That is why if the situation happens to me where they physically block the exit and they refuse to let me pass, I’ll record the situation on my phone and then call the sheriff.
The backpack on the bus situation is extreme because you have no grounds to assume my backpack was from your store. Whereas if I am in your store and walking to the door with a backpack with tags hanging off it, it clearly looks like I have one of your backpacks. Now did I pay for it or not? If I have it in a shopping bag?
Or they’re presuming you have a receipt and are asking to see it to verify their presumption.
So if a person is stealing, which they witnessed the person picking it up and walking toward the door, and they ask him if he has a receipt (or ask him if he paid for that), that is asking him to incriminate himself? And not asking to clarify the situation? (Not yet, but I haven’t made it to the register yet, I wanted one of those shiny things over there next to the exit.)
Agreed.
No, and I never said that. Asking me, whom they did not witness picking merchandise up and walking toward the door (without paying) for a receipt is asking me to incriminate myself.
After the store sells you the backpack, it isn’t the store’s backpack, so it doesn’t clearly look like you have one of the store’s backpacks. In fact, a more likely scenario is that you did in fact buy the backpack, and it is, in fact, your backpack, not theirs. This is why the store is there, after all; to sell you things.
Absent some evidence that you stole the backpack, they have no more cause to believe you stole it than if you were on the bus.
What’s the difference? Really? In one case you’re being asked to incriminate yourself and the other you’re not, but the reason you’re not being asked to incriminate yourself is because you actually are guilty? 
Either it’s asking you to incriminate yourself in both cases, or it isn’t.
Well, I will accept it’s not clearly their backpack, because ownership is not visible. But I still believe the situation of you with a brand new backpack in the store with tags on it is a different situation than you on a bus with a backpack with your stuff in it.
The “don’t incriminate yourself” only applies in court where you MUST otherwise testify.
This is one of the primary things a doorchecker is supposed to help intercept. By a cursory glance and making note that this merchandise and receipt have left the building.
If you try to roll out a second tv you can’t flash a “marked” receipt without drawing additional scrutiny.
One way to put teeth into a doorcheck would be to refuse refunds/exchanges on things that were not marked by the door checker. Something the store could easily do that does not interfere with a customers “rights”.
I have an anecdote that may illustrate part of the problem. I purchased for my child at the beginning of the school year a backsack to hold his books for school, like most children have. In January, I picked up my child from school and went to the store. The store attempted to detain my son on suspicion that he had taken the backsack from the store at that time. The greeter/receipt checker had just come on duty and hadn’t seen us walk in. This is a dirty, ratty backsack full of school books, crumpled paper, and random schoolboy things. We had not purchased anything, because the item that I wanted was not at a price I wanted. The checker actually laid hands on the backsack in question that my child was wearing to detain the child. I had no receipt to show, even if I had so desired. I actually did end up calling the police, and the checker called a manager, and it was resolved quickly with a warning to the manager and checker from the officer. It is illegal in my state for them to detain me without contacting the police prior to or at the onset of detainment, and touching another person without their permission is assault.
I told that story to illustrate that this actually can be a serious issue. For all the people saying to just show the receipt, please tell me how I could have done things differently. We walked from the school to the store. There was no vehicle to leave the backsack in. I certainly wasn’t going to leave schoolbooks outside the store unattended. What if they sold the same brand and model of purse that I happen to be wearing? What if I had purchased my clothing there a few days prior? This is a significant issue, in my opinion, although I once figured that it was a non-issue and that people should just show their receipts.
What if I don’t want a receipt? I pay for the TV at the rear of the store and when the clerk tries to hand me the receipt I say “I don’t want that” and head off to the exit with my TV.
Now I admit there are numerous reasons why you should keep receipts especially regarding a purchase like a TV. But I am an eccentric billionaire and I have a receipt phobia. 
Now, when I go through the exit and they ask for my receipt, I say that I don’t have one! They will most likely detain me, probably with what most would consider reasonable suspicion. Have they in any way violated my rights?
As far as I know it is not emcubent upon me to retain proof of the purchase even for the short time it takes to get out of the store.
I could think of numerous ways to prevent the entire scenario. Most involve store layout and policy.
Store layout butts heads with another concept stores are required by law to comply with. Fire codes require unobstructed exit pathways large enough to clear the likely occupant load of the building in a very short time.
This is just one of those things that people of opposing viewpoints will never agree on. I tend to fall on the “fuck you, check your own receipt” side of the fence, but I’ll comply if it’s not terribly inconvenient. I will not wait in line to leave a store with shit I just paid your company for. It’s just not going to happen.
I’m not going to disparage people who will wait in line to be pronounced not a shoplifter or colluder working with a corrupt employee, but I’d appreciate the same consideration in return.
