A jar of receipts is used to illustrate how much paper waste store receipts  can produce in a matter of days. (PayTrail/Facebook)

By Derek Craddock

PAYTRAIL

The journey of two entrepreneurs and the quest to remove receipt waste

Apr 13, 2022 | 8:00 AM

Two Saskatchewan entrepreneurs are tackling a big, but often forgotten issue of wasted receipts.

Kim Baldwin and Carmen Johanson, who have known each other since their days at the University of Saskatchewan, share many common interests. But as they mentioned in an interview with paNOW, there was one pattern, in particular, they noticed that prompted them to work together.

“One sort of pattern that I kept seeing over and over again in my life is the repetitive throwing away of receipts,” said Johanson. “I just thought that this was not the way to go about it and there must be a solution.”

The pair worked long and hard on creating software that could store receipts digitally through an app on your smartphone.

Thus, PayTrail was born and launched on April 2.

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The app partners with retailers to allow customers to transfer, store, and organize receipts in one location without the need for paper copies.

While PayTrail has been well received so far, Johanson and Baldwin admit it did not come without roadblocks.

“I think one of the earliest roadblocks we faced was where to start,” said Baldwin. “Where do you even start building a business, who do you talk to, what do you Google? We spent a lot of time figuring out where to start. That was probably one of the trickiest pieces because it was very daunting.”

Meanwhile, Johanson said there was another barrier they had to overcome.

“One of the other hurdles that we found prevalent in our journey was finding a developer and finding someone who could make our coding dreams come true in the Saskatchewan community.”

In sharing about the obstacles, they faced, Baldwin added they also wanted to take their time developing the app, resisting the urge to get it out as soon as possible.

“In startups, there’s a lot of emphasis on moving fast and going as quickly as possible. We really wanted to take the time to build out this user app so that it was as best as it could be when we released it,” she said. “The development stage was slower because we really wanted to focus on making sure those features were finished and it looked nice and everything like that.”

Now that the hurdles have been jumped, Baldwin and Johanson are looking forward to growing the software with retailers and customers alike.

“We want to reach as many people as we possibly can. We want people to be using PayTrail in stores, we want people to be talking about PayTrail with retailers,” said Baldwin. “We’re looking to establish those partnerships, connecting with retailers who share some of our values in terms of sustainably and also shopper experience.”

“We’re just really focused on finding those PayTrail partners who resonate with us and what we stand for and want to be alongside us in this journey,” added Johanson.

PayTrail is now available to download online as well as on the Google Play and Apple App Store.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow