store.

Then, shoppers must enroll for digital coupons and receipts in their online account or through the app, which will then eliminate those paper receipts when they shop in store.”

CVS Health Corp. CEO Larry Merlo told CNBC that shoppers must use both options — signing up for ExtraCare Rewards and enrolling in digital coupons — to end the extra-long receipts.

So, now you know. If you’ve been boycotting CVS, you can slay the snake, pick up a few discounted CVS gift cards and shop to your heart’s content.

How do you feel about those extra-long CVS receipts? Sound off in comments below or on our Facebook page.