You may not see my receipt.
August 24th, 2007I’ve been saying “no thank you” to the increasingly ubiquitous receipt checkers at the doors of (mostly) big-box stores. It’s insulting and an inconvenience. Generally, the guards are pretty nice about it. At Bed, Bath, & Beyond, they kind of shrug, and smile. At CompUSA, they actually shout after you like you are the criminal they assume you to be. I’ve even successfully said no thank you to the TSA at JFK, when they wanted to see my ticket for the third time (once before security, once going through the metal detector, and then again leaving security). Actually, in that case I would have complied if the person had been even minutely polite.
An incident at the Naperville outlet of TigerDirect somehow doesn’t surprise me. A customer said “no thank you” to guards who wanted to see her receipt, and was detained and verbally harangued. She called 911, but the police officer refused to charge the guard and manager with false imprisonment. I have to say, under the same conditions I would have walked out of the store and I doubt that a guard would be able to physically restrain me, but I’m kind of a jerk that way. Anyway, I’ve been in that store, and it feels a bit like a prison. I’ve gotten some pretty good bargains from TigerDirect in the past, it’s too bad I can’t in good conscience order from them any more.
I’m not sure that “no thank you” is enough any more, so I’ve printed up two versions of slips of paper to keep in my pocket, and to hand to guards who have this thankless job. The first one reads:
To the General Manager:I have handed this paper to your security employee who has requested to see my receipt following a purchase, a request I politely refused. I recognize that this employee is doing the job you have assigned, and this should not be seen as an indication that this person has done anything but a fine job.
However, I am insulted by your practice of treating every customer as a potential thief. Note that this lack of goodwill results not only in my future choice of other, more customer-oriented stores over your own, it also results in significant negative word-of-mouth advertising regarding my shopping experience. Consider that you will have to spend substantial amounts of revenue in advertising for new customers with each customer you lose to this charade.
I sincerely hope you will reconsider your policy of checking receipts at the door. I recognize that shoplifting and other forms of loss are a challenge to retail establishments, and I encourage you to take measures—including increasing the number and training of sales associates—to reduce loss. Insulting your customers is the wrong approach.
I figure you can add your signature and contact information or not, as you like. Here it is in a convenient pdf, along with a less subtle version. (via Boing)
August 24th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
On the other hand, my Dad actually complained when Sam’s Club stopped checking receipts at the door for a while. Seems that more than once the receipt to item comparison turned up the fact that he’d been overcharged, so ended up saving him money.
I’m not saying that what TigerDirect did after the customer refused was right (far from it), but just pointing out there are people who do prefer to have their receipts checked.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
At Costco the receipt checking is done in a really half assed way. They just kind of peruse over it, look in the basket, and say ok. I could have hidden something expensive in there, or even slipped something in my pants. O well.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
In all fairness while shopping in Home Depot before I’ve seen a fellow casually stroll towards the door lugging expensive tools and when called after to verify that he’d purchase them, make a dash for his van which he’d conveniently parked in the fire lane by th exit. While checking EVERY person may seem unfriendly, from a business perspective it’s certainly safer, in our ridiculously litigious society, than leaving the decision of who to search up to the discretion of the security guard who’s sure to eventually get accused of singling someone out to be checked based on a perceived bias, no?
August 24th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I have no problem with Costco doing it, to be honest. And the half-assery isn’t so much to keep people from stealing little things. It’s to keep the expensive items from riding out on a cart, or to prevent you from stealing 100 items when you only have two things on a receipt.
As for a store like Fry’s, I’m not as comfortable. On the one hand, they do point out that they will ask at the door to see the receipt (which I’m not sure TigerDirect does, never having been there), but on the other hand, there is the whole ‘criminal’ aspect.
As for a store like Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Depot, etc, where there is no posted policy like this.. yeah, I don’t think so.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Beware of Costco, however. It is a *membership* store and if you refuse to allow your receipt to be checked, the management has the right to discontinue your membership — like, immediately, and confiscate your membership card! I have actually seen this happen! And you are correct, in that the perusal of one’s receipt at Costco is indeed half-ass. The PR says that they do an item and price check of each receipt in order to protect the employee, but when you see the staff peruse a receipt in literally a few seconds for dozens of items totaling nearly $200 — there is obviously no way an item/price check is being done.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
with you giving the money at the cashier the purchase is complete. The stuff is yours and nobody has the right to ask to look in your bag, so yes, it’s illegal search (true, except costco and other membership stores.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
The costco receipt check is to certify that you left the store with the items you bought. It prevents you from buying a bunch of shit, loading it into your car, walking right back into the store and loading up the same shit, and walking out with it all for a second/third/fourth time.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Something that’s always struck me as ridiculous about this practice is the proximity of the “checker” to the cash register you just left. It seems reasonable that if you were trying to pilfer something that the person at the register should have noticed. What changes between the register where they hand you the receipt and the exit 15 feet away?
August 24th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
The true reason for checking receipts is not to detect shop lifting per-se, but to detect if a cashier is in cahoots with a customer and deliberately failing to ring up some expensive items. Spot checking for this will catch it reasonably quickly. It is the same reason movie theaters have one person sell you the ticket, and another check the ticket.
It is hard to see how any other system could accomplish this.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
BAP: That makes a lot of sense–or would if checkers every really checked :). And I recognize that shrinkage is reflected in the price I pay.
OTOH, I think there is a system that can accomplish this to a certain degree. Paying checkers well, retaining them, and instilling a sense of pride in their work is one possibility. I know that sounds hopelessly idealistic, but I suspect that companies with high employee satisfaction (e.g., the Wegman’s supermarket chain) have less of a problem with shrinkage. Hiring practices can help here too.
But in the end, I’m willing to pay a little more not to be treated with disrespect. There is a reason Target is holding its own against Walmart in particular market sectors. Somehow a lot of stores get by just fine without checking your receipt at the door. Never had this happen at Tiffany’s or Saks, or–for that matter–at DSW (discount shoes) or Apple stores. In other words, it’s a choice some shops are making, and I refuse to help them make it. If others are willing to accept the intrusion, fine. But particularly since anyone who is in cahoots with a checker is likely to do exactly what I do, and just walk right through, I would be surprised if the practice nabs many would-be thieves.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Well, stores like Costco and virtually every other retailer will have a variety of undercover security measures that will certainly catch thieves. I know this because my dad was busted stealing a flash drive from Costco by their undercover operations (don’t ask, I don’t know why, he was just in a mid-life crisis I guess) . The door checking serves no legit purpose other than to intimidate customers consciences, you know the ones who think they can add an unpaid DVD player onto a cart with a bunch of other stuff. It is a psychological measure and should be stopped. The cameras and undercover “shoppers” should catch most of the lifters as long as the company keeps the staffing levels at what they need, which they probably don’t to cut costs.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I don’t like having my receipts checked – ie I don’t like being treated like a potential criminal – however I also really don’t like having the cost of the products I buy reflect the fact that other people do steal. So if this actually helped maintain costs, then I’d be okay with ith.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
It’s not just about security. One time at Costco, the reciept-checker noticed that I’d been charged twice for an item.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Many of the commenters at Consumerist said, “What’s the big deal? Just show the receipt. It’s easier in the end.” I agree. Also, commenters here have mentioned that one could possibly still shoplift regardless of receipt checking. Therefore, I think the only reasonable strategy is for these stores to begin implementing strip searches upon exit. Alternately, customers could opt to change into hospital gowns upon entering the store, checking clothing and bags (except credit cards, of course). Potential theft of intellectual property is also possible at many stores. I suggest only allowing customers to see the inside of books after they have paid for them lest some unscrupulous pirate with an eidetic memory chose to put books on the internet. Furthermore, children could cause millions of damage in stores while purchasing nothing. Stores are perfectly within their rights to detain these freeloaders in holding cells in the entrance/exit area of the stores. Finally, since employees account for a significant percentage of stolen inventory, I suggest store begin handcuffing them to the registers until such a time as they may be cavity searched before release. If these simple policies are implemented we can save major retailers some money – and they will pass the savings on to middle management, who will hopefully reduce prices somewhat in their afternoon stupors, drunken from supplier luncheons.
