Reader T launched an Executive Email Carpet Bomb on Walmart because he was concerned about some improper receipt checks and searches going on:
Yesterday I sent an e-mail bomb to several executives at Walmart. The concern was that the store was requiring you to provide your receipt upon leaving the store (as in Sam’s club, but at Walmart). As we all know, this is a hot topic issue, and I expected Walmart to ignore my e-mails. But to my surprise, after writing my e-mail on Sunday afternoon, I got a reply shortly after 8am! Here is my letter —
Dear Wal-Mart Executive –
*In reference to your store located in Las Vegas, New Mexico, please be advised that the employees are illegally searching, seizing and detaining customers without cause. *
As a frequent visitor to this store, as well as a investor in Wal-mart, I write this letter to share my concerns that are being dismissed by the store level management. Calls to the regional manager have been fruitless, as have calls to your 1-800 phone number.
The issue of my concern is that this store has begun to require that customers show their receipt upon exit of the store, and if you do not, they will detain you from leaving, or at a minimum, yell at the customer for not showing their receipt. Both occur on a daily basis.
As you are aware, some of your membership stores, such as Sam’s Club, has clauses in the contract that the buyer signs when a membership is bought that allows for this activity. This is not the case at a Wal-Mart store.
I am sure you are familiar with many story’s and resulting law suits of various stores that have also attempted to implement this policy (I would refer you to the website – http://consumerist.com/ for further information on this issue) that have caused not only poor relations, but large law suits that favor the defendant.
I respectfully request that this practice stops immediately. We have a Constitutional right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and therefore we can’t be made to submit to a search without prior consent unless a police officer has a reasonable cause to search. A private individual can’t force you to do so, either — touching you is assault, and taking something from you without your consent is theft. Both are criminal charges as is detaining someone.
I do realize that store shrinkage is a problem. But as we are both aware, store shrinkage is a problem related to primarily to in store theft by employees. Please put your energy and focus where it needs to be – not the honest customer.
I would appreciate a reply regarding this issue. Thank you. I may be reached via e-mail at the return address of this e-mail, or via phone at 505-XXX-XXXX. Thank you.
—– Then this morning, I got a call from Michael Moore, Executive Sr. Vice President. He stated that he would talk to his sales people and see what could be done. He also offered me a gift card for my time. After work today, I stopped at Walmart…and they were no longer checking receipts….one of the employees stated that they no longer were supposed to do that!
Way to go Consumerist! Your tips and advice were great!
For more information about how to learn to launch your own EECB, click here.
(Photo:kandh07)
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@GrandizerGo:
There is no store where you must allow them to check your receipt. However, stores like Costco and Sam’s have, as part of their membership agreement an implicit agreement on your part that you will submit to the receipt check.
So no – unless you signed an agreement prior to entering the store, you are under no obligation to show your receipt. Even if you did sign an agreement (like Costco), you can still refuse to show your receipt and they have no more power or authority than any other retail establishment. But they can (and probably will if you’re a dick about it) revoke your membership.
You are not obligated to show the receipt however, you should as a sign of good faith. The local store has had to turn off the door sensors because of so many people whining about them going off, the only thing left is to eitehr check receipts or raise the prices to make up for the losses. Which would you prefer?
Unfortunately, all these references to “illegal search and seizure,” the Fourth Amendment, the founding father’s liberty preferences, and erosion of civil liberties, are misplaced. Private actors like Best Buy, Costco, and Walmart are not subject to the prohibitions of the Fourth Amendment. That doesn’t mean detaining or touching you is Ok. It’s not. Whether you’ve contracted to allow searches (Sam’s Club, Costco) or not, nobody’s entitled to touch you without a honest and credible belief that you did something wrong. You can be asked to show your receipt and purchases, and I think that’s it. Anything more may be unlawful.
Here’s the law in Illinois on false imprisonment. In short, you may not be detained unless the merchant has an honest belief that you stole something. I cannot imagine refusal to show a receipt providing the basis for such a belief, but I admit I haven’t researched this.
