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
Sadly, it’s a PDF, but here’s Costco’s.
Costco Welcome Brochure and Membership Agreement
Page 11, Paragraph 9 (General Policies), 3rd bullet point:
“To ensure that all members are correctly charged for the merchandise purchased, all receipts and merchandise will be inspected as you leave the warehouse.”
Nope, sorry, As a MEMBER you agreed to the inspection. It is different at a CC or BB.
That doesn’t mandate that the customer accept the check, though…
My Sam’s Club did the same thing, I invited the person to call the cops, I have a right to privacy and know my rights, when the guy asked me why I felt I was better than the other people who showed their reciepts, I said because I’m not a lemming, and I’m an attorney. He backed off really quickly as I kept walking.
@44 in a Row: I like that they “ensure the member is charged correctly.” Do they have a remote scanner and compare to the receipt? Would they actually notice if a drum of pickles was priced correctly? Why not cut the bullshit and just say that it is to see if you are stealing.
Oh Ya.
Sams Club
General Policies
• Children and Guests: Our Members are welcome to bring their children and up to two guests to SAM’S CLUB. A Member must accompany children and guests – at all times. Only a Member may purchase items. Children may not be left unsupervised. Parents are responsible for their children. Members are responsible for any items opened or damaged by their guests, children or themselves.
• Dress Code: Shoes and shirts are required.
• Smoking: Not allowed in the Club.
• Tobacco and Liquor: No sales to minors.
• Receipts: To ensure that you are charged correctly for the merchandise you have selected, you will be requested to show your receipt when exiting. SAM’S CLUB reserves the right to inspect any container, backpack, briefcase, etc., upon entering or leaving the warehouse and to refuse entry to anyone at our discretion.
SAM’S CLUB reserves the right to inspect any container, backpack, briefcase, etc., upon entering or leaving the warehouse and to refuse entry to anyone at our discretion.
@InThrees: When you sign up at SAMS club you AGREE to this check.
@DjDynasty: Really, so you post on consumerist and became a member of Sams club without reading your agreement.
If you really are a member,and you read the agreement,then you know that you AGREED to the check when you became a member.
@SaveMeJeebus:
I’m sure they would see if you were charged for two jars and you only purchased one. Then you would change your tune.
yep this one is the non-issue, you where breaking yoru membership at sam club by pulling this one. I am totally against receipt checking in normal stores like wallyworld and best buy, but Sams/Costco/BJs fully have the right in this regard since you signed away your 4th amendment right via the contract.
Does anyone know if this crap applied to Bed Bath & Beyond? I always feel like starting a one-on-one with the rent-a-suit checking receipts at the exit.
The thing about sams club is unlike walmart they don’t have bags, and it’s pretty darn easy to pass the checkout, go around like your going to the deli and just leave with your 15 gallon can of baked beans ya know. At this store it just kinda makes sense. BTW you don’t have to be a member to shop there, Check the back of a walmart gift card it allows you to shop at sams but you have to pay a 10% fee on what you purchase. But i totally agree that people shouldn’t hassle you at the other stores. Not Cool you Evil Covert Security Friendly Greeter People !
Ok, now _this_ is the post where everyone can say, “This guy was just trying to be a douche.” and I’ll agree with them. You agreed to this procedure as part of your membership.
@sonichghog: That alone isn’t sufficient. If Sam’s Club had “General Policies” like this, but no membership agreement/contract, it would be illegal for them to detain you. I’m sure Circuit City, Best Buy, et al. have policies like this too.
Note how they said the reserve the right to refuse entry, but not egress. Without a contract agreeing to receipt checks (which might not even legally justify detaining someone if it was actually challenged in court), they simply cannot detain you in the store unless they have reasonable suspicion of theft.
I realize that Sam’s Club almost certainly has a clause like this in their membership contract. Just pointing out that “General Policies” do not trump the law, no matter what their representatives may tell you.
@Prosumerist: No membership agreement/contract means they have absolutely no grounds to detain you. Membership gives them more solid (although still questionable) grounds. To the best of my knowledge, BB&B is of the former.
@Nelsormensch: You are correct, they will usually refuse you entry. You will also only get a receipt if you buy something, and to buy something you need to be a member.
Yes, the policy does not trump the law, but they are a private members only establishment. They can set there own rules, and you agree with these rules when you become a member.
