# The receipt check **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2006, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070 "2006-02-18T10:21:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/41 "2006-02-20T02:10:32Z")
A floor or two below the entrance? You have multiple-level Home Depot stores? Where do you live? And how do they move the large materials around? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/42 "2006-02-20T16:03:25Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > If I had kept my mouth shut, he would have seen an item count of eight, and I would have had a box set of CDs for the price of a box of strawberries. > … > > On the way home, my wife gets looking at the receipt and notices that the cashier forgot to ring one item. > The bathtub. :smack: In the first example, would you have let that stand? Did you go back and pay for the bathtub? Just curious. I’ve only seen receipt checking in NYC, and there they just verified that you had a receipt, not each item corresponding to it. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/43 "2006-02-20T16:13:48Z")
> [@Baraqiyal](#): > > Well one of us is finding it hard to follow the other anyway. The question is not why the policy is in place - that’s obvious. The question is why \*\*\*you personally \* \*\* submit to it, assuming they have no legal right to stop you if you just walk out the door without stopping. Well, I think I could make the argument that law-abiding customers abiding by the policy (submitting to it, if you like,) makes it more effective against thieves… or at least, makes thieves easier to spot because they must either abide and hide their stolen items from the check, or refuse to submit and be more visible in a smaller crowd of non-submitters. It’s a little like gun control in that sense… assuming in both cases that there are decent ways of spotting those who refuse to comply: - if all the law-abiding comply, then the criminals are easy to spot - if all, or most, law-abiding people refuse to comply out of principle, they criminals can hide among their number. I’m not going to take a position on whether the principle of non-compliance is worth giving up this contribution to the common good, (ie whether the ‘indignity’ of letting yourself get checked is worth helping in the fight against theft to a small degree.) But I do think that the principle is valid, and the contribution is there. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/44 "2006-02-20T17:09:39Z")
> [@GrizzRich](#): > > Yes, I know she was just a company drone doing her job. > But jeez, she didn’t even know WHY she was doing her job! Management seemingly just dropped her in front of the door with a yellow marker and told her “paint every receipt going out of this door”. So that makes it okay to take it out on her? Often times, the reason is, “So we can make sure you didn’t steal anything,” but she’s probably forbidden from saying so. ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/45 "2006-02-20T19:51:47Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Well, I think I could make the argument that law-abiding customers abiding by the policy (submitting to it, if you like,) makes it more effective against thieves… or at least, makes thieves easier to spot because they must either abide and hide their stolen items from the check, or refuse to submit and be more visible in a smaller crowd of non-submitters. That makes sense. Stopping thieves keeps prices low, which benefits everyone. Although I still think the actual reason most customers comply is to avoid the embarrassment of being chased down the parking lot by an employee. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/46 "2006-02-20T20:32:13Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > A floor or two below the entrance? You have multiple-level Home Depot stores? Where do you live? And how do they move the large materials around? Yes. Yes. Manhattan. Anti-Grav Platforms. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070/47 "2006-02-21T09:32:06Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So that makes it okay to take it out on her? Often times, the reason is, “So we can make sure you didn’t steal anything,” but she’s probably forbidden from saying so. I see no reason why the truth in this case would have been detrimental to the transaction… or to any person’s future patronage. It would have been easy enough to say “this is an inventory control measure that Sam’s Club uses” or “this is one step of an internal audit program”. I used to belong to Sam’s Club. I’ve visited BJ’s and Costco with friends and family. Over the past few years, I’ve asked the “Why do I need to show my receipt?” question to the door monitors. Only ONE has given a straight-up answer right away that the practice is to prevent/deter shoplifters. What I can’t understand is that seemingly _all_ membership-only busineses use this practice without fail. Other big-box stores (Lowes, Home Depot, Super K-Mart, etc) more often than not do no receipt-check. > [@Dewey Finn](#): > > …you signed a membership agreement when you joined Sam’s Club. I’m sure there’s a clause in there requiring you to cooperate with the receipt check… Actually, I signed no such agreement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-receipt-check/345070.md?page=2)