Look, it’s simple: less than a fraction of one percent of customers are criminals, but one hundred percent are potential criminals. Frankly, we’d all be a lot safer if we were all just put in jail preemptively. It would save the trouble of tapping our phones and reading our boring emails, and we could finally say that there were no longer any criminals getting away with something. Besides, the principle of original sin works for law, too – we all probably deserve to go to jail for something, why bother trying to sort out the details of what, when, where, why, and how.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:02 am
It’s all well and good to say that the bag checkers are preventing loss, and therefore reducing cost to consumers… but how much do the companies spend on the security guards? Where do you think they are getting the money do pay them? You also have to take into consideration (at least in Australia anyway) the countries illegal imprisonment laws. Here, you cannot be detained by anyone except a police officer, and even then, only when formally charged.
August 25th, 2007 at 2:49 am
What if the thief, checker and receipt checker are in cahoots?
I think we need another receipt checker to check your receipt after the first one checks. You know, to keep everyone honest.
I agree with AG above. Strip searches is a good idea too. Like crayonbeam said … whatever keeps the cost down. That’s really what is most important.
August 25th, 2007 at 3:39 am
I really don’t see what the big deal is with receipt-checking. Just show the damn thing and be done with it.
If you don’t want to be treated like a criminal, don’t act as though the store is treating you like one.
August 25th, 2007 at 5:15 am
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August 25th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Fun pdf. Costco doesn’t use shopping bags, which is a net plus. I always thought that was why they did the checking, b/c there is no visual evidence that the customer/member paid.
August 25th, 2007 at 7:36 am
A truly innovative store would have you walk over a scale on the way in and on the way out. If youhad mysteriously gained three pounds inside the store, and it didn’t have a restaurant…
August 25th, 2007 at 8:02 am
An additional reason for the receipt check is to foil the people who buy the stuff, then go back into the store and pick up the same items and take them to the returns desk to tuen in for cash, so that they get their purchases for free,
That’s why the checkers make a mark—to show that the purchased items and receipt have actually been taken out of the store.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:27 am
I’ve refused to show my receipt for years now. I consider it more than a waste of time, but a brief, but unlawful detainment of me and my merchandise – which at the time of the receipt check is not my personal property. I’ve been chased, yelled at, and come pretty close to calling the actual police as store staff has half assedly tried to illegally detain me.
I have a Costco membership, and I let them check my receipt there. It is part of my contract with Costco, and they can and will confiscate memberships on-site for failure to comply. It’s still a stupid policy, but at least Costco’s operation is above board and doesn’t involve security staff engaging in illegal detainments or various kinds of verbal harassments.
BAP is correct and gets at a key point of retail operations – most theft is done by employees, either directly, or in collusion with outside parties. The receipt check can address one type of employee theft, but it’s a bad policy, as it alienates and annoys hundreds of legit customers for every individual that it catches, and since the search is not a legally enforceable one, anyone with brains engaging in a register scam would just walk out anyways. If receipt checks were a bucket, it would be a bucket with massive hole in it.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I refuse to show a receipt at Fry’s and have yet to catch any flack. I walked out with a TV (I purchased, thankyouverymuch) and politely refused to produce my receipt.
CompUSA hasn’t checked receipts in my town (Austin, TX) for years. There was a huge discussion on one of the local newgroups about their receipt-checking policy and people were vowing never to shop there again. Someone in the group contacted CompUSA’s hedquarters and forwarded the Dejanews URL so they could see what they were doing.
I thought it quite humorous when one of CompUSA’s “guards” followed me into the parking lot demanding to see my receipt. I didn’t find it humorous when they started using off-duty cops who were still in uniform. It was shortly after this that CompUSA dropped it.
WalMart has started checking receipts too. I simply smile and say no. They smile and tell me to have a nice day.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Having worked in retail management for a number of years, the stores are just as concerned about a cashier doing the inside job by checking out a buddy and “missing” the ring-up of items.
It is mind boggling the number of tricks employees and non-employees will try to beat the system – especially when more than one person is involved.
Sure, it’s an inconvenience, but this is what they do – and it’s not necessarily all about you.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:57 am
I really think you could find something more important to worry about. I’m willing to spent a few seconds to show my receipt if it could possibly reduce the amount of product that walks out of the store without being paid for. Most every policy and procedure you come in contact with today is an example of the masses paying a price, monetary or otherwise, for the few who can’t seem to follow the rules. Other methods could be used to ensure that you’ve paid for the merchandise in your cart but they would a) probably raise the cost of the merchandise, and b) probably piss you off just as badly for some reason or another. Get over it.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
You’re a bitter guy. Dude. Realize that your personal ego is not the top priority of a multi-million dollar business, when 99% of the other people don’t care a whit about showing their receipt. Businesses have long had the common law or statutory right to temporarily detain people who they suspect may be stealing something. This is a matter of judgment, and they may cross the line sometimes, but simply asking to show the receipt is not an onerous request, in my opinion. If you value the store, you should value their reasonable attempts to prevent theft. Ultimately, if you like it, go, if not, don’t. Vote with your wallet.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I really DON’T understand the arguments of people who say “well, I personally find the offense outweighed by hypothetical economic benefits, so YOU SHOULD TOO. As AG so effectively (and accurately) pointed out, if you continue following the track of what’s “easier”, you inevitably conclude that fascism and slavery are “easier”.
I am not particularly concerned with the saving or not saving of a few pennies (or a few dollars on a thousand-dollar sale). I am not particularly concerned with “easier”. I am concerned with WRONG, and my right to go through life not being obligated to do WRONG things all the time just because it’s “easier” for someone whose interest may be diametrically opposed to my interests anyways.
It’s also striking how the pro-business arguers will simply MAKE STUFF UP, like Ronald Reagan, to help make their point (yes, this means you, Trevor).
My own approach is to NOT KEEP THE RECEIPT (my bankers and creditors keep perfectly good records for my purposes), so when they ask, no, I do not have a reciept, it’s in the checker’s garbage bag.