BB and CC are totally different places. Even if CC and BB decided to post a receipt policy somewhere, you never signed an agreement to it.
Why don’t you just go to a Sam’s Club and look at the application? That’ll probably answer Consumerist’s question.
A far more irksome situation is when I went to Costco with my sister. She had a membership card; I did not. I tried to pay for the goods (since we were sharing an apartment) and they refused to accept my credit card. We ended up talking to two different managers who backed up the worker.
After asking for official corporate policy that states that other people weren’t allowed to pay for goods (mind you, we have the same last name and same address on our driver’s licenses), the only thing they pointed out was that a member must show his membership card on check out and that the bill can be paid by credit card (AMEX), ATM, check, or cash.
After awhile the manager suggested that I be added as the supplementary card holder (they allow one extra card member for every membership fee) and that’s what we did, after 30 minutes of arguing. They used a bunch of excuses (Costco policy even though they did not have any proof, fraudulent charges even though my sister was present and I was willing to show ID) that held no weight but they would not budge.
What do I do in retaliation? I return anything and everything i’m remotely unsatisfied with. I don’t mind screwing their profit margins since they decided to waste my time defending a policy that never officially existed.
Still, they’re loads better than Sam’s Club. I will never purchase another item from their warehouses again.
Even if they include this language in their membership agreement, I
doubt this means that they can actually detain you. The most they could
do is terminate your membership and order you to leave.
I’m the one who emailed this story in.
“You agreed to this procedure as part of your membership.”
“you signed away your 4th amendment right via the contract.”
Sorry, I’m not a sams club member. 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.
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”? Grow a backbone, people.
I do agree that you can not be detained, but I would imagine that they would make you return the items and turn in your membership card if you refuse to show your receipt.
@sonichghog: I don’t pay for my membership, it’s a work provided benefit, regaurdless of their policies, no private corporation can take away the 4th amendment.
@theystolemyname:
How many times must it be said that the 4th amendment only applies to the government, not to private businesses?
@theystolemyname: What part of checking a receipt on there own property is illegal. Especially when you agree to the receipt check in order to purchase anything.
You enter the Sams Club KNOWING that your receipt will be checked, and you KNOWINGLY signed a contract saying that you agree to it.
Whats the problem?
BTW, I am on the other side of this arguement when it comes to BB or CC, or any other store that does this without an agreement.
@DjDynasty: It does not matter if it is free. Heck, they could of paid you to get a membership, it does not change the fact that you agreed to the membership.
How many times must it be said that the 4th amendment only applies to the government, not to private businesses?
And just to clarify, the Supreme Court has said this pretty explicitly.
United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109 (1984):
“This Court has … consistently construed this protection as proscribing only governmental action; it is wholly inapplicable to a search or seizure, even an unreasonable one, effected by a private individual not acting as an agent of the Government or with the participation or knowledge of any governmental official.”
In the reports that are all the rage these days of all these “incidents” I have yet to see one person come up with a compelling substantial reason not to have their receipt checked. Whinging about some esoteric perceived right just doesn’t seem like it warrants making such a hullabaloo over such a simple procedure.
@DjDynasty: Of course a private corporation can’t take away a right they never gave you in the first place. Since when do you have fourth amendment rights when dealing with a company in the private sector anyways? Last I checked the constitution only applied to government entities, not Sam’s Club
@SOhp101: I don’t know why the employees couldn’t show you but in the membership agreement linked to in the first post, it states on page 11:
Members are welcome to bring their children and up to two guests into the warehouse, however, only Costco members may purchase items.
Why all the hate towards these receipt checkers anyway…don’t people realize they discourage theft and indirectly keep prices down. For the greater good….why not spend less than 1 minute of your so precious time and show your receipt.
I’m a member of Sam’s Club (they’ve got the best meats, really), and this is the only place I subject to the receipt check, even when the old fart is taking forever and line is absurdly long. Why? It’s part of the membership agreement. It’s not a forfeiture of any rights. First off, as mentioned above, it’s not the government subjecting me to the search; it’s a private party (more on that in a sec.). Second, I agreed to it, so I suffer it.
