Posted on 10/20/2023 7:25:26 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
We’ve all been there! We’re leaving a grocery store and a staff member asks us to stop, they want to see our receipt.
And for most folk, this experience is embarrassing because it straight up makes you feel they believe you’re a shoplifter.
In one TikTok, a guy called David explains how much this experience angers him and a lawyer @Texaschancla told people you don’t actually have to show your receipt if those are your goods!
This guy says: “It really ****** me off that people at Walmart check your **** when you’re leaving. Like excuse me Walmart, last time I checked, I wasn’t trained on how to use your self checkout system. So, if I miss scan an item, or I miss something and I don’t do something properly, that’s not my ******* problem. That’s yours.”
Ouch. This guy REALLY doesn’t like being stopped by a staff member, right…
However, it turns out all shoppers might just have the legal upper hand right here, according to lawyer and fellow TikToker @Texaschancla.
He said: “David has an excellent point here. As soon as you have paid for those items, they are now your items. So everything in that little shopping bag that you’re walking out with belongs to you.
He continued: “And now it’s up to you whether you want to give the Walmart employee permission to look through your bag, or to touch your things. You have no obligation to even stop when they asked you to. They are not law enforcement. There is no law. You are a private citizen going about your business. If they have reason to think that you shoplifted. Then bring it on.”
I have never had that thought. I respect a corporation that is aggressive with "stop loss" because it limits the shop-lifting costs from inflating the prices of the products I purchase.
This has nothing to do with legality because it's their store and they get to make up their own rules.
I have always been amused at the idea that the (usually) elderly fellow or lady who takes all of a second to glance at the receipt and draw a line on it with a marker is performing any useful function.
Play their game. Take a small item out,
then put it in your pocket. They will discover that it isn’t there n you get a freebie..imagine if you bought a 100$ ring ......just saying
At Sam’s a few weeks back, we were stopped leaving and 3 items checked. Yah, guess who hadn’t scanned a pork rib. Got two only one scanned. I would have returned to the store to pay for the item. Not bothered by it at all.
Actually I think they are doing a sort of mental parity check. If the tape indicates twenty items they quickly count the number of items and then assume that the correct price was paid for each one.
At Costco it seems like they always put their eyes on every item before checking the tape and verifying. I also think the good ones also look for an honest face.
If you don't want to show your receipt and you don't believe in private property rights then shop somewhere else..
“People just don’t realize how relaxed, casual, trusting, and open America used to be, it was like everyone was some level of family member.”
Isn’t that the truth. It was the old ethos that “A man’s word was his bond.” The “social compact” was real and worked. It all began to fall apart quickly when the commies drove God out of the school and took over our culture..
Yep, “free legal advice is worth what you pay for it.”
Back in the 90s the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled people do not have to stop show their receipts unless it is a paid membership store.
They stated that if you buy a membership then you are consenting to the rules of the store, including having your items checked before you leave, but standard retail stores may not obligate you to be stopped and searched.
This ruling only covers the states within its jurisdiction.
I don’t mind the rare times I get checked. I figure it helps keep my costs down.
People who get worked up about it are a little too full of themselves...
here is the funny part
i actually walked out with a cart full of groceries without paying
i was having an intense conversation with my teenage son about of all things vaccines
i was loading the car when i realized
i went back in and told the manager
he had canceled the sale so i had to re-scan everything
sometimes its best to just be nice and polite over these small little things...
I’ve had this experience one single time...a northern Virginia Wal-Mart. I grumbled about it, and simply complied, but marked it in my mind to never return to that particular store.
“However, as I said, if you refuse to show your receipt they can issue you trespass ban that can come with charges if you try to enter the store during the length of the ban.”
They would never do that around here unless they actually observed you shoplifting. If they did based merely on refusing to show the receipt they’d be losing some of their best customers. I just keep walking.
I just say, “no thank you,” and go on about my business.
Not at Costco though. There it’s in the membership agreement.
y you’re not a lawyer. If you wish to participate in the creeping erosion of your rights, that’s fine, but, dont expect the rest of use to.
The policy at the Walmarts I’m acquainted with, is to check on unbagged items (it’s not about your self-check skills).
All bags are one size and flimsy, so a lot of the valuable stuff will be unbagged.
But yes, when it happens, you can’t help feeling bad for the greeter who doesn’t want to do this, and you can’t help feeling insulted.
Most hills aren't, until hindsight.
However, I do think they're within rights. Don't like it, don't shop there. Walmart isn't an essential stop...that is, while a pandemic doesn't close all other stores.
Costco checks every single receipt, but they just give a glance so I don’t see how effective it is at recognizing items that don’t belong. Maybe it’s prophylactic and just serves as a discouragement to people who might be tempted.
I don’t like it, but don’t say anything. It’s not the hill I want to die on. In today’s world there are hundreds of worse things to make a stink about if you’re so inclined.
The checkers at our Walmart are funny, and probably are guilty of discrimination. I’ve noticed that they give people the once-over and only check certain shoppers’ receipts. If people appear to be “off” and suspicious, they’re checked. If they look upstanding, they’re waved on through.
The greeters use scanning devices sometimes, and they know what they’re looking for. That $30 bottle of detergent or the 20lb. bag of dog food. They don’t need reading proficiency.
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