Checking receipts at the door is part of your contract as a member of Costco.
Walmart and other stores may post someone to check, but you are under no compulsion to stand in line bleating like sheep waiting for the guy to check your receipt. At this point, the items in your cart are you property and the store has no right to search your property.
I just do my best Dionne Warwick imitation. “Walk on by.”
Costco is not thinking about what products you buy when they check your cart at the exit door. All they want is the count of the products. If they want to get an itemized look at what you buy, that is done when they scan you membership card and the barcodes on your purchases at the check stand. I am sure they will keep a file on what you purchase. That file will help them detect a product that you try to return with no history of your purchase—like something that was shop-lifted. Members are receptive to helping Costco make things work.
Costco has managed to keep a lid on the worsening nationwide theft issue. According to the CFO, shrinkage was between “0.1% and 0.2%,” during the most recent quarter. That’s significantly lower than the nationwide average of 1.44%, as reported by the NRF.