Absent probable (not probably) cause, I own the shit I’m carrying because I just paid you for it. The exchange of my money for your goods means that these are now my goods, not yours. Loss prevention is your job, not mine. If your store was designed by retarded monkeys who put the big screen TVs between the check out lanes and the exit, fire the retarded monkeys and start over. If your cashiers are not to be trusted, stop hiring ex-convicts and/or improve your internal loss prevention measures in such a way that they are transparent to the customer.
Don’t put that shit on me, a customer who is adding to your bottom line. The fact that there are thieves in the world doesn’t give you the right to demand me to prove I’m not one. Especially not when you make this process an inconvenience to me.
I get a laugh out of how many supposedly educated business people with jobs that are sales or service oriented I hear with the following voicemail greeting:
“Hi, this is Bob Shitforbrains. I’m not available to take your call right now, but please leave a message and I’ll return your call at my earliest convenience.”
No, Bob. That’s a message you leave for a potential client in reverse. “Please call ME back at YOUR earliest convenience.” That shit is not what you leave as your message to your clients. Try this: “I will call YOU back AS SOON AS I FUCKING CAN! Because I love you and I value your business and I WOULD HAVE YOUR MAN-BABIES IF I COULD!”
Where the fuck did we go so wrong that customers are now supposed to kiss merchant ass?
When I was learning about this sort of thing in the context of store security in Australia, the rule drilled into me was, the customer is always allowed to leave. You can refuse entry to private premise for any non discriminatory reason, but you cannot prevent someone from leaving. Preventing them from leaving constitutes infringement of their personal liberty and can leave the store liable to a lawsuit. This does not prevent you from trying to send that person a fine, or refusing to let them back into the store, but you can not prevent them from leaving. This applies to many situations, such as a parking lot if you have lost your ticket etc and not enough people know this fact.
However if you believe that the person has stolen something, you can perform a citizens arrest. You have to be 100% sure though, because otherwise you expose your employer to vicarious liability and lawsuits for substantial sums (although under <100k in my recollection) have been won for exactly this reason.
In the case of asking to check the receipt, in Australia at least they would have to let the customer leave if they refused to allow the store to check the receipt. That is not to say they have to let the customer back into the store on another occasion, so the customer could be permanently banned from the store for this reason but they cannot keep them in the store unless they plan to arrest them.
Surely you’re not opining that this is an irreconcilable conflict that necessitates receipt checking. Resolving this conflict is the responsiblilty of the merchant, as it always has been.
Ok, aside from the matter of your rights, why would you refuse to show your receipt if you have one? I’m not saying you can’t protect your rights, I just don’t understand why this causes anyone a problem. I can say anything I want, and usually do, but if I choose not to say something, I don’t think I’m forfeiting my rights. Some of the stories about stores doing stupid things do concern me, but if they just ask to see the receipt on the way out, I’d show it to them. If they were rude, or accusing me of something, I might not cooperate, but otherwise, what is the problem? Is this just about stores that are not treating their customers well?
I specifically stated that I would and do forgo my rights in the event that it is easy and convenient for me to do so. Absent those conditions, why should I? Should I seriously wait in line to prove that I’m not a theif?
Why should I? I wait for your response to that question, because I can’t think of any reasonable argument why I should.
Also, this should be addressed. Aside from the matter of my rights? Is the Constitution a matter of trivia these days? Seriously?
I didn’t say your rights don’t count. But why do you believe every time you asked to show your receipt, it is an attempt to deny your rights? Would it make a difference if once you did show the receipt? It sounds like you and others like to exercise your rights, just to exercise your rights. That is your right though, I wouldn’t deny it. I was curious if anyone had a different reason though.
Some people just like to be jerks.
No one has a right to physically detain you if they haven’t witnessed you do anything wrong. The receipt checking thing is just a way for the store to make the customers do their loss prevention work for them. Most of the time I’m in a hurry and have put the receipt away.
I always just walk out, and say “no thanks” and I don’t stop if someone asks me for a receipt. The store can’t do a thing about it, not even if you’re a “member” of some kind of buying club, and if they physically restrain you, it opens up the store to a lawsuit. The management knows this, and the personnel at the doors do too. I’ve never had an issue, nor has anyone ever chased me. It’s not the people that ignore the receipt checkers at the door that the store has to worry about, a real thief would find a more subtle way to walk out with stolen goods.
My philosophy is don’t allow people to restrict your movement if they don’t have a right to, otherwise, people start getting used to the idea that you don’t have the right of free movement when you really do, as is evidenced by comments in this thread. If most of society gets used to the idea of certain restrictions, then most of society will start to accept laws that restrict freedom of movement.
So it’s not a stupid little thing, actually. You don’t have to be rude, but you can take charge of your time and not spend it on a trivial task that has no socially redeeming value.
^Word.
My experience, however, is that WalMart prefers to hire mentally challenged individuals to act as both “Greeter” and “Receipt Checker”. If, in my local WalMart, he is nowhere to be seen on the way in, no problem. If he grabs my arm on the way out, no problem. I’m stronger than him.