If you’re so incompetent a shopper that you let them check your receipt in order to find mischarges, you really ought to have your legal guardian do your shopping anyway (and if you don’t have a legal guardian, you ought to get one).
In general, if corporations could just figure out the simple principle “punish wrongdoers, NOT the innocent”, they they would make more money, have better reputations, and probably get more public support for policies that are actually necessary.
August 25th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Per the Costco policy, it’s really aimed more at ensuring that employees ring everything up, than it is at customers trying to slip stuff by. They’re more concerned with theft involving a colluding employee than anything else.
If RFID is ever fully deployed it will help with this sort of thing a lot.
As per Home Depot/ Best Buy etc. doing it, I haven’t encountered it in Colorado but I would summarily refuse. I’ve walked directly from a check out counter to the door, you could see me the whole time, if you think your employees are stealing then that’s your problem not mine.
August 25th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I just show the receipt. Sure, it’s just another way of telling you that you could be a thief, just like having to show your ID with your credit card, or having to pay with cash instead of an I.O.U. It’s not like they’re calling you names and kicking your ass when you leave. That really would make me not shop there again!
August 25th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Of course it is much easier to just play along…. Just like it is easier to give in to the bully in school because that is what this is!
August 25th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Trevor: Not bitter at all. And yes, if you think it is egotistical to spend my time the way I choose to, rather than give it to the store for free, yes, I am egotistical. Maybe you don’t value your time in the same way.
For those of you who choose to show your receipt, go for it! I certainly won’t stand in your way. If that’s how you want to spend your time, who am I to stop you? You can also volunteer to mop the floors if you like–I really don’t care.
I choose not to. It really isn’t a huge deal, I just don’t see any reason to comply with an asinine request.
If you want to queue up to show the guard you haven’t stolen anything, far be it from me to stop you. I’ll be walking past you and spending my time the way I want to, not the way the store wants me to.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I (baa) have never (baa baa) been (baa) bothered by (baa baa) showing my receipts and (baa) think it’s funny (baa baa baa) that you do.
August 25th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Wow, do they really do that in the US? How backward! Here, they have checkouts where you never have anyone look at your stuff at all – you just scan it all yourself, pay the money, and leave. Big saving in staff wages, big saving in queue length.
But if some people like the checking thing, you know what would be cool?
A shop that offered clearly-optional receipt checking with a guarantee: you get store points for doing it, and if we overcharged you, we’ll refund; if we undercharged you, you keep the money; and either way the checkout girl won’t be out of pocket or punished, other than possibly being asked to do retraining (at the same wage).
This would be particularly cool for the automated-checkout systems you have here, where sometimes you disagree with the computer, but can’t argue with it.
With this optional-only system, the store’s inventory system stays more accurate; they get to identify staff who need retraining; they get happy customers; they save on wages of the checkers, as they need fewer; and they identify by loyalty card those customers who always tend to be a certain amount over, and can display a warning to the cashier to watch out for them walking out with a magazine in their back pocket. They don’t identify or discourage collusion-thieves, but then the existing scheme doesn’t either as you can just walk on by anyway, or collude with the checker.
August 25th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
As a European I’m a bit surprised to hear about receipt-checking like this.
If a store where I live would want to do something like that, they would ALWAYS post their terms.
Also, I have never encountered something so… systematical myself.
Based on media and the podcasts I listen to, it’s my impressions that the US has become rather used to things like receipt-checking and preemptive searches.
And more generally I think the US is gaining a reputation for accepting such practices.
Over here something like receipt-checking would immediately generate a wide public discussion about personal liberties, and the dangers of giving up on them. I recognize that these discussions also take place in the US, but I’m not sure that US citizen’s know how used they may have already become to such means.
Just saying: this is NOT common or acceptable practice internationally.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
“A truly innovative store would have you walk over a scale on the way in and on the way out. If youhad mysteriously gained three pounds inside the store, and it didn’t have a restaurant…”
And it didn’t have a bathroom.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
“It is part of my contract with Costco, and they can and will confiscate memberships on-site for failure to comply.”
Uh, exactly how are they going to get the membership card out of my wallet, which is in my pants pocket? If they thought I was rude for refusing to show a receipt, they’re really in for a surprise if they try to physically take my membership card from me.
Also, if this is to keep the Costco checkout folks honest, why don’t they have anyone asking for a receipt at their liquor store where you’ve just paid and are rolling out hundreds of dollars worth of booze?
August 26th, 2007 at 2:09 am
I have mixed opinions about the receipt checking. I do it at Costco because, well, my membership requires compliance. One time at Costco, the cashier failed to ring me up for a few relatively inexpensive items, the receipt checker caught it, and required me to go back through the checkout line to pay for it. Fair enough, that’s the point of the system, but I felt unfairly penalized for a mistake that the cashier made. It’s not really fair for the store to eat the cost of my box of paper towels either, but some concessions should have been made.
My biggest issue comes from Home Depot. One time, I checked out with a few items, and in between me finishing my transaction and heading for the door, I lost the receipt. It wasn’t in the bag, I didn’t leave it at the register, it was just… gone. I probably dropped it and it fell under the checkout stand, I don’t know. The security guard would not. let. me. out. He required that I go to customer service and get a receipt. (this was before I knew my rights) But fair enough, if I’d wanted to return something, it’d be helpful. So I wait in line at customer service, they take 10 minutes and two managers to look up my receipt by my credit card (apparently this isn’t easy to do), and it gets printed out. Across the store in the manager’s office. On an 8.5×11 sheet of paper. So, they go get it, I go back to the exit, and the security guard says “this don’t look like any receipt I ever seen!”. He follows me back to the manager’s office, where the manager confirms that yes, it is real, and that it was just printed. Total waste of over 45 minutes of my time. Completely avoidable by “no thanks.”
And that’s my two cents.
August 26th, 2007 at 3:30 am
On a way out of town for a 2 day trip we realized our car CD player was on the fritz, so we stopped in Best Buy for a $12 CD player with a cassette-emulator-thingie. As we left I wouldn’t let them see my receipt (I never do). I had three extra security guards show up and I was told that I had been photographed and that I couldn’t shop at the Best Buy anymore.
Imagine how I would have felt if I’d ever actually *wanted* to shop at Best Buy :-)
I also get the “if we don’t mark your receipt you can’t use it for refunds” line (mostly from CompEvil). I guess I’d have to buy my own red highlighter or something to get around.
At CostCo, though, I figure it’s part of the deal I made when I joined, so I put up with it. Oddly, they often just wave me by.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:43 am
God almighty — What is it with you people who are so willing to about your fighting to withhold a stinking receipt? I’m sure you’re all anxious to get out of Best Buy so you can go down to the Army depot and sign up to go to Iraq and fight for some actual real friggin’ freedom fighting, since you’re obviously the biggest friggin’ patriots this country has seen since Nathan Hale.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
showing a reciept is not an onerous task and if it keeps prices lower (a big assumption) by reducing theft, i’m for it.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Just seems to me like more of the frog in the pot treatment. A tiny little thing, showing your reciept on the way out
of a store, just a slight humilation, one more in a number of slight humiliations (for your own good!) that have been
heaped upon Americans since 9/11. Soon, people will take the practice for granted so much that we will wake up one
day and find out it has become a law and if you break it there will be serious consequences (for your own good!)
