A WALMART shopper has learned how to avoid getting stopped for receipt checks after becoming fed up with the policy.
Walmart customers have taken issue with the controversial theft prevention strategy since it began popping up in stores years ago.
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Retailers started asking shoppers to show their receipts more often after self-checkout kiosks became more popular.
Now, many shoppers say they are tired of having to check themselves out and then prove that they did the job correctly by showing their receipts.
Some have said the whole process makes them feel like a criminal, while others have complained that it’s simply a waste of everyone’s time.
And for some shoppers, the whole hassle has made them turn to competitive retailers who don’t institute receipt checks.
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One customer recently shared how she avoids the entire situation by behaving in a way that discourages checkers from talking to her, she claims.
“Hubs will only self-check if it is a few items. And we both refuse to stop for the receipt checkers,” TrikeRacer (@trike_racer) shared on X.
“They have cameras everywhere. They checked us out. We paid. That is the end of it. No one has ever asked, though,” she added.
And she said she thinks she knows why.
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“I’m sure my demeanor says ‘Ask the next one.'”
MORE SHOPPERS UPSET
Other shoppers on the social media platform said they agreed.
TrikeRacer’s comment was in response to another customer’s post about getting tired of Walmart’s receipt-checking policy.
“Went to Walmart & did self check out. Man watches lanes like a hawk & watches what you scan on a phone,” MtnGirlbarefootGardening (@linda16675729) explained in the initial post.
She knew what to say back.
“I said, ‘Nope!’ (Hubs had it), I kept walking & husband showed her.”
And when the shopper’s husband asked her why she was upset, she had a clear answer to that question too.
“They can’t have it both ways. You either trust me to do your job OR do it yourself. But don’t question my integrity,” the X-user said.
Top 5 receipt checking tips from a lawyer
Camron Dowlatshahi, a Los Angeles attorney, spoke to The U.S. Sun about receipt checks and customer’s rights and options when it came to being asked to show your receipt.
- There has been a lot of debate around the legality of a retailer asking to see your receipt, but if it is within the store, it is completely legal. “There’s seemingly nothing illegal about that. You’re still on the company’s premises and their reason to do it is to prevent thefts,” Dowlatshahi confirms.
- However, if they are chasing you out of the store, that changes things, Dowlatshahi said. “Location matters,” he explained. “If you’re outside of the store you’re in the parking lot and they come and start accusing you of theft and that you have to show your receipt, I think that’s a bit of a different situation because now you’re on your way.”
- While customers are allowed to say no to receipt checks, it may cause issues if you do and the store suspects you of stealing. “You can say no, maybe it creates an unnecessary hassle for yourself because now you may have the police come to your house and follow up,” said Dowlatshahi.
- If you are being barred from leaving a store because you refused a receipt check, you could have a legal case — but the store must have held you for a long time. “Let’s say it’s for hours, that’s certainly false imprisonment, and they didn’t have any impetus for doing so,” Dowlatshahi explained. “If a customer has been emotionally traumatized by being held for false imprisonment, I would definitely encourage [them] to sue.”
- “I would say, show your receipt,” he concluded. “It’s just a really simple thing to do. If you didn’t steal anything, it’s relatively simple to do,” the lawyer advised.
(According to Camron Dowlatshahi, a founding partner at Mills Sadat Dowlat LLP)
RETAIL THEFT WORTH BILLIONS
Business leaders and economic experts have debated whether retail theft is rising or simply a consistently big problem — but the results are the same.
Retail leaders have estimated that shoplifting accounts for over $112 billion in losses every year, according to data from the National Retail Federation.
Several national retailers have taken major steps in recent years to limit retail shrinkage, a category or product loss that includes theft.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon noted that theft rates at Walmart alone were “higher than what it has historically been” and called it a significant “issue” facing the industry in late 2022.
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“Prices will be higher and/or stores will close,” he said in the interview with CNBC Squawk Box.
Walmart is one of 19 other retailers that together closed almost 3,000 locations in 2023, according to data collected by Business Insider.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/11709476/walmart-shopper-demeanor-never-stopped-receipt-check/