A claim for false imprisonment requires a showing that “the plaintiff was restrained or arrested by the defendant, and that the defendant acted without having reasonable grounds to believe that an offense was committed by the plaintiff.” Meerbrey v. Marshall Field & Co., 139 Ill.2d 455, 474, 151 Ill.Dec. 560, 564 N.E.2d 1222 (1990). Put another way, to succeed on a claim for false imprisonment, a plaintiff must show that he was restrained unreasonably or without probable cause. Martel Enterprises v. City of Chicago, 223 Ill.App.3d 1028, 1034, 164 Ill.Dec. 945, 584 N.E.2d 157 (1991). Probable cause is defined as ” ‘a state of facts that would lead a person of ordinary caution and prudence to believe, or to entertain an honest and strong suspicion, that the person arrested committed the offense charged.’ ” Johnson v. Target Stores, Inc., 341 Ill.App.3d 56, 72, 274 Ill.Dec. 795, 791 N.E.2d 1206 (2003).
My solution to get Wal-Mart employees to stop looking at my receipts is to not shop there. There’s no reason to go there when I can get the same things at other stores for the same price or cheaper. Sometimes I may pay a little more elsewhere but chances are the quality is better than the junk at Wal-Mart.
Two words- probable cause. If there is not probably cause, they need to leave me the f*** alone.
@DjDynasty: good for you…i always say”best buy sucketh” and a do not even go into their place…..again, good job…..
I have generally solved this problem by no longer shopping at Best Buy (I never shopped at Wal-Mart). I think the best way to object to these illegal policies is to take your business else where. The last time I was at a K-mart, there was a receipt checker, I simply said “no thank you” and continued on. I now, no longer, shop at K-mart. I’m happy to pay more, and its not much more, to obtain my goods at mom and pop/local businesses (my preference) or other big box stores like Target.
@johnva:
I totally agree. When I worked for Toys R Us in their R-Zone games department we were treated like crap. We were busy since it was christmas season and all floor reps like myself were out assisting customers. We hear later that a customer caught another customer with a large aluminum foil lined box shoving videogames into that box. The foil allows the customer to walk out with out the sensors being set off. No one would have ever known this happened.
I wasn’t even working at the time, I was on night shift and this was during the day. We were all yelled at for not keeping better watch. Its hard though to help customers who know NOTHING of your product and keep an eye on the other 50 customers in that general area at the same time.
Does anyone know if its illegal for you to show your receipt when your walking out of a store that is closing? Because EVERY closing store makes you show your receipt here or else you cannot leave. I am talking about like, when a Kmart is going out of business and you buy merchandise, you cannot leave until you show your receipt. How is it that stores that are closing or going out of business can get around this while normal stores cannot force you to show your receipt or else they can get into major trouble with the law?
I spoke to a security guard a few months ago at Fry’s Electronics in San Marcos, California, they get paid a percentage for all the loss they save the store. While i was talking to him a guy showed his receipt and had a video card in the bag he wasn’t charged for, they politely brought him back in and the guard told me he made $30 bucks for that. Also they have a big shoplifting problem there and have a reserved parking space for the police out front.
@Buran:
“@dualityshift: Nice! But you could, seriously, have charged him with assault had he touched you, and maybe kidnapping and definitely unlawful detainment.”
I know, but in these parts, being labeled a sex offender is much worse. True or false, the name sticks with you, and no one wants that.
The funny thing is, if the BB employees had half a brain, any resistance of their little policy could be met with a citizen’s arrest, then the police intervene. They can lawfully detain you, if they suspect you of unlawful activity, however, they cannot use violence, as that is assault. The problem with C.A. is that the citizen is wrong, the cops slap their pee-pee, allowing for the detainee to sue. Talk to a lawyer, as I am not one of those people. This is just my interpretation of the limited information I have read on the subject.
I still say the threat to yell rape is the best way to deal with morons at the exit.
I think it’s annoying. I only noticed it at a Bestbuy that wasn’t in the best area. I just hate when they get backed up and then you have to wait in line to show your receipt. It’s like waiting in line twice. I don’t think the guy even actually looked at my receipt when I did show it to him.
Does anyone know the rule on self-checkouts? Do they have the right to stop you then? Because it seems like a lot of people would scam a self-checkout if they never checked.
For all those who are asking about closing stores & self checkouts, nobody has the right to detain you unless they have probable cause. They can ask to see the receipt & you can refuse, but they cannot detain you unless they or another associate have seen you physically steal something and hide it on your person. No matter if a lot of people scam self checkouts or the store is going out of business, there is no reason whatsoever to actually detain you unless, like I said, probable cause.