At that very point they will turn the heat up yet another degree.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
By the time I reach the door, I have already put my credit card receipt away in my wallet so I don’t lose it. Why should I have to go digging thru my bag, and then wallet for my receipt, to show it to someone who doesn’t really check anyway? And then reverse the procedure and hope I don’t lose the receipt while my 2 1/2 yr old starts demanding my attention by chucking my new purchases onto the floor? Tis why I shop at Target. Although now that I understand it is not illegal to refuse, I may return to WallyMart.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Personally, I feel I have larger things to worry about.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
>I can’t in good conscious order from them any more
I can’t in good conscience allow your malapropism to slide…
August 27th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Ricky: Fixed. Won’t be the last :). Spellcheck is not always my friend.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Every time I leave Fry’s I am amazed at the line of people waiting to have their receipt checked and marked with a felt pen.
I always walk right on by and not once has the security person so much as caught my eye.
Seems a total waste of everyone’s time.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I’m a pretty big privacy advocate and showing my receipt doesn’t bother me at all. Guess we all have different hangups. Fry’s Electronics has been checking my receipts for years so I guess I’m inured. Now if they wanted to PAT ME DOWN that would be different.
They do a crappy job of checking the receipt too, they glance inside your bag and wave you on. They really only care if they see you walking out with a big tv or a computer. The funny thing is that you could have something equally valuable in your pocket, since electronics are so small these days.
August 30th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
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August 31st, 2007 at 9:31 am
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September 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 am
How much do you want to bet that the name-calling retards, telling you to just be a good boy and show your receipt, are the same people who drive around with giant pictures of flags and bald eagles on the back windows of their pickup trucks? You know, the ones who spout words like “freedom” and “patriot”? But ironically, they are the ones who cannot tolerate freedom. They gladly submit to authority at every opportunity. They act and think only as they are instructed by their party or their priest. By standing up for your rights as outlined by the law, you are fighting for Freedom. By standing up for your rights as outlined by the Constitution, you are the Patriot. The boneheads who claim those words as their own probably do so to hide their shame for not living by the principles behind the words.
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 am
I guess I’ve worked retail too long. After you see the amazing number and variety of people who do shoplift — friendly old folks, off-duty cops, a beloved local pediatrician, as well as lots of kids and career criminals — you start thinking that checking receipts isn’t so bad. Better than following each and every customer around the store and watching over their shoulders to make sure they don’t pocket anything.
Best Buy has a big scanner by the front door and a loss prevention agent right next to it. Week before last I stopped by when they opened to buy a Serenity DVD and was at the register when a guy walked casually by, through the scanner, which went off. He was holding a Playstation 3. Now, this is literally three feet away from me and the cashier, another couple feet away from the guard. The man had waited until the cashier was ringing my order and the guard looked to the side before strolling right through. The cashier looked up at the scanner beeping, yelled, and the guy took off. Got away, although they did get his license plate. I suppose using his license plate to track him is a violation of his rights, somehow.
What got me was not the sheer nerve of the man, but what the cashier yelled. “Hey! That’s the guy that stole the XBox!”
One guy got at least $600 of merchandise in a week. I’d hate to see what their actual loss is per month. But management can do the math. They wouldn’t be paying for the extra guards and security if it wasn’t ultimately cheaper than writing off losses every month. The store isn’t after your liberties. They’re trying to keep their costs down.
Tell me, when you shop at Home Depot to buy a $40 drill bit, do you get offended when the salesman has to remove it from a case and take it to a register for you? Or do you assume he’s just tired of people stealing them?
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Adding… This is not to excuse stores that go overboard and harass legitimate customers. Just saying that when you get burned often enough, it gets harder to tell the difference. And if you get burned too much, you go out of business. There has to be an acceptable level between letting everyone walk out and then closing your store in a year, or strip-searching everyone and then closing your store in a year.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:21 am
CABridges: And yet… somehow Target, Barnes & Noble, and *most* other stores manage to not only stay in business, but to thrive, without having to insult their customers.
I really don’t have a problem with theft prevention. If they want to have cameras, I’m OK with that, although it’s not the best way to do it. In the stores where I worked, and my wife managed, loss prevention was accomplished precisely by following customers around. It was called customer service. Shoplifters don’t like it when workers are friendly, helpful, and present. They prefer stores where they are ignored. For repeat or multi-store offenders, you have a face book and watch for them. You won’t stop people every time using this method, but you will stop them.
Note that in the example you give, the shoplifter is probably the only one of hundreds of people that day that was completely unaffected by the policy. In other words, you provide a great example of why receipt checking only affects those who have made legitimate purchases, and does little to stop those who are shoplifting.
I don’t mind when a shopkeeper keeps things locked up. When I go to a jewelry shop, I do not mind that they keep things in a case. In some shops in New York, they even keep the front door locked as well. But if they demanded to search me when I left, that I would consider to be a gross intrusion.
It’s simple enough: if Best Buy doesn’t want guys walking out with an Xbox or a PS3, they should do what they do with drill bits, and put them behind a counter. That’s what lots of shops do with more expensive merchandise. The problem is that Best Buy realizes that it is cheaper to put a guard at the door, which ultimately makes the shopping experience less efficient and enjoyable for the customer, than it is to train and staff the floor, which would be more helpful to the customer.
I suspect Best Buy’s days are numbered, and it sure isn’t because of shrinkage. It’s because they treat the customer like crap, and they don’t hire people for the floor that know the product and want to help people find what meets their needs. Sure, there are those who really don’t mind being treated like criminals to save the extra 5%, but I’m not one of those people. (And besides, it’s rare that Best Buy saves me that much.) I would rather go somewhere that saves me money and makes the process of shopping–if not enjoyable–at least reasonably comfortable.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I’d argue that Best Buy and other electronics stores have more small, expensive items to swipe than Target, Barnes & Noble, etc. I’d be very surprised to see a bookstore checking receipts, but it doesn’t surprise me at all to see an electronics store doing so.
However, I agree with you on the customer service, particularly with Best Buy. Having spent countless hours making sure that everything in the places I worked was priced and clearly signed, going into a store where better than half the merchandise has no price and no help available ticks me off something fierce.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I’m an American. In America we have laws: Federal, State, Local. I will live by those laws; not the made up laws that retail outlets create to make their customers feel like criminals.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Ignorance of history is a cancer upon nations.
As usual, my fellow Americans prove the founders correct in their position that the masses are too ignorant to participate in direct democratic government. The constitutional republic exists to provide a filter between you who are all too willing to sacrifice your Constitutional rights, and those who are sworn to uphold those rights for your own good and the good of Americans who actually desire, believe in, and struggle for those rights.
