Its really no big deal people, hand them the reciept and be on your way, no reason to get yourself in a tizzy
I honestly have no idea what this forum is all about, and I don't plan to stay here past this thread, but I just had to register to respond specifically to this.
It's precisely this attitude that's resulting in the slippery slope of ongoing loss of freedom in this country, the attitude that "Oh, just do it already. Forget about your constitutional rights, just go ahead and OBEY because it'll be EASY, and there's no need to get upset about it."
From reading the entirety of this thread and many others like it, nobody is disputing the following:
1) It's a lot easier and quicker just to show them your receipt.
2) It's a lot less embarrassing to do so.
3) Having receipt-checkers reduces store losses, which in turn helps to keep prices down.
4) Sometimes the receipt-checking can even help you, if you or the cashier messed up.
I agree with all of this, but, as someone else pointed out, none of this is the point. To my mind, even the "I feel like I'm being treated like I'm guilty" bit is just whining. The real issue here is that of your rights.
Local laws differ from state to state and county to county, and there have been tons of discussions about this all over the internet over the past decade as receipt checking has become more prevalent, so it's best if you search for your area's laws. But my research of the answers from legitimate lawyers who do message boards appears to generally state the following:
1) Unless a store's Loss Prevention staff has probable cause that you've stolen something, you cannot be detained. Generally, that means witnessing you take and conceal a product and then leaving the store with it without paying. One great line I saw was (paraphrased) that internal policy was that LP couldn't detain someone unless they could say the following: "Sir, I am detaining you because you have two packs of Camel Crush cigarettes in your inside left jacket pocket that you took from the cigarette counter and did not pay for." If someone attempts to detain you without probable cause, you can sue and likely win or get a settlement. If someone lays a hand on you, that's battery.
2) Membership clubs such as Sam's and Costco have, in your membership agreement, a clause that says that your purchases and receipt will be examined. Legally, you can certainly disagree with the search, but it violates the terms of your membership agreement, and they have the right to terminate your membership and not allow you back in.
3) In the case of non-membership stores, while you have the right to refuse to submit to a search, the store is private property and has the right to refuse to do business with you in the future - that is, they can ban you from the property for the future. However, as a few people here have said, the moment that you complete payment for today's items, those items belong to you, and no store employee can force you to submit to a search or detain you - again, unless they have probable cause that you have stolen something.
The truth is that - assuming for a moment that you're all honest consumers, as I am - whether or not you "have something on the bottom of the cart" or set off the exit alarm or whatever else, if you keep walking, you most likely will not be detained, just because of store policy. Again, most stores have very strict rules about when Loss Prevention may engage and potentially detain someone. More and more stores, in fact, go even further in order to avoid lawsuits and don't bother engaging and/or detaining at all. They take note of the action and go behind you to write down your license plate and then submit it to Law Enforcement, but won't engage you personally at all. This is happening more and more because we're so lawsuit-happy here. But, at the same time, these large businesses are starting to pursue a philosophy of intimidation - the whole receipt-checking thing - because it works. Most people are sheep who will do just about whatever they're told by someone in (apparent) authority without question and without regard to their personal rights. So, if an official-looking person at the exit of
Best Buy says, in a stern voice, "Receipt Please," they know that most people will acquiesce, despite the fact that they have no legal right to demand that you do so.
All this having been said, I do show my receipt, for two reasons. Firstly, I too have experienced cashier errors to my detriment or have occasionally forgotten an item behind me, and the door people have caught those errors. Secondly, because I choose, quite simply, not to be an activist. In this one thing, I tolerate it like many of you also do - to save time and because it isn't generally a hassle, and because I don't like making a scene; all I want to do is get my items and go home, and deal with humans as little as possible. I'm a very practical person who has a life. If someone is less practical, has less of a life, and/or just likes to stand on principle, then I support them completely, because each time it happens, it pisses me off, because I know that they have no right to force me to acquiesce. I just choose not to do that myself, because it isn't going to change anything - the system is too big, the proof is there that this form of intimidation does work in helping to reduce loss, and I have better things to do with my time.
However, I've been fortunate never to have gotten into any of the semi-ugly situations that others have detailed whereby someone starts doing a major search through what are now my personal belongings, or actually being accused verbally of stealing something (without PC - they know they can't detain you, but that doesn't necessarily stop them from accusing to see if you cave, assuming that you did steal the item). If that ever happens to me, I WILL make a fuss.
I HAVE been in circumstances - twice - where I've had a traffic stop and the officer requested to search my vehicle. In each of those situations, I did assert my rights, vehemently, because, in that situation, Law Enforcement is NOT on your side and DOES have the power to ruin one's life if they're having a bad day. A rent-a-cop in Sam's? Not so much, so I don't really care, and agree consciously to give up my rights and play their little game.
Understand your rights, and then make a conscious choice whether or not to exercise them. It frustrates me to no end when someone just replies, "oh, it's just too much trouble, and it's so easy, why are you getting so upset, it's no big deal...", because that makes it clear that you either don't know your rights, or don't care about them. That's just one step removed from "If you haven't done anything wrong, then what are you afraid of? Why do you need a lawyer before you'll talk to the police? Why should anyone need a Search Warrant? Again, if you don't have anything illegal in there, what are you afraid of?" This is simply ridiculous but, unfortunately, seems to be more and more prevalent, which I view as a sign of the ongoing degradation of this country. We've been so beaten into submission by the government, law enforcement, and now Big Box Stores that most people just roll over in all circumstances, because it's "easier."
If you want to be a sheep, please do it by well-reasoned choice, not just because it's "easier" to OBEY, even if you know that it's wrong.
Have fun - time for me to go before I get the "you're just a troublemaker" backlash from the sheeple among you.
). If Walmart wants me to show my receipt on my way out of the store, I show it (and they do, every time in every store around here, NOT AT ALL based on clientele). If BJ's - which allows me to shop as a NONmember - i.e. no agreement - for an additional 10% over posted prices wants to see my receipt anyway even though I don't have any written or tacit contract with them, great. They can see my receipt. I DON'T CARE. It's got nothing to do with rights. If it's a given store's policy, I comply with the policy.
Yikes, Cara! That is so weird in this day and age.
