Okay, let’s say they DO own the receipt until it goes out the door (which I assume is an invalid an assumption as the rest of your ideas) if I put their receipt in my wallet, or in one of the bags, how can they force me to show it...they don’t own my hands, that would reach for it, they don’t own my wallet, which they demand to be opened, and they don’t own the plastic bags that contain the receipt that they want opened. Unless you believe they own the shopping bags, as well?
Okay, let’s say they DO own the receipt, and I walk out without showing it to them, I guess I can, in your world, be arrested for stealing a receipt?
How much do they figure a receipt is worth? If I take that receipt to an auction house, Sotheby’s, or Christie’s, or if I take it to an antique dealer to be appraised, how much would they say the receipt is worth?
I hope it’s not worth over $1,000, because if it IS, I’ve thrown away millions of receipts in my lifetime!!
Ed
When you decide to return your broken TV to Wal-Mart, imagining they will ignore the boot print clearly knocked into the case, THEIR DOCUMENT attesting to the fact you paid for it will be useful.
Without it I am sure they will require something more from you than your personal assertion that you bought the TV from them.
All of these things are covered under the Express Mail Statutes ~ and they are provided for under the "Post Offices and Post Roads" clause of the Constitution. The ownership of certain categories of documents is established in federal law, and uniformly followed by state courts. That you haven't run into the question is no reason for you to maintain your IGNANCE!