If it is not crystal clear why submitting to an unlawful search on pain of detention, assault, or government arrest is wrong, then you have not only failed to grasp the principles on which America is based, but you are embracing peasantry in a plutocracy. It will only get worse for your children and their children until such time that people, like Alex, who display backbone and self dignity in the face of unlawful and unethical treatment overcome the machine which you have so willingly lubricated with your apathy.
Bill
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Wow, you’re right. We should stop posting guards at banks, too, or requiring people to show ID to withdraw money, It’s their money, right? How dare we treat them like criminals! I’m sure the losses from unscrupulous people will be more than made up from the goodwill of honest customers.
I don’t want to defend the idiotic stores that go too far to the point where you feel like you;’re shopping at a prison. And CostCo can cancel your card, but they have no right to search you for it. But asking to see a receipt when you’re walking past with an expensive item in a large, busy store? This is what defines the fall of our country?
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I wrote about this over 4 years ago:
http://www.danielcurran.com/2004/08/no-you-cannot-check-my-receipt-and.php
I cant believe this is still happening
Unless you signed a contract (CostCo, Sam’s Club, etc) you do not have to nor should you show your receipt to the door monkeys. Why? Once you have purchased the item it is your property. The bag it is in is your property. To allow an “official” of the store to check your bag and receipt is consenting to a search of your property.
Why? Why are you giving up a civil liberty? You are consenting to a search without probable cause. Sure there are all sorts of excuses the store manager will give you. “We are looking out for employee theft” – Great, I’m not your employee. “We are ensuring you weren’t overcharged” – Bullshit. “We are . . . ” – Lying?
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:59 pm
CABridges Says: “We should stop posting guards at banks.”
No. Nor do I argue we should stop posting guards at stores. If a store has a problem with shoplifting (really, all do), I encourage them to detect and stop those stealing from them.
Now, if an armed guard at a bank stopped me on the way out and said he needed to see my teller receipt and look through my wallet to make sure I hadn’t picked up any extra cash somewhere–in other words, if he was in an analogous position–yes, I would have a major problem with that intrusion as well.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Once people believe that they must show some sort of “pass” to leave a store, or any such public place, search and seizure is the logical next step for stores attempting to curb theft by controlling when and how people are allowed to leave.
In third world countries, this is how bribery and corruption happens all the time at border checkpoints, and how people who are considered “unfavorable” are penalized by either having their belongings taken for inspection, or are themselves blackmailed into having their “unproven” personal items taken and not returned in the bargain of them being allowed to leave. Think it could never happen here?
In some areas there is no alternative for people without means to geographically go to another store to by basic survival goods. At that point, those people have no choice but to submit to whatever personal rights violations are expected where they shop, and if this becomes the norm, and civil liberties are forgotten, to submit to unlawful search and seizure as well.
Allowing people to go through your shopping bags to verify that everything you have in them matches your receipt is a form of search and seizure. I have been detained before because a clerk rang up an item wrong, and that time cost me a huge inconvenience.
If a shop calls the cops and the cops come and question someone after they have left, it is on a case-by-case basis whether the cop thinks a receipt detailing a fifteen dollar purchase is legitimate taxpayer money spent investigating. Typically a cop will not care because rightfully so there are more important fires to fight.
If a shopper is arrested in the store for behaving strictly within his rights to expect to be allowed to leave when he chooses, that arrest is on his record for life, and is itself a form of blackmail when threatened to shoppers who don’t know their rights, to force them to comply with a policy that violates their basic rights. It’s also a sign of extreme corruption and ineptitude on the part of the law enforcement who go along with it.
Showing someone a receipt may seem like just an inconvenience, but it is not the shopper’s responsibility to hire enough staff for a store to feel it is protected from thieves. And it’s definitely not the shopper’s responsibility to submit to unlawful search of their belongings that will allow the store room for even more discriminator practices.
The solution is for a store to have an exit specifically for patrons who have purchased items and to call the police if a patron exiting through a “non-purchase” exit appears to have stolen.
If a cashier suspects someone in the checkout has stolen something, the question can be addressed there by the manager, and the legitimate authorities called if it is not resolved by a “yes” or “no” answer.
Physically blocking an exit is actually highly illegal, and any act by the employee to detain a shopper is harassment.
Notice they don’t touch you. It’s because they’re a cheap bluff by a store that expects to shame shoppers into providing receipts so that the shop does not have to spend thought or money into solving its internal problems. The vast majority of shoplifting is generally the employees, either themselves personally, or turning a blind eye to an inside job by someone they know. Don’t encourage stores to save money they should be spending on better employee management by turning you into their unpaid employee in forcing you to give them extra amounts of your time.
That’s like tele-marketers calling you, then putting you on hold. Your time is as valuable as theirs. It’s a monetary resource the store is skimming from you, just like customer service hotlines that put you on hold and make you wait for a representative when there should be enough staff available to handle the calls.
I politely say “I’m sorry, but I just don’t have time to go through my bags today,” and I don’t ever have problems. That’s the part to know. They cannot actually stop you.
People aren’t arrested for not showing receipts, they are arrested for negative behavior towards store staff. If authorities walk in and see a clam person standing, requesting to file a complaint of discrimination towards a store for refusing to allow them to leave, the store gets a bad mark for wasting taxpayer money.
If a police officer stops you outside and requests to know what’s in your bag, let them know (calmly) you felt your civil rights were violated in the store’s request to search your bags and seize your receipt, and you intend to press charges on that store for discrimination. Then show the officer your receipt because unlike the store, he is in fact a representative of law. You’ll be helping to keep everyone’s civill liberties established, and the store will lose credibility for calling the cops over frivolous suspicions. Eventually it will be forced to take responsibility for its own issues of product management.
Again, the obvious solution is better employee screening and product monitoring, which the store will need to pay for, not you –except indirectly through product pricing, not your time. Stores only own those products until you buy them. The minute you walk out the door, you are two strangers in a public place, and detaining you is harassment.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Considering all of the responses above, it’s obvious that we all are still too caught up in our gotta-have-me-my-shopping mentality to realize that whether you love getting checked at the door or whether you hate it or don’t care, it doesn’t change the fact that we are all commoditized labor units subjugated by a system of economics implemented by a tiny cartel (of gigantic proportions) that strives to enslave us. In the end we work hard to earn money for the people who orchestrated the system.
Does every one in here pay their Federal Income Tax like the good consumer next to you? Fascism goes far beyond Retail Security Guards.
^ Click the link. ^
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Honestly, as much as it bugs me, I show my receipt at these stores about half the time, because all they do is a cursory check and put a mark on your receipt. Path of least resistance. There’s bigger fish to fry, like getting habeas corpus re-instated, than drawing a line in the sand at a check out line.
The other half of the time is when there’s a line to get out, I’m in a hurry, bad mood, or feel like making a point where I just walk by those guys and say “no thanks.” Not once has it gone beyond a loud “Sir, I need to check your receipt!!” as I ignored the person and walked off without further interruption. Sometimes it’s fun to look back at the faces of the sheep who just stand there, waiting to get “branded.”
Once, when I was in a passive mood and let them check me out, someone walked right by them as I do half the time. The guy checking me just looked over his shoulder at him then handed me my receipt with a thank you. I said, “there’s nothing you can do if people do that, huh.” “That’s right, have a nice day sir.”
