I have had my valet bag get delivered to baggage claim at CLT instead of being returned at the gate before (I was unlucky, everyone else got theirs properly). Had to go landside to get it back, good thing I had a long connection. I agree with the sentiment that there's no reason NOT to have the protection of the receipt stub in case it becomes necessary.
I assume this also means the discontinuation of the blue first class tags? That's a great pity if so...