Seems to me criminal types would be opposed to having their receipt checked. They also do not like to follow the rules of society.
As for myself (someone who is not a thief), I see receipt checking as being for the greater good. This catches thieves and discourages theft. That reduces the store’s losses and results in lower prices for you and I. This is a good thing I am more than happy to help with.
I make my own toys and appliances at home.
The aren’t checking every item. They’re just counting the number of items and generally checking to see if it matches.
And it’s not to deter customers from stealing. It’s to deter employees from participating in inside jobs and letting accomplices go through without ringing up every item in their carts.
This.
I’m not a thief. If you think your cashier is, then run an undercover shopper thru & see what happens but leave me out of it. When you can literally eyeball me all the way from the cashier to the exit you’d realize that I didn’t either pick up anything else & put it in my cart or pull something out of my pants & drop it in there either.
I have no issue with reasonable loss prevention policies (locking things up) but will not patronize those with unreasonable ones (assuming all of your customers are thieves & therefore needing to check their receipt).
Frequently when a store is going out of business they already don’t exist. They sell the inventory & the name rights to a liquidator. I didn’t know this many years ago when Hechinger was going out of business. I made small some discounted purchase, put my change & receipt into my pocket, grabbed my bag & turned to walk out. Less than 5’ away some clerk asked to see my receipt. I kept going. They followed me into the parking lot demanding to see my receipt stating it was their policy (it wasn’t at Hechinger’s) & threatened to call the police. I responded that if they thought I stole something it was within their right to detain me until the police arrived but if they detained me & the investigation found that I had not stolen anything (I didn’t), then I would press charges for false imprisonment. The manager had them turn tail & return into the store but told me not to come back. Ummm, your last day is tomorrow & there’s not that much left anyway. :rolleyes:
[del]Home?[/del] House? You were lucky to have a [del]HOME[/del] HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!
Ever since I saw that, when a little kid gives them a receipt, they put a smiley face instead, I insist they do the same for me.
As long as they do that for me, too, I don’t mind.
Applause for all the noble, upstanding Lovers of Liberty in this thread who are making a stand for Liberty, Justice and the American Way by not submitting to this blatantly unconstitutional Intrusion into your Personal Life and Infringement of your Freedom to Shop.
I don’t know why you think it’s a constitutional issue, as the rest of us recognize that it’s got nothing to do with that.
You’d think it was, the amount of yammering these idiots do about it.
Um, the whole point of a messageboard such as this is for people to “yammer” on about various things. Did you not get the memo?
Yeah, I read it. Forgot about the “dipsticks” clause, I did.
Honestly, I suspect Best Buy is less likely to worry about the theft of a $25 game because they sell so many much more expensive items.
Also, there are more people with diaper bags and the like in Toys R Us.
and to Shamozzle,
Yes, I have worked retail, and know a little something about thieves. And jerkfaces who decide not to buy the ice cream, and then set it down where it will melt and (potentially) get all over the other product they didn’t want, so we can’t sell those items either.
On one visit to Costco a while back, the receipt check revealed that the cashier had only charged me for two of the four cases of bottled water in my cart.
Any of those things would be pretty obvious to even the most casual observer, and would probably be enough to allow them to legally detain you in most states.
The one time that happened to me (it was a security gizmo on an electronic item that hadn’t been removed), after the checker found it and saw that it WAS included on my receipt, I then insisted that they come with me back to the cashier who was supposed to have removed that, and show it to her, and reprimand her for not removing it, and causing delay & embarrassment to a customer. The checker was surprised at this, but if the person who made the mistake didn’t hear about it, how would they ever get better at their job?
And, frankly, it did take away any anger & resentment I had from being stopped by that alarm going off.
So today, The Fella and I went to Wally to get some stuff and b/c I forgot my reusable bags, we definitely got checked for our two non-bagged things. A case of beer and a SUITCASE. The cashier had been embarrassed she had to open it, and I was embarassed b/c I’ve been her (21 years in the belly of the beast) and how could I forget you have to check inside everything and have not left it open for her.
I shop at Wally all the time b/c the discount. And I get checked pretty often b/c I usually use the reusable ones. And it’s very random.
For the record, I’m a fat 47 year old that looks like your 3rd grade teacher and he looks like a non-scary nerdhippie. We’re both white. But I get randomly stopped sometimes.
I don’t understand why people get so worked up about it. If you didn’t steal anything–no big whoop. They don’t want to catch you. It’s usually people who’ve gotten some thing where they can’t lift whatever x number of pounds. And they are bored out of their minds. Some places have security folks in uniform and that’s different.
“Beg”? I’m having visions of DrCube crawling on the floor, crying “oh please please please open the case!” while the store manager says “and what will you do for me, DrCube, hmmmm?”
The only item that’s likely to be in a locked case around here is expensive liquor, the kinds where a shelf going crash would mean a big loss. There’s stores that have easy-to-damage electronics in a locked case, but it’s the samples only; the boxed items are right outside the case. Things like computer games and movies, or small items with lots of legs such as USB keys are more likely to be either empty cases or individually packed inside a plastic box the cashier has to open.
I’m accustomed to Sams Club and Best Buy checking receipts as people exit. Doesn’t bother me. They keep prices down by making it harder to shop lift.
I do hate the electronic scanners at the exit doors of many stores. Seems like 2 out of 10 times the alarm goes off when I exit the grocery store. That certainly makes me uncomfortable. Standing there while some guard checks my bags and receipt. Not my fault items in the store falsely trigger the alarm.
This here. Thanks for typing my response for me, Me_Billy.
This thread did, however, remind me of the time I went to the Home Depot in search of a replacement valve stem for my kitchen faucet. I brought the old one in to compare and make sure I got the right one. They did not have it. As I was leaving, the security guard stopped me and suspiciously examined the crusty, gnarly original part I was holding. I actually had to explain that I had brought it in with me.
mmm
I don’t mind the receipt checking too much, as long as it’s done quickly and efficiently. If I have to wait in line for someone to confirm that I didn’t steal anything, I’ll find somewhere else to shop.
I was told a long time ago that some stores will do at least a “security theater” style of receipt checking as a baseline. Higher crime areas would be more thorough, but by doing it everywhere, they avoided profiling charges. I have no idea if that was some conspiracy theory nut talking, or if there is a basis in reality. Anyone have any insight there?
Part of why I dislike receipt checking is that it encourages the disgusting attitude of ‘if you don’t like this obnoxious thing we do, you’re clearly a BAD PERSON and some kind of CRIMINAL’. Telling people that if they have nothing to hide they shouldn’t mind you ordering them around, delaying them, and searching their stuff is not exactly an attitude I want more of in the world.