Rich in Michigan writes that a Michigan Sam’s Club employee foiled his efforts to circumvent the receipt-checking line.
I was detained in a Sams Club receipt-checking line today. When I attempted to steer my cart around the line and out the exit door, an employee with a nametag of ‘Linda’ stepped in front of my cart and asked me to surrender my receipt. When I asked if I was being detained, she assured me that I was…
At this point, she took the receipt out of my hand, checked it (there were two items in the cart), I left the store. I’m not exactly sure if what went on was legal or ethical, but I damn sure know that it was terrible customer service.
You know, in all this receipt-checking kerfuffle we’ve mentioned that places like Sam’s Club can insert mandatory receipt-checking clauses in their contracts, but we’ve yet to see one proper, and darned if we can’t find a copy of their membership agreement online.
Scavenger hunt: provide us with a copy of a store’s, any store’s, membership contract that says that by signing it you agree to mandatory receipt checks.
PREVIOUSLY:
Circuit City Customer Arrested After Refusing To Show Receipt
TigerDirect Apologizes For Unlawfully Detaining Customer For Refusing To Show Receipt
TigerDirect Unlawfully Restrains And Verbally Abuses Customer For Not Submitting To Receipt-Showing Demands
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Former Costco Employee Responds To Man Who Refuses To Show Membership Card Or Have Receipt Checked
@Red_Eye: “However one day BB and CC will get smart. They will include a bar code at the bottom of that receipt. They will require an associate at the door to look at your receipt and scan that bar code to activate your return and warranty coverage. Any merchandise not scanned is simply marked in their system an uncovered and ta da.”
I have an even better idea. Let’s put a barcode on each individual item. Then, an associate at the register can scan each one, and once I’ve paid for them (which legally makes them my property), they can give me a printed list of the items and transaction info. That printed list would serve as proof of purchase for return and warranty purposes.
@humphrmi: You are not signing away your consttutional rights. You are just signing that youi agree to the search.
If you are pulled over by a cop and he asked to surch your vehicle, you are within your rights to say no.
You can also say yes if you want to. By saying yes you agree to the search, and there is no violation of your rights.
That is what sams club has done, when you become a member you are saying YES to the search.
I have never seen so many Waa Waa’s in one place. Show them the goddamn receipt for cripes sake. Will it kill you to help them stop “shrinkage” at their store?
I saw a Wal Mart CLOSE in an adjoining town because of shrinkage ALONE. They couldn’t keep the stuff in the store. The public AND the employees would rob them blind.
@MystiMel: You are correct. but at a sams club, as a member you have already said OK search me.
I live in New Orleans and they do this religiously at the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas St.. The elderly receipt-checkers are backed by NOPD officers so there is no getting around the inspection. Somehow, I doubt this is completely legal.
@speedwell: Looks like your work had an agreement with the club then, looks like your office screwed up.
@humphrmi: Oh ya, about the gift card. I belive you have to have a guest membership to use the special 10% walmart card. I have not been a Sams club member for a while, so I am not sure about that.
@theystolemyname: Also, I don’t recall illegal search and seizure by minimum wage employees at a glorified grocery store being something you can agree to in a legal, binding contract.
Dude, are you serious? Do you read Consumerist? What about all the “mandatory binding arbitration” stories – there’s a perfect example of you agreeing to waive your right to a jury trial in a legal contract. Or, better yet, next time you buy a ticket to a concert or major sports event, read the fine print on the back of the ticket, and see what you agree to by using the ticket.
Gosh people (well, some of you that need us to remind you), do you NOT read your disclosures or membership rules/policies?
If you don’t want to stop on the way out of a membership Club (Sam’s, Costco, BJ’s, whatever), then DON’T shop there. End of discussion.
Disclaimer: BJs member and likes the store.
OP = FUD
I agree that they physical detainment of people needs to stop. If you refuse to show your receipt, the store should just say “Fine, but don’t ever come back.” Pretty simple. If you’re too fucking self-important to subject yourself to the horrors of a receipt check, then go shop online. It’s win-win; you don’t have to waive your constitutional rights for a couple seconds, and nobody else has to listen to your whining.
@theystolemyname: It was a little strange; at the receipt check, a soccer mom said “what’s ridiculous is you giving people a hard time, she’s only trying to do her job”.
Is this the prevalent attitude now? Allowing people to walk all over you and violate your rights because it’s “their job”?
As a matter of fact, yes, this is the prevailing attitude now. Most people are ready and willing to submit to any presumed “authority” that may cross their path. As long as they have their bread and circuses, they are more than willing to check their reasoning, individuality, personal autonomy and self-respect while corporate economy and consumer culture mold them into compliant, obedient and servile consumers.
Sadly, there are far too many authoritarian sheep who think standing up for your rights is “being an ass”, “ridiculous” or, even worse, suspicious.
@Indecision: That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Why would you want to give one (1) individual at a register this kind of authority?!
The next time I go to Sam’s, I’m going to tear the receipt into little pieces in front of the cashier, and then ask if she has a trash can.