It’s never happened but IF the store attempted to detain me without cause, i.e., they didn’t see me shoplifting, I would dial the cops on my cell phone and tell them I’m being illegally detained. If they want trouble I’ll give them trouble! Then I’d sue the store once released and win, because what they did was illegal in my state, violated my civil rights, caused me psychological duress etc.
OTOH, If the store got the police involved though, yes I would show the cop my ID. I have a policy: never argue with a man with a gun. I know that, legally speaking, you don’t need to carry ID and don’t need to produce it when asked by law enforcement, but I also know that cops WILL perjure themselves to create a different scenario than the actual one. So, rather than have them manufacture a “resisting arrest” charge and take me to jail for a crime I didn’t commit, I’ll show them my ID. Flip it back on them with an official complaint after the fact yes, but refuse to show them my ID at the scene? No way, too dangerous, because cops lie.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
In my own personal opinion, I think it is a hassle to go through the exit door and being checked. Sam’s Club and Costco don’t have a mere excuse to check people since they have: surveillance cameras and they have “microphones” around the stores, they even send their workers to follow you around the store if they think “you are suspicious” that is also a disrespectful act from them and I had experienced that as well. I had encountered several problems with the “senior” ladies who are at the door marking your receipts. They either don’t see very well and/or count my items wrong. Complaints and letters to the corporations don’t do justice. My other experiences had been at Best Buy, I bought a Canon Digital Camera and I was requested to show my receipt, I refused at first and asked why. They guy said to me something like “just to make sure that you got the right item with you”. After I felt angry at this kind of treatment and a lame excuse, I talked with the manager and they didn’t even excuse. Another story was said to me about that procedure. I do not agree about being asked for your receipts nor you ID, I’ve never and I hope won’t encounter the same situation with a Cop. Your rights as customer and expending money is as far more that we can do to get a great treatment and service, instead of be treated as thieves. These retailers spend millions in security and they still crap you at for a dam receipt. What a shame America!!!
September 3rd, 2007 at 1:14 am
Alex, I can see you failed economics, so I’m going to toss a small clue your way. Stores with policies of checking receipts at the exit don’t hide the fact that they have that policy. Not hiding the policy is actually the whole point. You see, they want to discourage shoplifters, not trick them into getting caught. They’ve got better things to do than lay traps for shoplifters — like figure out how to stay in business given the insanely low prices they charge. So, since the receipt-checking policy is quite out in the open, if you don’t like it, take your money somewhere else, where, on average over a large number of transactions, you’ll pay somewhat higher prices for your stuff. You’ll pay slightly higher prices because the retailers you will have chosen are faced with higher expenses, namely, “shrinkage”, which is retail-speak for “loss due to jerks taking your stuff without getting a receipt first”. What it seems like to me is that you want all the low prices and convenience of “big-box” stores without paying the true economic cost of that privilege — which is what it is. It’s not a right. No one owes you insanely low prices, and while these stores can’t legally bar you from leaving after a purchase, they sure can bar you from entering before one — and that’s exactly what I’d advise any of these store managers to do if they see you coming. My advice to you, Alex: vote with your dollars and go somewhere else, but please don’t blog about how unfair it is that you have to pay more.
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:30 am
if i show my receipt, the terrorists win
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:51 am
JD: You are right in one respect: I can and do take my shopping elsewhere in many cases. I go with Newegg instead of Best Buy or CompUSA. In some cases (e.g., Bed, Bath, & Beyond), I want to give the store the chance to recognize that they are doing something that a number of their customers don’t like, because I have a feeling they will change that policy.
But I can also improve my personal shopping experience by simply ignoring their request–and it is a request–to check my receipt at the door. As a practical matter, I have never been detained for doing so, since detaining me would be illegal, and represents a serious financial risk for the store. I have also never been barred re-entry, something they have the right to do. I conclude from this that the stores are really not particularly interested in whether or not I show my receipt.
I don’t particularly care about improving the store’s profit margin. I think it’s a little naive to argue that standing in line for five minutes to be given permission to exit a store is in my economic best interest. In effect, the store is looking for a hand-out. My time is valuable. As others have suggested, if the store wants to check my receipt, they should be prepared to give me some incentive to do so. Pay me 10% or 20% of my purchase to wait in that line, and I might agree (at least for large purchases). But as it is set up now, it is a volunteer process.
If you want to volunteer a few moments of your time to the store, go for it. I’m sure they would also be happy for you to fill out a survey for them or mop up a few aisles. Your time is yours to give. I won’t stop you. But don’t hide that behind an economic argument. As a profit-maximizer, the choice to acquiesce is stupid.
September 4th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Similar thing is happening with Dish Network. You will get ‘audit calls’ and they want you to go around your house and read off internal location codes off all the Sat. receivers–major PITA… And they are quite rude about it. They suspect people are spreading out their receivers in different houses and/or locations. While this may be true for -some- people it doesn’t mean that you treat all customers as guilty -until- proven innocent. Oh, and if you refuse, they will simply shut off your service! I can’t belive that Comcast doesn’t make a nice advertisement out of this.
September 4th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
“I’ve never had a receipt checked at Tiffany’s…”
Well, what a big surprise. It’s a small store with lots of visible security, almost everything in locked displays and strict limits on how many people are allowed in. I wonder why your receipt isn’t checked there.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:03 am
I’m really sick and tired of companies trying to claim that employees are the number one threat to inventory, Barnes and Noble’s in their training manual claims that something like 80% of theft is done by the store employees…
Not only do I find that ridiculous on face value, but while I was working there they discovered that wrongly inventoried items (through their distribution center) accounted for nearly all the “stolen” product in the stores across the country.
Basically the product was never stolen because the product never existed- I can only assume that most companies have this same issue ( I know Borders certainly did)
—–There is not anywhere near as much crime in retail stores as their CEO’s seem to think. And blaming it on the employees is just horrible.
Interesting fact you’ll learn working at a book store: the most stolen item- The Bible.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I like this note. I used your template and added the boilerplate from www. ReasonableAgreement.org to put on the back.
“READ CAREFULLY. By accepting this paper you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies (â€BOGUS AGREEMENTSâ€) that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.”
Will it hold up? Who knows, but it makes as much sense as the idea that simply posting a sign in a store causes you to forfeit your right to privacy.
I made a pdf of it, but I don’t have anywhere to host it.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
[...] to simply decline to show the Receipt Nazi your receipt. Generally, the did, after all, simply ask. Alex Halavais even goes so far as to have a “you’re harassing me” document to give to store [...]
September 14th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
I’ve reviewed a number of blogs/posts on this topic in the last few days. It seems pretty consistent with about 1/3 of the comments saying go with the flow and the rest taking the individual rights stance. Frankly, I’ve become tired of stores harassing me so they feel better!
Receipt checking is an ineffectual policy and needs to be shown for what it is: a waste of time and money. I’ve summarized the key strategies that can eliminate this useless policy in my how to decline the invasion of the receipt-checkers article.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:07 pm
“Showing your receipt is no big deal. Just shut up and show it and stop whining about rights!”
