COSTCO and Sam’s Club have been urged to ditch a policy that has caused division and aggrieved some shoppers.
Receipt checks are common at wholesale clubs but have not been enthusiastically received among all.
Retail chiefs say the inspections help them ensure items are being processed accurately, but they have been interpreted as an anti-theft measure.
Receipt checks are compulsory and could see shoppers have their memberships revoked if they do not comply.
But, shoppers have expressed frustration when they’ve been stopped despite only having a small number of items.
And the issue of the inspections continues to be a talking point.
“I wish Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale would stop checking my damn receipt,” one shopper fumed on X.
“If you don’t trust us, have more people working the register.”
Costco bosses have confirmed the inspection is “standard practice.”
“We do this to double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers,” a representative said.
“It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control, and it’s also a good way to ensure that our members have been charged properly for their purchases.
It doesn’t appear likely that Costco will suddenly reverse course and eradicate receipt checks.
But, Sam’s Club chiefs have rolled out new strategies to make the checks more seamless.
The warehouse giant, which has 600 locations, has installed airport-like scanners at the exits of locations.
Shoppers just have to walk through the arches once they’ve bought their groceries.
Customers that use scan and go, as well as traditional checkout methods, can walk through the arches.
Legality of receipt checks and detention
In an effort to curtail retail crime, stores are increasingly turning to receipt checks as shoppers exit.
Legally, stores can ask to see a customer’s receipts, and membership-only stores have the right to demand such checks if shoppers agreed to terms and conditions that authorize it.
Many legal professionals have weighed in and come to similar conclusions, caveating that all states do have specific laws.
Generally speaking, stores have Shopkeeper’s Privilege laws that allow them to detain a person until authorities arrive when they have reasonable suspicion that a crime, like theft, has been committed.
Declining to provide a receipt is not a reason in itself for a store to detain a customer, they must have further reason to suspect a shopper of criminal activity.
Due to the recent nature of the receipt checks, there is little concrete law on the legality of the practice, as it takes time for law to catch up with technology.
Setliff Law, P.C. claims that “there is no definitive case law specifically relating to refusal to produce a receipt for purchases.”
For stores that improperly use their Shopkeeper’s Privilege, they could face claims of false imprisonment.
“The primary law that applies to these types of wrongful detention cases is called ‘False Imprisonment’,” explained Hudson Valley local attorney Alex Mainetti.
“Of course, you’re not literally imprisoned, but you’re detained by a person who has no lawful authority to detain you and/or wrongfully detains a customer.”
It is likely that as altercations in stores over receipt checks continue, more court cases will occur giving clearer definitions and boundaries to the legality of receipt checks.
Cameras attached to the machines verify the items in carts.
Shoppers don’t have to alter the arrangement of items in buggies before they walk through the scanners.
The AI technology means most shoppers will not be subject to a receipt check.
But, Sam’s Club has warned the receipt checks will not be completely eradicated.
Sometimes, discrepancies will pop up and a worker will subsequently check the receipt.
The inspections are common at wholesalers, but have started to appear at stores such as Walmart.
It has prompted shoppers to share their strategies to try and avoid being subject to them.
Receipt checks are not enforced across Walmart’s network of stores.
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