I always refuse bags if I can possibly carry the stuff without one, and I always get told on the way out that they have to check everybody who doesn’t have a bag. It has mildly annoyed me a few times but it’s usually a senior citizen so I’m not about to make their job any more difficult. They are already spending their golden years slaving for minimum wage and being bossed around by people 1/3rd their age.
For me, it depends upon the store. Places where they look at everyone’s receipt as a rule, like Fry’s, yeah, I show it and I would pay for anything that didn’t get scanned. Places like WalMart and Target where they don’t, I walk past “security.” It’s one of the few perks of being a large ugly man–no one wants to tangle with me.
Having worked in retail for (far too many) years, I have no problem showing the security staff my receipt on the way out.
As Cazzle rightly points out, if a store gets a reputation as a “Soft Target” for shoplifting then all sorts of stuff goes missing; we used to have DVD players and Digital Cameras get stolen from the store I used to work in, and some of the other stores in the Northern Territory would often lose iPods and occasionally even laptops :eek:
Corporate Head Offices often hold Store Management responsible for “shrinkage” (covering everything from shoplifting to breakage to things just vanishing in a back storeroom that looks like the last scene of Raiders Of The Lost Ark), and as such I see no problem with them taking simple steps like checking receipts to preserve their stock integrity.
I do, don’t steal. Checkers are people, people make mistakes. If a checker misses something, it doesn’t mean it’s free. You’ve never made a mistake that caused someone a slight inconvenience?
Stores are ripped off regularly. Checker make mistakes occasionally. This is a stop-gap to those problems. It’s part of their system, it’s their store, it’s their (leased real estate) property. Act like the guest you are when using their infrastructure to buy quality goods cheaply.
Depends on the store. I’ve seen lines at the exit door where it takes an additional 4-5 minutes of waiting to have your receipt checked. That is ridiculous!
It is eerie to think of average retailers using a stun gun on you etc. I wonder if they were rent-a-cops moonlighting or something. No wonder most stores wouldn’t do that—it’s not the kind of PR they want.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but how would you feel if the next time you came to the store, they invoked their “right to refuse service” to you, since you aren’t willing to comply by the rules they are trying to impose in the area they control?
Here in the UK, as far as I’m aware you cannot be accused of theft unless you have actually left the store with the goods, so his asking for the receipt within the building - essentially, accusing her of stealing - would be wrong over here. And if no alarm was going off, it sounds like he was just being a dick.
Shopping at Fry’s makes me feel like I’ve ended up in a minimum security prison that’s been converted into an electronics store. With cameras in every direction, sleazy looking salespeople in ill-fitting suits, ‘Managers’ watching the checkout peoples every move, then having to ‘prove’ that you paid for something less than 50 feet away from where you just paid for it makes for a very uncomfortable shopping experience.
Fry’s is one thing. People who go to Fry’s usually buy only a couple items. A new TV or maybe a computer game or something like that, so looking at the receipt at least makes some sense, because they can easily compare what’s on the receipt to what I have. But at Walmart? What good could it possibly do? They do this occassionally at the Wamlart where I get my groceries. So I’m walking out with like 100 items in bags and they want to check my receipt? Why? Are they going to go through my bags to make sure that every single $.45 yogurt matches the receipt? Of course not. And another thing that really pisses me off is that they never have enough cashiers, so you have to wait like 20 minutes to get checked out, and then you immediately have to get in another line to get your receipt checked. I refuse to wait. Recently I walked past about 6 people waiting to get their receipts checked. The shrew started screaming “Sir! Sir!” at me but I ignored her and kept walking. When she didn’t do anything several other people got out of line and left the store. It was a good feeling. 
Not every Target does this; in fact, I can only think of one I’ve been to that does, but I’ve seen a few Best Buys do it. When stores institute this, unless it’s a company-wide policy, that means that they’re seriously hurting due to shoplifting. Sure, it’s not caused by you personally, but the store management and employees are certainly worried about the people who come through, and they don’t know you’re an honest person. I’ve read many stories about people coming into stores with an empty store bag, filling up, being observed, and being stopped before reaching the door. When it gets to the point where they can’t observe fast enough, they have to start policies like that.
I don’t steal. I was saying I don’t have a solution for the store for when someone is leaving their premises without paying.
The people who refuse to show their receipts should shop elsewhere.
I’d be curious to see numbers on how much shinkage the receipt checking actually prevents. If people who are stealing are smart, they’re not going to put what they stole in the bag with their other stuff. If they’re stupid, they’ll probably be caught in other ways.
@Heffalump: Where did you see this incident? Texas?
I’ve heard stories about some crazy incidents involving citizens using deadly force in Texas. E.g.around 1990 a car repo man was shot and killed while doing his job. IIRC the man had received many notices from his lender and finally they sent the repo man.