Ugh. You people don’t get it at all, huh? It’s my constitutional right not to be searched unless I agree to it. My right!! You can go ahead and show your receipt and all the stuff in your bags if you like. That’s YOUR right. But since it’s my decision in my case, I choose NOT to submit to a personal search of any kind. Remember: it’s my constitutional right. There’s nothing to argue about.
…Unless you disagree with the constitution!
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:29 pm
> martyh Says:
> Beware of Costco, however. It is a membership store and if you refuse to allow your receipt to be checked, the management has the right to discontinue your membership—like, immediately, and confiscate your membership card!
How can they confiscate your membership card unless you either give it to them or they go into your wallet (illegally)?
September 27th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Reply to Zach:
[...] I’m really sick and tired of companies trying to claim that employees are the number one threat to inventory, Barnes and Noble’s in their training manual claims that something like 80% of theft is done by the store employees…
Not only do I find that ridiculous on face value, but while I was working there they discovered that wrongly inventoried items (through their distribution center) accounted for nearly all the “stolen†product in the stores across the country. [...]
This is SHRINK (ie, “stuff” that disappears without a reason). The wrong inventoried items that never existed is an employee error doesn’t make the store lose any money per-se, but it does happen in reverse and sometimes it happens on purpose. I have been working Loss Prevention for approximately 4 years for various retailers, and I can tell you *for a fact* that employee theft accounts for most losses faced by retail establishments. The average employee case pulled by Sears in 1 year was over $800 while the average non-employee case pulled by Sears in that same year was approximately $175 to $200. There are also other losses stores face by employees, fraud (puniching back in from lunch but then sitting in the break room), theft, unauthorized discounts (for friends, family, etc.), etc. Receipt checks are, at least at Target, for catching high theft merchandise (DVDs, CDs, what-have-you), high ticket merchandise, ticket switchers (putting a barcode from a more inexpensive item on an expensive item–IE, a printer ringing up at $3.99??), and employee theft/fraud/unauthorized discounts. Yes, I have caught an employee giving an unauthorized discount during a receipt check. I thanked the customer for their time, sent them on their way, and began an investigation on the employee that ended up being an over $1000 case–all started by a simple receipt check.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Have to echo Daniel here. It’s too bad when all employees are painted with this brush, but the truth is that most of the “shoplifting” is through the back door. If you work in retail and are not aware of this, it’s because loss prevention folks are so suit-scared that they don’t make public the reason a person is being fired–AND they often don’t tell the next employer (assuming that the next employer actually does a background check.
However, if Daniel’s post is meant to bolster the case for receipt checks, I say use secret shoppers, and don’t make your customers do your policing for you.
And I’ve never had a receipt check at a Target. If that changed, I’d stop shopping there.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:24 am
I have to admit, I truly understand declining to let them see the receipt. As one fellow above pointed out, he had lost the receipt. After being forced to go to the customer service desk, get a receipt, (which did not look like “any receipt” the inept security guard had seen. He then had to get the manager, be treated like a damn criminal, and waste 45 minutes for a few dollars purchase.
According to the law, once you have purchased the merchandise, it is yours, not the companies. You have the right to go about your job unmolested. If the company wants to go to clear plastic bags or, as they used to do, staple the receipt to the outside of the bag, that is one thing.
It is generally a waste of time, it is calculated to intimidate the customers, and as he pointed out, can result in wasted time.
Many people want to make the argument, that it saves money and time and such. . that is the companies problem. If the want to go to RFID tags for everything that is fine, but how many times have I seen people walking out of wally world, target, CompUSA and other stores, who I have watched pay for something and then not have the RFID tag deactivated? Once again, makes innocent people look and feel like criminals.
Sure, it takes only a moment or two, GENERALLY. Recently, coming out of a SAMS club, I got behind some idiot with a cart full of goods and a security person who insisted on checking EVERY item. . It took 7 minutes to get out the door. Those were MY seven minutes, not Sam’s. It was an inconvenience to me and the 12 other people behind me. How many stolen items did they find? NOT A SINGLE ITEM!
A lot of my reaction has to do with the person checking at the door. If they are pleasant and unobtrusive its one thing, but if it’s some punk 20 year old security guard who fancies himself as the TSA or is a frustrated cop wanna be or a last stand against crime, I have a problem with that. I think many people share the sentiment that we will not be intimidated by these guys.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
just say “no thank you, I checked my recipe myself” than smile sweetly
December 10th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I do refuse to show my receipt at big box stores, except at Costco, where of course you agree to do it via the membership agreement. I do find it somewhat annoying, but have to admit the checker caught a time when I purchased a $300 electronics item and it didn’t make it into the cart due to an oversight of the cashier, and I didn’t notice! So… that wasn’t so bad :)
March 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I’m really tired of being treated like a shoplifter at Costco. I’ve been politely declining the receipt checker for years without incident. Only once I was followed into the parking lot. While my Costco membership indicates that “receiipts and merchandise will be checked as you leave the store” it does not mandate my participation in this event, so I decline. My first question is always ” are you accusing me of shoplifting ?” they usually fail to answer this directly (Oh, I’m sure you wouldn’t do that). I press them for a “No” (since I don’t shoplift, they have no evidence of my shoplifting). They explain that their policy requires this. I explain that this is their policy, not mine. My policy is that you may review my receipt for my receipt checking fee of $ 10. They have yet to pay me, so I walk calmly to my car and continue my day.
When they tell me the inspection is to ensure checker accuracy, I explain that I do not work for their loss prevention department, and I am not interested in this unpaid job.
I realize Costco has the right to terminate (and refund) my membership, but so far they have yet to do this.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:23 am
holy cow !
such pettiness
is this as far as this guy has come emotionally?
i shop, i buy, i leave the store
if someone asks for a receipt, no problem, i have it and i show it
do you think the receipt taker really enjoys a world that requires them
to ask for your receipt to stop theft—just to put bread on their table?
bottom line, shoplifting costs me more as a consumer
a typical home depot looses $30,000 a month to shoplifting
who do you think pays for it?
the crook ? nope.
protect your money and show your receipt
i understand that everyone needs to win sometime, but at tiger direct? or bed and bath?
such pettiness
you win when you stop violence
especially when you can stop being violent yourself
and that is what happened
an emotionally violent customer
a like minded security guard
most of us know we win when we get along
and our dollar goes further
you don’t win when you whine, incite riots or browbeat others
this guy who attacked tiger direct needs to come to grips with his own inner war
then he’ll be able to pick a fight that matters
one that helps someone less fortunate
why else fight?
March 11th, 2008 at 10:03 am
you don’t win when you whine, incite riots or browbeat others
Couldn’t agree more. And if you read my post, you will see that I don’t browbeat or whine. I simply go about my day, often with a polite word to the employee. You seem to be happy to volunteer your time to the store to help their bottom line. I would prefer to volunteer my time to more effective causes. And since it is my time, I get to decide how I want to give it up.