I often go to Costco with friends, who are members and not I. When I get to the cash register, I have never had a problem paying for things I want. I swipe my debit card at the terminal, and I type in my PIN. They allowed me to make a purchase at the store without being a member.
I *NEVER* let them see my receipt. One day we bought nothing but one large box of diapers for my friend’s daughter.
The door checker asked for my receipt, which I ignored and kept on walking. Just before I got to the parking lot, he ran around in front of me and blocked my path. He requested my receipt to which I declined…
He said I have to, I said no I don’t. He tried to grab the box out of my hand. I held on tight to the box, and explained that he has no legal authority to demand to see my receipt. He continued resisting, so I got louder and louder until he ran (yes, RAN) back into the store and around the corner.
Screw them. They have no busniess making me a part of their stupid loss prevention policies, I am not responsible if they have loss prevention issues.
@TexasScout:
Showing them your receipt does not prevent “shrink” unless you are stealing something and they catch you. Honest people not showing their receipts does not prevent shrink.
@TexasScout: And just exactly how is a store’s loss prevention policy my problem or responsibility?
Ok, so the 4th amendment doesn’t protect you from Joe on the street asking to take a peek in your bag, or from Best Buy asking to check your receipt. However, you can say “NO” and that’s where hard decisions get made. After you decline the search if the employee tries to detain you or force you to submit to a bag check I would imagine it would constitute assault. Just the same as Joe on the street would be assaulting you if he tried to get your bag to check it, so would the BB goon be if he tried to stop you from leaving the store.
The problem with not getting your receipt checked is that in a lot of places they stamp, punch or highlight your receipt in such a way that if you tried to return stuff on it after the fact and it wasn’t marked/punched/stamped then they’d refuse the return or just give you store credit.
If I know I didn’t steal anything then I know I don’t need to show anyone my receipt on the way out. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, much less a store security/LP goon. If they want to check these things on the basis of price integrity or quantity, I’ll take my chances and if the amount is so much different I’ll bring it back and make it right. Its for the same reason that I walk right on past the door alarm when it goes off. I know I paid for whatever I bought, so I’m not going to turn around and let them root through my stuff to find whatever little magnetic tag their system forgot to deactivate.
If you want, crumple up your receipt or tear it up as you’re walking out. Make them work for it.
Oh, and to the OP, if you got a membership without signing a contract like everyone else, it was a loophole and you know it. It’s not like Sam’s Club just invents ways for people to get memberships without signing agreements. Your employer signed one for you and they didn’t give you the terms. They shouldn’t have let you transfer the membership into your name without at least giving you a copy of the agreement. If you’re a lawyer, then you especially know that membership only organizations have rules and contracts and that you got away without signing it. Make a stand at walmart or best buy or somewhere but Sam’s is not the place.
Law does not allow for them to detain you, but refusal to show the receipt as pertained to their member agreement, you legally break the contract and forfeit the remainder of said membership. Also, they can not keep you from taking your purchased items out of the store as it has become your property.
@dbeahn: “Your post is good, and in a non-membership store it’s spot on. But this is a Sam’s *Club* we’re talking about.”
You can break your agreement with the store at any time. Like right at the point where the guy asks you for the receipt.
Sam’s Club, or whatever, has plenty of options once you break your agreement. They can revoke your membership. They can forbid you from setting foot on their property ever again. They could even sue you in civil court if the contract specifies a financial obligation in case one of the parties breaks the agreement. They can do all sorts of things, but they can’t physically restrain you or block your way.
Again, you can consent to the search all you want in the various documents you sign. But you can break that agreement at any time you want and the ONLY RECOURSE the other party has is civil.
There are no other stores here that check receipts anymore besides Sams Club and other places where you sign a membership agreement. Walmart just has a door checker, but they don’t do anything and they most certainly do not ask for a receipt. Target has a security guard (or a rent-a-cop) at the entrance but again they do not check receipts.
I really don’t see the point in a Sams membership as their prices are no better than retail stores, but yet my family chooses to belong to them anyways. You can get the same prices next door in walmart save a few cents difference, if you really want to shop at walmart that is. Sams prices on things that I would buy like small electronics and video games are often MORE than the Walmart right next door, and most items that I want to buy can be found on Amazon or another online for much less with free shipping and no tax. I really wish a costco would open up in my area to give Sams some competition, because from what I hear they actually have low prices and give you good deals. Yes they are remodling our Sams Club however you can bet we are gonna pay for it with higher prices on everything.
[caselaw.lp.findlaw.com]
Any other questions about the constitution and private parties?
Am I mistaken here? But there is no constitutional protection against being asked by a shop owner to see your receipt before leaving the store? Plus, if you have agreed beforehand to do so it would be the polite thing to do. If you haven’t then it’s up to you. But for the life of me I don’t see where the breach of privacy is in proving you have actually purchased what you are walking out of the store with, no matter how obvious your innocence is. If you feel violated don’t shop in stores that ask and save bandwidth.
@kurometarikku: A private citizen can ask. You can refuse. They cannot search you because to search you is to touch you which is to commit assault — a crime. The only people who can search you without your consent are the police, who are still barred from doing so without reasonable suspicion that you have committed a crime. That reasonable suspicion requires you to have been observed committing shoplifting, and the store does that have that evidence.