When I go into CC or BB, there’s still no protection against illegal search or seizure, but there is every other right you have. If they forcibly take something from you or forcibly detain you without cause, then they’re wrong. They can insist on searching you, and you can insist that they don’t. There’s the stalemate. Unless you’re a criminal, you should always win, unless the store breaks the law.
@sonichghog: I think the key phrase here is “…you will be REQUESTED [emphasis mine] to show your receipt…” Sams Club can request all they want, that doesn’t mean I *have* to show it. They can also refuse to allow me back in the store if I do refuse.
@sonichghog: But as has been previously pointed out, non-members CAN buy stuff at Sams, for a 10% mark-up.
And, I’m with the others who point out that you can’t be forced to sign away your constitutional right against unlawful search & seizure, and unlawful detention.
Quite frankly it doesn’t matter to me anymore, because I dumped Sams club years ago when I found their prices weren’t that much better than my local Jewel or Dominick’s. And those places don’t make you show your receipt to exit.
Here’s how I like to leave Best Buy. As I’m passing the “receipt check”, I wave my receipt somewhat non-chalantly at the exit checker and keep moving. The look on my face says “If you feel you have a reason to stop me, it better be good.” I’ve never been stopped yet.
Don’t have a membership, don’t want one. I don’t care what the price is on the 72 roll pack of toilet paper, I don’t want to stand in one of those effing lines, with my Proof Of Being Honest inspection.
Although, it could be rather amusing to chant “I’m not a thief, I’m not a thief!” to the tune of “Here Comes the Bride” at the top of my lungs while I was being detained. If everybody did that, would they change the rules? And would that rule change mandate “silence during inspection”?
Obviously the businesses that do receipt checks incur the expense of having to pay an employee to monitor customers leaving the store. I suspect it’s because it deters shoplifting. That seems to be a practical solution to a vexing problem in the retail industry.
I fail to see why folks get so worked up about having someone check your receipt. Privacy? Bullshit. You just had it all scanned at the register. They want to make sure what’s in your cart is the same as what’s on the register. At Sams, Costco, and everywhere else, they do it to every one.
All this high and mighty principle is misguided. Get over it, or shop elsewhere.
If you don’t like the rules go play somewhere else you bf babbies! It’s their business and they can run it the way they want as long as they don’t break any laws. It sounds like all the children that have been coddled for so long have now grown up to be whiney…older children. Wake up kids, life isn’t always fair and it doesn’t always go your way, and when it doesn’t go your way, it’s not your right to whine and get it changed.
Here in the state of Arizona it’s illegal for stores to require a membership to purchase alcohol. What that means is the Costco’s, Sam’s Clubs, etc, are required to allow you to purchase wine, beer (whatever they sell) without a membership.
It would be interesting to see how this applies if I am legally permitted to make purchases of alcohol at the membership-driven warehouse stores but not required to submit to mandatory egress inspections.
(For those that are members of the clubs, it would still be illegal for a store employee to forcibly detain you)
@alice_bunnie: um no, it is actually quite clear in the fact that it DOES apply to private industry as well, and there are is easly a hundred+ years of case law that will prove you wrong on this so you should just shut it now.
@CMU_Bueller: again courts have ruled in the past that this is not the case and you are completely wrong. Private does not mean yoru allowed to break the constitution unless you specifically sign your right away (which you are with the Sams club contract.)
There are only two people who can remove your rights
1) The government
2) yourself
Private entities have absolutely no right to take away your freedoms afforded by the constitution unless you GIVE them the right.
I was banned from Comp USA in Santa Clara for refusing to show a receipt – the funny thing was at the time I was CTO of a startup and owned the IT budget -Comp USA got none of it because one minimum wage security guard was a jerk.
@theystolemyname: Um actually in this case yoru wrong I hate to break it to you. In the US you CAN legally waver your rights via a contract. Just like there is years and reams of case law stating that you cant as a private entity deny constitutional rights, there are just as much caselaw stating the you CAN wave your rights via a contract.
@Falconfire: Ah, the “I’m right so just shut up” argument. That wins every time. Feel like citing to some of those cases from the last hundred years? Cases, that is, that says that the Constitution governs the conduct of private actors?
@jpp123:
That minimum wage security guard was likely doing exactly what the store management asked him to do in order to earn said minimum wage.
I’d be curious to see some actual facts regarding how effective this method is to deter shoplifting. Despite the sentiments of many here, business aren’t looking for ways to piss off customers.