The killer got zero jail time. Apparently there are laws still on the books from the wild west days about having the right to use deadly force to defend your property (say, to stop cattle rustlers). I guess back then they figured that given the size of Texas, getting a lawman on hand to assist was sometimes out of the question.
If the incident was in Texas, maybe the guy’s lucky he only got tazed. :eek:
Seems to me the answer is simple. Don’t shop at stores whose policies you don’t like.
Lines too long at walmart? Shop elsewhere. Pushy guards at fry’s? Shop elsewhere. And make sure to tell management, either of the store or at corporate why they aren’t seeing your money any more.
Somewhere along the way we forgot how to use the power of our wallet. Meekly accepting being treated like criminals & like cattle will get us exactly the sort of retail experience a criminal/bovine deserves.
Agreed. In addition, when you are forced to shop at such places, take the time to complain about the policies to whoever is on duty, or just outright ignore them if you are not breaking any laws.
…or just firmly, but politely, refuse the Pimply-faced Teen’s[sup]*[/sup] request to show you a receipt.
If some day the folks at Best Buy tell me I’m no longer welcome there, I’ll accept it at that point. But until then, I’ll treat the person at the door’s request to see a receipt or look in my non-related bags as just that – a request.
I will never end up in the “if you don’t have something to hide, just comply” camp, whether it’s picayune trips to the box store or government action via some form of search. Government encroachment on rights has roots in what we are willing to accept in society, so though this is a small, backwoods corner of life, you may not elevate requests into orders, whether through demeanor or social pressure.
I will always remain polite. I will always remain calm. I will always remain steadfast. Without some articulable reason (don’t sidetrack into actual standards by jurisdiction, semantic gotch-yas aside, you know what I mean) I will not comply with someone’s orders.
And yes, I’ve worked retail – from basic floor monkey to regional manager, so I know about loss prevention and all that comes with it, so don’t appeal to some sense of authority by experience. You may not force me to comply with your requests.
And yes, I’ll occasionally shop at Sam’s, where I’ve specifically agreed to a receipt-checking policy, one that is applied universally. That is a different situation.
[sup]*Simpsons reference. Don’t get your panties in a knot if your skin is clear or your old enough to drink. [/sup]
The incident at Fry’s happened in Silicon Valley, CA. The shopper looked like a middle-class to upper-middle-class guy who was decently dressed and groomed for a Saturday. The 3 or 4 guys that came out to wrestle him to the ground looked like bouncers at a bar. The shopper was by himself while the store had at least half a dozen people who were there watching, if not actively participating. My memory is a little hazy about exactly how many people were there from the store since this happened a long time ago, but it seemed like a lot.
The city where it happened, at the time, had THE lowest crime rate in the country.
All of this context made the whole incident feel pretty surreal.
Perhaps if I were in Texas, it wouldn’t have fazed me as much, but there didn’t seem to be a big problem with cattle rustlers in Silicon Valley at the time. 
I did door greeter at times in Kmart decades ago. Nobody passed without a security slip put on entering the store and anybody not leaving trough the checkouts got stopped if they had merchandise to have the tag removed and items checked. Everyday somebody was stopped trying to steal stuff through that one point.
Stuffing expensive items in a large item is one of the common avenues of shoplifting. All duffels, purses or anything else with stuffing were to be opened and stuffing removed, while making sure something expensive didn’t go out for free. The shop lifter can say they don’t want that item, but you kept the property. Babies are another favorite of the shoplifter. Always watch people with babies. The shoplifter can get hundred of dollars slipped in between the baby and the blankets in the baby carrier.
Funny you should mention bouncers. As I posted, I was thinking about an incident that happened a couple months (?) ago.
Some friends and I were at a bar. We were in the back, shooting pool, and heard there was a ruckus out front—so what follows is second-hand, but also simplified.
Bouncers tried to stop some guys from leaving the bar…they were drunk, in no condition to drive. They follow guys into the parking lot and a big fight ensues. One customer knocked a bouncer down and was kicking him in the head, for instance.
Cops showed up; they separated all the participants and listened to the stories, then hauled the customers.
I mention this because there are professions in which a non-police person may have to use force. In the above case, when a fight breaks out, I suspect one person’s word isn’t as good as another’s…cops are going to favor the bouncer unless there’s clear evidence that they overstepped.
I doubt bouncers get certified by attending bouncer school, but they must know under what circumstances they’re allowed to restrain, use force, how much force, and so on.
But a bar seems like a very different venue than a Fry’s…unless you’re in Texas, of course. :rolleyes:
ETA: With such aggressive law enforcement over a small item, no wonder there’s no cattle rustling out there!