For this reason, you are protected under the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure.
Therefore, it is a Constitutional rights issue.
As for why it is a bad thing? Some people don’t like to be treated like criminals or forced to do the store’s work for it for free, or forced to be inconvenienced because the store is afraid that its own staff are stealing.
That is enough.
@TexasScout: I have never seen so many people who will roll over and give up their rights in one place. Would it hurt you so much to defend the rights people DIED for?
@IRSistherootofallevil:
Call the FBI…that’s a riot!! I’m sure they’ll send out a crack squad of hitmen to rescue you from the evil thugs of Sam’s Club.
“Forget that Al Qaida lead! We’ve got to get over to Sam’s Club ASAP to rescue a besieged line of shoppers! Oh the humanity!!!”
@chazz: But there is no constitutional protection against being asked by a shop owner to see your receipt before leaving the store?
That’s correct, there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution (or any State laws) that forbids a shop owner from asking to see your receipt. There is also nothing in those laws that prevents you from refusing.
However, there are laws that make it a crime for a person, such as a shop owner or door guard, to deprive someone of their freedom. In New Jersey, for example, “A person commits a disorderly persons offense if he knowingly restrains another unlawfully so as to interfere substantially with his liberty.”
They have every right to ASK to see my receipt and the contents of my bags, and I have every right to refuse.
Absent a reasonable belief that I am shoplifting – a belief that must be based upon probable cause – a merchant has the authority to refuse me entry, or to ask me to leave their premises. That’s it. They do not have the authority to detain me, and any attempt to do so is unlawful, and opens them up to both criminal and civil liability.
Plus, if you have agreed beforehand to do so it would be the polite thing to do. If you haven’t then it’s up to you.
The problem is that over the past few years, this practice has become so widespread and commonplace that many people, including door guards and LP employees, are starting to think that they actually have a RIGHT to see your receipt, and the authority to force you to produce it.
This has led to a growing number of incidents of people being accosted, detained, verbally abused, assaulted, or forcibly restrained by undertrained or overzealous “Loss Prevention Specialists.”
Merchants do not have police powers to enforce store policies or civil law contracts.
But for the life of me I don’t see where the breach of privacy is in proving you have actually purchased what you are walking out of the store with, no matter how obvious your innocence is.
Asking me to prove that I have actually purchased anything is not a breach of privacy (though any attempt to look through my bags certainly would be) It is, however, a violation of common courtesy and etiquette. I do not have to prove ownership for MY property to anyone, no matter how trivial or inconsequential such request may be.
I agree with everyone who was mildly offended by the whole “checking the receipt to avoid overcharging” excuse. Around a year ago I went to Costco to pick up an SD card for a vacation I was going on. They had a pretty good deal on a 1 GB card, so I opted for that one. I took the placeholder tag off the shelf, paid, got my card, and had my receipt checked on the way out – for my single item, unbagged, held right in my hand.
I was halfway to my car when I realized they’d given me a 2 GB card instead. I then spent another 15 minutes trying to exchange it with the product I’d actually paid for, because apparently they didn’t know how to handle someone who was being honest.
One single item, held in clear view, and they didn’t catch it. That doesn’t inspire much confidence when I’m supposed to be relying on them to make sure I get my money’s worth.
@bastian363:
1. So the New Orleans PD has nothing better to do than help check receipts at the door of WalMart?
2. If that’s what they’re doing, then it becomes a federal civil rights case as it’s against federal law for any law enforcement officer to violate your civil rights, such as the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable search & seizure.
3. Try to get the US Attorney for the Southern District of LA in on this or:
4. File a civil rights lawsuit against the NOPD.
It’s not like they haven’t lost a lot of cases lately, it’s considered one of the most corrupt PD’s in the country.
@sonichghog: OK you can say no to the search with the cop. Can you say no to Sams club?
@Buran – Is this really what people have died defending? The right to not show a receipt at a door? A little dramatic there…
I’m sorry, but no matter how many people write in to this site with tales of receipt-showing woe, nothing anyone says will make me go “Wow, you’re right! This is such an important right to protect I must make trouble for minimum wage employees and take time out of my life to argue with them!” I mean, people are fighting for the right to get married and keep their children and we’re glorifying some guy who was told “um…yeah…detained, whatever, yeah you are.” (Truly, I would like to know what the lady’s exact words were.”
Forgive me if this has been mentioned, but if they take your receipt and just highlite it without actually checking that you were charged the correct price, are they then in breach of contract?
Receipt checking notification from Sams Club. http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=7052
This whole thing is not a big deal now. The first few times it happened I questioned it. I was told by the manager here in NC that it was to ensure the cashier actually charged for each item. Yes they have had cashiers let friends try to get out with many items not scanned at the register. I go once a month for select items and the savings in two months pay for my membership each year. I personally start to chat with these men and women to make their day brighter. A little niceness goes a long way. If the person third in line has tried to steal a barrel of cheese puffs, I would rather they are busted then pay an increase in cheese puff next time through. This is just me though. I am never in that much of a “hurry” to grumble about this.