I don’t have anything to say about receipt checks.
I just really love that Ben used the word “kerfluffle” in the post. Great word. I resolve to work it into at least one conversation tomorrow.
That is all.
You can also call the FBI on them for false imprisonment (after warning them that you’re being held against your will) if they detain you without a very good faith basis.
Stores do not have police powers to enforce store policies or civil law contracts.
Stores have no power to physically force you to submit to store policy. All Sam’s club or Costco can do is ban you–the same remedy any other store has. They can’t legally detain you for not showing a receipt as it is not reasonable proof of a crime.
To those who say that it is rude or “disrespectful” not to show your receipt, I’d say it is rude and disrespectful not to respect my legal right to say no thank you when asked to voluntarily show my receipt.
If it is “no big deal” to show my receipt then, conversely, it should be “no big deal” for me to decline this voluntary request.
1. It’s not an illegal search. You have nothing in a bag (Neither Costco nor Sams gives you bags when you purchase) if you’re merchandise is on a cart for the world to see, it is not reasonable to expect privacy.
2. It is in their membership agreements. You sign, you agree (costco is the ONLY place I submit to this crap)
If you try to leave any big box store with a cart full of unbagged merchandise, they can ask to see a receipt for your purchase. It’s only when you’ve got it in a bag given to you by the cashier, that you have a right to privacy.
Any store can request to see a receipt when you leave if you have un-bagged merchandise.
I’m still trying to understand the whole point of receipt-checking. Ok, at Sam’s and Costco, I kinda get the idea that they do want to make sure that you paid for all the unbagged stuff you’re hauling out. So chalk that one up as loss prevention.
For all of the other stores, I don’t get it. In general, the loss prevention / receipt checker stands within eyeshot of the cash registers and generally you’re not going to walk through those lanes unless you bought something. at the same time, if I walk in and buy nothing, I walk by the guy with a wave and a smile. Now the story that I’m hearing is that the loss prevention / receipt-checker really isn’t there to make sure you paid for your stuff — he / she is there to make sure that you were properly charged for your stuff. They want to make sure that you’re not running a scam with the checkout person and getting that new laptop for 90% off.
Ok, fair enough I suppose, but why not just have an “eye in the sky” like Las Vegas and someone watching every move? Why hassle every paying customer? And the next time I go through one of those receipt checks, I’m going to ask the guy why he is doing that. If the answer is “I want to be sure that you were charged the right price” I’m going to make a big exclamation and stand in absolute awe that a single human being has managed to memorize every UPC code and corresponding price in the store and thank him profusely for ensuring that nothing I purchased was mis-priced in the computer.
Considering that many cities have laws about mis-pricing items (i.e. the price on the shelf does not match the computer price), it seems like having someone “verify that you were charged the right price” opens the store up to all sorts of litigation — both from the customer and from the local municipality — when something is not priced correctly.
Clearly, since this practice seems to be expanding, it is either achieving some result — or it is simply the Loss Prevention people partaking in some Potemkin theatre like our friends at the TSA. Either that or it is simply the latest management by magazine article fad in retail.
I find it incredibly lame to stand in a long line to ring up and pay for your merchandise. And then you have to wait in another long line and wait for them to check your receipt at the door. I got tired of it and now I do all my Costco shopping 15 minutes before closing time.
At the Evanston, IL Sam’s Club, there’s a sign hanging over the wine & liquor stating that you don’t have to be a member to buy beer, wine & liquor. I presume Illinois law prohibits that.
Therefore, if I buy one of those items there as a non-member, I haven’t signed away any rights!
They don’t have the right to check anything then & I’d love to see someone take this to its obvious end.
Let them call the cops & try to have you arrested.
Instead the receipt checker will be arrested for illegal detention if you demand that & you then have a case with the state’s attorney’s office at making it a conspiracy case when the receipt checker tells the cops he/she was only doing as ordered by the store management!
Generally, conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor is a felony.
What a fun case that will be!
@44 in a Row: Okay…. so there’s nothing wrong with a random guy on the street demanding that he inspect my bag? Or if I’m at a friends house they have the right to pat me down and turn out my pockets if they wish because I’m on their property?
I was under the impression that they only have the right to either tell me to leave or to call the police.