5 ms·
I used to live near the Fry's in Tempe, Arizona. Even 5-10 years ago, I didn't really like going there that much. Their prices weren't that great any more, an
by magduf 7y ago
I used to live near the Fry's in Tempe, Arizona. Even 5-10 years ago, I didn't really like going there that much. Their prices weren't that great any more, and returning merchandise was a bad experience. It was clear their best days were behind them. Amazon has been a better experience for a long time now. It was cool how you could find a lot of odd electronics items there (components, soldering equipment, wire, etc.), but you could still get all that stuff much cheaper online usually.
- JKCalhoun 7y ago> Amazon has been a better experience for a long time now. You mean Amazon doesn't police your receipt and merchandise at a checkpoint as you got out of the store?
- magduf 7y agoThat too (that was an annoying thing about Fry's too; I had totally forgotten about that!), but the returns process at Fry's also treats you like a criminal, whereas Amazon's is easy and asks no questions.
- nradov 7y agoYou aren't actually required to have your receipt checked. I just walk straight out and ignore them.
- danesparza 7y agoI've been forcibly stopped by them.
- Stratoscope 7y agoIf they did that, it was quite illegal. My practice when I used to shop at Fry's was to stop and let the receipt checking person mark my receipt with their pink marker, if no one was ahead of me in that line. This was only to let them feel good about their job, not because I had any legal obligation. If there was anyone in the receipt checking line I would just smile and wave and walk by. They never stopped me, nor could they legally, but the people waiting in line would often look at me and look at the receipt checker, puzzled that I could get away with it and they "couldn't".
- idiot900 7y agoYou’re in their store. If you don’t want to follow their rules, don’t enter their store.
- logfromblammo 7y agoOwnership changes at the point of sale. At the time they do the check, they no longer have any legal basis for preventing the customer from leaving. Costco and Sam's Club can only get away with it because they can revoke membership for non-compliance. At Fry's, stopping someone for a search risks civil suit for kidnapping. Aside from that, it's a security theater tactic to discourage shoplifting, which also happens to discourage regular shopping.
- mark-r 7y agoCostco and Sam's check your receipt to make sure you're leaving with everything you paid for. They're much more likely to find you've left something at the checkout rather than find you shoplifting.
- logfromblammo 7y agoThat's the stated, euphemistic reason. The real reason is that they are doing security theater. Finding something you may have forgotten at the checkout is the only possible benefit to the consumer, so they play it up as a point of customer service, to partially counteract the unreasonable queue they create for exiting the store. If the genuine concern was forgotten items, they would do the additional QA check at the point of sale, where the item is most likely to be found, rather than at the exit doors. Don't parrot the corporate propaganda without giving it your own analysis first. The veracity is easily checked. Buy a small, disposable item with your regular purchase, and put it in your pocket after checkout. If the receipt checker notices the item is missing, note a positive result. Put the receipt in your pocket with the item. Next time around, take the item out of your pocket and put it in the cart, and see what happens. Make sure you project the confidence that yes, that object in the cart is yours, and was lawfully purchased during a previous visit. Beware that this sort of testing may get your membership revoked.
- Sylamore 7y agoVirtually all of my electronics tools and supplies came from the Tempe store. Since I've moved back east it's a serious challenge finding stores with even a fraction of the inventory the Tempe store had so I end up ordering stuff off Amazon or Ali Express. I the RTP ares has a good electronics store, I haven't found it yet.