4 ms·

You’re in their store. If you don’t want to follow their rules, don’t enter their store.

logfromblammo 7y ago
Ownership 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 ago
  Costco 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 ago
    That'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.
    - mark-r 7y ago
      The reason you don't want your programmers doing your QA is that they're too likely to make the same mistake twice. Same with having the point of sale people doing the receipt checking. I've considered using a collapsible box that I bought at Costco to pack my items after a shopping trip there. I wouldn't have the original receipt for it though, so I don't know how much hassle it would be. Haven't tried it yet.
      - logfromblammo 7y ago
        I didn't suggest that the checkout person do the QA. They already have 1 or 2 people standing at the door. Move them to the checkouts and do QA as people start to leave. AKA look at the checkout to see if there's anything still there as the cashier closes out the sale and starts with the next customer. It's a moot point, because good QA is not the goal. You could swap collapsible boxes with someone who shops at Sam's Club, if it worries you.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  > Costco and Sam's Club can only get away with it because they can revoke membership for non-compliance. Other stores don't have the processes for it, but legally they could bar you from return visits to their properties.
tejtm 7y ago
hence the headline Their considering me a thief by default has provoked me to spend elsewhere. The poor buggers manning the front door never gave me any grief for blowing them off, but the unanswerable managerial thought that put them there in the first place makes it a no brainier to shop elsewhere. And yea, that is despite the pull of preferring to fondle and drool on the merchandise in person.
ryandrake 7y ago
You can just ignore them. They have no cause to detain you, and you have no obligation to let them search you. I've never had a problem just walking past them out to my car. Only one time did someone even bother to yell "hey, I need to check your receipt!" and I just said NOPE and kept walking.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

Ownership 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 ago
Costco 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 ago
  That'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.
  - mark-r 7y ago
    The reason you don't want your programmers doing your QA is that they're too likely to make the same mistake twice. Same with having the point of sale people doing the receipt checking. I've considered using a collapsible box that I bought at Costco to pack my items after a shopping trip there. I wouldn't have the original receipt for it though, so I don't know how much hassle it would be. Haven't tried it yet.
    - logfromblammo 7y ago
      I didn't suggest that the checkout person do the QA. They already have 1 or 2 people standing at the door. Move them to the checkouts and do QA as people start to leave. AKA look at the checkout to see if there's anything still there as the cashier closes out the sale and starts with the next customer. It's a moot point, because good QA is not the goal. You could swap collapsible boxes with someone who shops at Sam's Club, if it worries you.
Marsymars 7y ago
> Costco and Sam's Club can only get away with it because they can revoke membership for non-compliance. Other stores don't have the processes for it, but legally they could bar you from return visits to their properties.

tejtm 7y ago

hence the headline Their considering me a thief by default has provoked me to spend elsewhere. The poor buggers manning the front door never gave me any grief for blowing them off, but the unanswerable managerial thought that put them there in the first place makes it a no brainier to shop elsewhere. And yea, that is despite the pull of preferring to fondle and drool on the merchandise in person.

ryandrake 7y ago

You can just ignore them. They have no cause to detain you, and you have no obligation to let them search you. I've never had a problem just walking past them out to my car. Only one time did someone even bother to yell "hey, I need to check your receipt!" and I just said NOPE and kept walking.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]