Why I hate shopping.
No, I don't have a rewards card. No, I don't want to enroll in your program to receive a 10% discount. No, I do not want the extended warranty. No, you can't have my phone number. No, I do not want 90 days same as cash. No, I am not interested in applying for a credit card. And no, I will not let you check my receipt as I exit your store.
When did buying stuff get so complicated? Doing Christmas shopping this week really brought this to my attention. I almost felt like yelling in exasperation, "Here, just take my money and give me my frickin' merchandise!", but I know the poor people at the cash registers are just following corporate policy.
The thing that chaps my hide the most is the policy of some stores to post an employee at the door to check people's merchandise against their receipts as they exit. This is, in essence, saying to the customer, "We assume you are a thief until proven otherwise." I do not allow these stores to check my receipt (with the exception of Costco, because their receipt-checking policy is stated in the membership terms which I agreed to upon joining). Stores do not have any right whatsoever to inspect your receipt and/or the mechandise that you've paid for. At the moment you paid for the merchandise it became your property, as did the sales receipt that they handed you. If you wish to voluntarily submit to their request to inspect your property, that is your perogative. It is also your perogative to deny their request.
The receipt checker has as much legal right to inspect your receipt as you do to look at the contents of his or her wallet or purse. In other words, none. Private citizens are not required to allow other private citizens to detain and search them.
By the way, if a receipt checker were to block your egress from the store, it is tantamount to holding you against your will, which is a crime. It is called false imprisonment.
If a store actually does believe that you have shoplifted, and wants to detain you, they most follow a stringent set of rules to establish probable cause. First and foremost being that a store employee must have witnessed you shoplifting.
I've had some interesting interactions as a result of my refusal to submit to a receipt check. I try to be pleasant and when told "I need to see your receipt." simply smile, say "No, you cannot." and keep walking. I did have a manager of a Circuit City follow me into the parking lot once yelling at me that I was no longer welcome in their store. "No problem." I chuckled in reply. I've also been banned for life from Guitar Center a few times, yet strangely continue to shop there (and still don't allow them to see my receipt).
What's the harm in receipt checking? They're just trying to prevent shoplifting in order to keep their prices low. Perhaps, and I sympathize, but there are plenty of mechants who do not resort to such rude tactics to prevent loss. And I think in a free society we need to be very careful about not giving power and control over ourselves to entities who have no legal right or authority to take it. Corporations are quite happy to take whatever power and control over us that we allow them to.
Just say "No."
Ok, I'm beginning to rant. It must be PTSD: Post Traumatic Shopping Disorder.
2 Comments:
I completely agree with your comments on this, Danny. But I'd like to add a couple of thoughts. Stores will claim their receipt checking policy is to thwart shoplifters. But I don't believe that for a minute. First of all, most retail theft is done by store employees. And second, how is it possible to shoplift anything in the typical 10 feet walk from the cash register to the door?
I believe the receipt checking policy is done primarily because they don't trust their own cashiers. They are afraid cashiers who may be in collusion with their friends will fail to scan and charge for some items. As a result, every customer exiting the store is treated like a criminal.
I was in a Fry's Electronics store a couple of days ago. Every time I go to Fry's (which is seldom nowadays), the cashier says, "You'll have to show your receipt at the door." If I'm in a good mood, I usually just let those statements go. Occasionally I will correct them and say, "No, actually I don't."
So when I heard the Fry's puppet say, "You'll have to show your receipt at the door," I said, "No. I don't." She looked surprised and repeated, "Yes, you have to show them your receipt when you leave." I said, "No. If someone wants to look at my property, they certainly have the right to ask me. But I have the right to say no." Evidently her two hour cashier training in front of a scratchy VHS tape didn't include that fact. At that point, she looked horrified. You would have thought I'd just announced the world is flat, except, of course, she probably did think it was flat.
Nearly the same scene was repeated at the exit, where another puppetron asked to see my receipt. I politely said, "No thank you," and continued walking out the door. She went into a total panic and yelled, "Wait, I need to see your receipt!" I turned back and said, "Sorry, no thanks." At that point, her supervisor, who had been only a few feet away, appeared. He said, "It's voluntary. We can ask, but there's no obligation to show it." She looked absolutely shocked.
In most states, asking to see the receipt is legal, as long as handing it over it is voluntary on the part of the customer. But most stores don't tell you it's voluntary, which may in itself be illegal. If Fry's does not trust their cashiers, that's not my problem. I have a bigger problem with the fact that they have no respect for their customers.
99% of people will simply submit to the receipt check because they don't know their rights, or because they think it's inconsequential.
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them." Frederick Douglass
Thanks for your comments and for such a great quote!
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