Professional Cashier Has Fingers Amputated From 40 Years of Touching Receipts

By S. Mazotes, Published July 31st, 2024

A professional grocery store cashier, with a career spanning four decades, has had to retire from her job two decades early as her fingers had to be amputated due to the toxic coating on thermal paper used in receipt printers. Rosa Plant was a cherished grocery servant for the Albertsons in Falkreath, Oregon, having served as one of it’s cashiers since the late nineteen seventies. A photo of her can be seen above, with stumps where her fingers were once rooted.

Thermal paper, created specifically for thermal printers, are used by the vast majority of businesses in their day-to-day transactions. They are coated with the chemical, bisphenol, which can have hormone-disrupting, cancer-causing, amputation-needing, effects if exposed to regularly.

Despite this setback, Rosa remains optimistic, ”I suppose with my skills, I could get a job as a receipt checker at Walmart, you don’t need to hold the receipts there. I could possibly even be a self checkout attendant.” Rosa’s former manager at Albertsons had this to say about her early departure, “Yea we’ll miss her. It’ll be hard to replace someone who has sacrificed, and dedicated their life to the Albertsons. Shame about her hands.” The Falkreath community has posted a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of Rosa’s amputations as Albertsons’ employee's health insurance is not willing to cover it.