I’m sorry but I’ll never understand this mentality. You went through a hassle to avoid a 2 second check of your receipt? Every time I leave Costco they do this and I don’t even have to break stride. Seriously, I would pick my battles more wisely.
And before you counter with “no just cause” I’ll just say stores get ripped off all the time and they’re sick of it. Theft causes price increases. If they want to make sure I’m not one of those vermin who steal, the 2 seconds for a receipt check are worth it to me too and should be to any reasonable person.
Surely it would depend on the circumstances, wouldn’t it? If it’s a small house and there are two people in it, sure, maybe, but a retail store might have hundreds of people in it at a busy time.
I wonder if you agreed to stop at the door when you signed your Costco membership.
As for other stores; at he risk of being guilty of classism there is something about a demanding, underpaid Shlub looking through bags and receipts Like the exiting customer might be a thief that rubs some people the wrong way. I have observed that the demeanor of the store employee has a lot to do with how folks respond.
It was a remarkable event because of the hassle. Almost every other time* I’ve declined a request to show my receipt has been smooth sailing right out the door. One should always decline a request to submit to a voluntary search like this. To illustrate, I’m going to need you to hand me your wallet. That reflexive LOL, NO! should be applied to any unjustified, unnecessary search. Don’t be a sucker. If someone is going to accuse another of theft, there had better be some evidence.
Besides, I already threw my receipt away/didn’t take it from the cashier/it’s buried in one of my shopping bags.
All of this sets aside that fact that receipt checking is pure security theatrics. I’ve got a cart full of stuff and a ‘two second’ glance at an easily counterfeited slip of thermal printer paper isn’t going to catch anything. Consider how few retailers even bother.
*After sidestepping a receipt checker at Guitar Center years ago, she followed me out and dutifully wrote down my license plate.
The biggest problem at the work where I work is people trying to get in after we’re closed. We lock the door and station a worker at the entrance to let people out. However, we are plagued with people who want to come in “for one item,” which will magically turn into half a cart. We cannot let them in, and they get all upset.
Its a sidetrack to the OP. But I never got this explanation. Why would it being a membership store allow Costco to stop you LEAVING, rather than entering the store, legally speaking.
That is the example I’m thinking of - an LEO arresting someone for a made-up crime like filming an officer in public or not showing an identification card. Those are not crimes, an LEO arrests you, has he kidnapped you?
For me the line is if there is a queue to have your receipt checked. Happy to quickly show my receipt on the way out if asked, but there is no way I am going take time out of my day queuing up to prove I have not stolen anything from the shop I just gave my money to.
Any store can demand your receipt. And you can refuse and walk out and not be detained without probable cause that you’ve done something which warrants being detained, such as shoplifting.
Similarly, Walmart can bar you from entry. There are no differences between Walmart and Costco in this instance, other than it being easier for Costco to identify you as someone who has been banned. “Costco is allowed and Walmart isn’t”, isn’t the case.
Members have to buy you the card. “In general”, anyone can shop there without a membership, with restrictions. But any differences between how I define “in general” and you do don’t affect my argument. “They are allowed to demand your receipt” is no different then what other stores can do, and it’s especially comparable to how they don’t differ from other stores in this regard with the added knowledge that one can shop there without a membership.
Shoplifting is such a massive hit to retailers I’m surprised the receipt checks aren’t more commom. This time of year the Wal-Mart I go to has law enforcement at the doors. I guess to have a LE representative to maybe discourage a thief.
I don’t like to have to stop and have my cart checked. I’d prefer not to even be in the store, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow. It’s harmless.
It could be as a courtesy but it’s also quite possible, even probable, that the department that has officers at your Walmart door may be billing the store for the coverage. There are agencies that do that just as they do it for extra traffic controls at large funerals and special events.
When there is a fair or large market at one of our parks in which extra police presence is necessary the promoter of such show is advised they will receive a bill. And extra presence is required by ordinance for certain events so they have no choice.
This does not make the police an employee of the promoter or company putting on the show and paying for the coverage. In fact, some years ago I wrote a show promoter a citation for public urination on the park grounds he was holding the show and paying for extra coverage by us.