You seem concerned with “a world that requires” an employee to bother the customer, but unwilling to help change that world. It’s not surprising to me that consumers are willing to give their time and privacy up to corporations. They do it in hundreds of ways. Disappointing, yes, but not surprising.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:42 am
oh jeeze, just comply and show the damn receipt. I work in retail so I can relate to the people asked to do their job and be shown receipts. it’s complaining whining customers like you who make our jobs that much stressful.
what that security guard did at tiger direct was not right, but for a person to refuse to show their receipt is saying “I just pulled a fast one on you, or I am a theif and stole something from this store” all over it. because any logical person knows that if you haven’t done anything wrong then you have nothing to hide and can easily show your receipt.
oh and it’s not the retail stores fault for asking to see your receipt, you can blame theives for that one.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 am
You are indeed right about one thing: “…I’m kind of a jerk that way.” It’s turkeys like you that force stores to raise their prices to cover their inventory losses. Is this really such an invasion of your privacy? Poor you. Please stay at home and do your shopping on the internet. That’ll be one less lard-ass in the line in front of me. There’s a hell of a lot more egregious privacy invasions taking place in this country. Why not focus on that instead? Seriously, stop your whining and get a life.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
Fluffernutter: Your comment is stupid. I’m the one speeding up your line, and I don’t shoplift. If you do and/or you want to take time to stop, more power to you. I’m not “whining,” I’m just not complying. I think doing something just because you are told demonstrates a marked lack of character. But if you want to, go for it. Not sure why you even care what I do, but you clearly do.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:30 am
The managers need to get off their duffs and out of their office. Maybe they would understand their customer…This is bs
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 pm
i have never stole from a store , start off like that . early in 2000 and somthing me and my now wife were shopping in a walmart , we had 200+ $ worth of junk and a 1000.00$ digital cam corder (one of the first ones out ) as we paid ,IN CASH we were stopped at the door for reciept check , we did , there was a question , i did not know the answer , i said quote ” im just a drunk guy with a bunch of money ” mind you , we were complient until this point , the reciept was read , we had not ” stole ” anything there were just things they wanted to talk about . I DONT PLAY THAT ! . the young man grabbed my arm , tried to pull me , i punched him in the face , cops were called , he was fired and i didnt sue , i thought he was going to molest me , after all we did pay for evrything we took home , i felt threatened , i was scared, not really . just dont touch me , i did tell him we are not black , we didnt steal nothin but that was not enough, well walmart paid for his jaw , but he got fired and i didnt sue , because im not trying to cash out like some people , its just i spent a lot of money that night and i wanted to be treated like someone they wanted there , AND THAT DICK GRABBED ME . good luck with the mouth piece , and try to grab someone else !
December 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Showing your receipt isn’t that big of a deal. If you’re going into their store, play by their rules. I’m not going to go to your house and jump around on your sofas,or not take my shoes off at the door if those are your rules. Yes, we are consumers, and yes we do have rights. But not showing your receipt when the request is made isn’t one of those rights. I can see both sides of the coin since I am both a consumer and a retail worker. The receipt checks aren’t done to make you look criminal. In fact, I treat everyone as if they are a paying customer in my store, until they refuse to show me their receipt. Funny, people are so concerned about how being asked to show their receipt will make them look, and don’t think twice about how refusing to do so will make them look.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Adrian, let me fix that for you:
Showing your receipt isn’t that big of a deal, so don’t make your customers do it. If they’re coming into your store, particularly in a rough retail season, play by their rules. I’m not going to go to your house and jump around on your sofas, or not take my shoes off at the door if those are your rules. Yes, we are storekeepers, and yes we do have rights. But harassing a customer, or false imprisonment, isn’t one of those rights. I can see both sides of the coin since I am both a consumer and a retail worker. The receipt checks aren’t done to make you look criminal, that is just the unintended consequence. In fact, I treat everyone as if they are a paying customer in my store, until I have observed them steal something. Funny, stores think they can just insult their customers to save a little cash, not realizing that it costs them more than it saves them when customers decide to avoid the hassle altogether.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:42 am
False imprisonment and harassment? That’s really what you get out of a receipt check? Really? Maybe we’re talking of two totally different things. A receipt check should never turn into harassment or false imprisonment. I know there have been plenty of extreme cases that have ended like that, but just generally speaking the jobs these people have are not intended to violate aynone’s basic rights. As a matter of fact, in the particular store I work in, if someone refuses to show their receipt they are not detained or harassed. They are simply informed that their stuff will stay in the store until they can provide a receipt. Where things go from there is totally up to the individual customer. Just because times are tough doesn’t mean all procedure should be thrown out the window. Retail chains are opened to serve their customers. But in recent years, what consumers think they are entitled to is borderline insane. Consumers want to be waited on hand and foot, and to boot want big businesses (such as Wal-Mart and Target) to operate on some kind of honors system? “Oh no, don’t show me your receipt. The fact that you have hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and have set off my door alarm is irrelevant. I trust you because you are the consumer and that’s how you think things should be.” Look, I know there are some flaws with the current system. Doors constantly going off on PAYING customers is a big issue. But having those alarms, and having receipt checks are necessary evils. If the current system is insulting to you and others, just what do you suggest be done? Unfortunately not everyone can be trusted. A few untrustworthy people ruin things for everyone. So what is your suggestion. How does a store handle potential shoplifters, without insulting paying customers with receipt checks and door alarms? I understand you point entirely. And in understanding and respecting your point…I just want to know how a retail store can effectively eliminate or minimize theft without maximizing the hassle for other PAYING customers?
January 20th, 2010 at 10:50 am
As a matter of fact, in the particular store I work in, if someone refuses to show their receipt they are not detained or harassed. They are simply informed that their stuff will stay in the store until they can provide a receipt.
Seriously? And people listen to that line of BS? I would walk out with the materials that I paid for. If you physically stopped me, or tried to strip me of goods I had paid your establishment good money for, you would be charged not just with false imprisonment, but with robbery. And then sued.
What on earth makes you think that you have any authority over my body or things I’ve purchased from you? If you have evidence that I’ve stolen something from you, contact the police. Simply refusing to show evidence that I’ve made a purchase from one of your coworkers 20 ft. away is not sufficient proof. If you have a question, ask your coworker. Or call the cops and waste their time as well, but I’m sure they are going to be just as happy with your nonsense as I am.
How does a store handle potential shoplifters, without insulting paying customers with receipt checks and door alarms?
I frankly find door alarms far less annoying than receipt checks. They don’t eat up a large part of my day. Yes, they still go off when I have purchased things, and I still (largely) ignore them. (The obvious example where I don’t is department stores with die packs, but I usually don’t shop in places that do that.) Why do I find it less annoying? Because it doesn’t require me to wait in line, shuffle my baby in one arm, my bags in the other, and wait while an underpaid guard pretends he’s doing something other than writing a check mark on my receipt. Surely, you see the difference.
How do you prevent shoplifting? I’ve already indicated this. The way that all non-big-box stores do: surveillance. This can take the form of cameras and plainclothes security (which have their own problems) or attentive sales associates. The latter can both drive sales and prevent loss.