I went shopping with my partner the other day and at the check out we were given some "vouchers for schools" (what a sad way to fund out education system but that's not the point of this idea). My partner collected the vouchers which I thought was a little strange as we don't have children and she told me she would find someone to give them to in the car park. We actually found someone just as we moved away from the till. I pointed out that it was a fair bit of hassle having to look for someone to give the vouchers to and it would be better if there was a box or something to put them in so that they would get used. I was told that the supermarkets won't do that and that the checkout assistant won't hold on to them for you until someone that wants them comes along.

I can understand why the above is the case. From the supermarkets point of view it's cheaper for them if they make it difficult to use the vouchers. They want the credit but would rather not spend the cash. Putting a box in place also means they have to choose one or a few schools to give the vouchers to which immediately causes problems. Finally, asking the checkout assistant to hold on to them puts the store in an awkward position if the checkout assistant just keeps them or shows favoritism.

So my solution to this problem is Pay It Backwards (yes it is supposed to be a pun on the film Pay It Forwards). Collect your schools vouchers and simply hand them to the person behind you in the queue. If there is no one there you will still have to find someone but you would have had to do that anyway. If the person behind you doesn't want the vouchers they just keep passing them back (after collecting their own) until someone whats them. The first person that is collecting them should keep all the vouchers as it minimizes the chance of wasting vouchers because the queue ends. Obviously this will require a large percentage of the shopping public to take part but once it starts it should be self sustaining. The other advantage is that it might force the supermarkets to reduce the queues because this system works best if there are long queues.