The Home Depot: Rethinking Receipt Options at Self-Checkout
Role: Analyst (self-initiated) · Type: Concept · Outcome: Recommendations shared with the POS team
Project Context
While using the self-checkout kiosk at my local Home Depot, I noticed the receipt screen offered two options: “Email and Print Receipt” or “Print Receipt”. Both printed paper. There was no way to take a receipt digitally and skip the printout, and the two labels were close enough that the difference wasn’t obvious at a glance.
Nobody asked me to look at this, but it’s a low-attention screen with a lot of volume behind it, and a straightforward place to make the sustainable choice the easy one.
Goal
Give customers a way to take their receipt digitally without printing, and make that the default path without removing the option to print.
End Users
Home Depot customers using self-checkout kiosks, particularly those open to digital receipts.
Research Focus
How can small changes to a confirmation screen guide customers toward digital receipts without adding friction or confusion?
Methods
On-site observation of the current kiosk flow
Comparative review of digital-first receipt flows at other retailers
Secondary research on defaults and sustainable design patterns
What I observed
The confirmation screen offered “Email and Print” or “Print Receipt”. Both printed paper, so a customer who wanted a digital-only receipt had no path to one. The labels were also similar enough to require a second read to tell them apart, which meant the screen asked for attention at the exact point where people are trying to finish and leave.
CVS handles the same moment differently, digital receipts are the default, and paper prints only if you ask for it.
What Informed the Design
Simplifying choices lowers the barrier to sustainable action (source). Defaults quietly shape behavior without removing control, and showing people the impact of a choice increases follow-through (source).
Wireframes
I started with low-fidelity wireframes in Figma to work out how the options would sit on the confirmation screen, in both vertical and horizontal kiosk layouts.
Horizontal kiosk receipt screen wireframe with email, SMS, and print options and a paper-saved message.
Vertical kiosk receipt screen wireframe with the same options.
Design Solution
The revised confirmation screen made three changes:
Simplified the options to email, SMS, or print, replacing the combined choices.
Added a “go paperless” message
Set digital as the default, keeping print available but no longer as the path of least resistance.
Print stays one tap away, since not every customer has an email or phone number handy, and entering one on a touchscreen can be harder for some users. Digital receipts also have their own accessibility benefits: unlike faint thermal paper, they can be zoomed in or read by a screen reader.
Mockups
The mockups carried the wireframe structure into a finished screen:
Clean, accessible typography so the options are legible at kiosk distance.
I considered showing carbon savings or tree equivalents, but neither holds up at single-transaction scale. One receipt is a rounding error against a tree, and grams of CO2 don’t mean much to someone trying to finish and leave. Sheets of paper is the only unit that’s literally true for one purchase and understandable at a glance.
Clear CTAs for each option, with the digital receipt pre-selected.
I considered showing carbon savings or tree equivalents, but neither holds up at the scale of a single transaction. One receipt is a rounding error against a tree, and grams of CO2 don’t mean much to someone trying to finish and leave. Sheets of paper is the only unit that’s literally true for one purchase and understandable at a glance.
Horizontal kiosk receipt screen mockup with digital receipt preselected, print as a secondary option, and a “go paperless” message.
Vertical kiosk receipt screen mockup with the contents layout.
Outcome & Next Steps
Outcome
This was a small, focused change rather than a full redesign, but it shows how much weight interface micro-decisions carry. I shared my recommendations with the POS team and received positive feedback, though the project was paused before moving forward.
If implemented, the change could reduce paper and printing costs across a high-volume touchpoint, support The Home Depot’s sustainability goals, and give customers a faster way to finish checkout.
Next Steps
If the project resumes, I’d test the new screen with customers in store and track the share of digital receipts compared with printed ones to measure adoption. I’d also explore pre-filling contact information for signed-in customers, to reduce typing on the kiosk.