@natalyapetrovna: And just to comment on that, I’ve never been stopped at self checkouts. I would imagine it would be equally easy at regular registers to steal though, as they usually have an attendant at the self checkouts & you still have to walk out the same exit like everyone else.
@twoply: It’s the same fight, you do realize that, don’t you?
It’s been my experience at the Wal-Mart closest to me, that they only check receipts when a person purchases something too big for bagging. If it’s not in a bag, then you could’ve added it to your cart after having paid for everything else in a bag.
I don’t see what the problem is. Theft is theft, and it’s rampant. They have to protect their inventory somehow. If we didn’t have so many shoplifters, then they wouldn’t see the need for “preventative maintanence”.
@PracticalMagic:
Yes, they have to protect their inventory somehow. But they don’t have to do it by treating me like a suspected criminal.
@cryrevolution & @dualityshift:
The way I understand it, neither mere suspicion nor probable cause is sufficient to justify a citizen’s arrest (or detaining). That is, for a private citizen to do such a thing, they have to have witnessed the offending act and be damn sure that it was you that did it.
Only the police are allowed to detain on probable cause.
Walmart is all Americans will be able to afford 10 years from now. Go ahead . . . swipe your credit cards, buy houses without any downpayments, finance your whoppers, pic up cars without any money . . . . . go right ahead. The fun is yet to begin when India (double digit GDP & no debt – actually $2 Triilia surpplus) will buy all the sh*t here. Oh they already bought our biggest steel factories, Jaguar, Aston martin, etc and are bidding for buying pieces of Dell, Intel, Paper Manufacturers in Maine . . . . . but hey – Walmart is what will keep us going so lets not complain too much.
Wait, the guy sends an email to WalMart and they implement his request the NEXT DAY? Then why is it going on 8 months and counting for the Nazi T-shirt removal from their stores?
I don’t get it.
Down with WalMart.
@astrochimp:
For the most part this is correct. When it comes to shoplifting, however, most States have laws that allow for a merchant to detain you if they have reasonable suspicion that you were shoplifting (though some states require the higher standard of probable cause). This is not considered a citizens arrest, and it is also usually written in such a way that if they can demonstrate “reasonable suspicion” they are immune from an unlawful detention lawsuit. Google “Shopkeeper’s Privilege” for more info (and don’t rely too heavily on Wikipedia, it varies CONSIDERABLY from state to state
“He wouldn’t show his receipt” has never been accepted as reasonable suspicion
Setting off the exit buzzer is considered Reasonable Suspicion in some states, and is specifically NOT considered so in others.
Finally, even if a merchant is allowed to detain you, in NO state are they allowed to search you, and they may only detain you for a “reasonable” amount of time (typically long enough for the cops to get there)
jeez. You’d think a guy writing an important letter to management would be able to use decent grammar and spelling. He’s lucky the VP didn’t laugh him off.
@twoply:
Who’s to say that some of today’s major violations of constitutional rights by the government (in your view anyway) didn’t start with people refusing to fight because the infringement seemed too trivial to worry about?
I set off the buzzer a few years ago at the late The Wiz. I had watched as about five people in a row set it off – I think they left it on as an excuse to check everyone. I just kept walking. I was surrounded by three guards on the way to my car, and they were demanding to see my receipt. I finally held it up and one of them shoved me and ripped it out of my hand. Then they asked me why I was causing so much trouble when I’d paid for everything.
Because it’s not my job to help you fine-tune your defective security alarm, and it’s not my responsibility to let you look through my bag and my belongings. Never shopped there again.
@homerjay: I think you meant “irony” and not “ironing.” LOL
thank you for enlightening me.
i couldn’t stand it either. and i hate waiting 5 minutes to exit the stupid store !!
so, after reading this, this morning i felt empowered !!
i proceeded to walk out with the receipt in hand.
the lady tried to stop me and reached for my receipt.
i told her “are you accusing me of stealing something??
then you have no legal right to take this receipt out
of my hand.”
she stepped aside and i walked out.
FINALLY !!
yesyes. i believe we can stand up for our rights.
one at a time. nobody else wants to see my receipt
when i leave their store.
this is why i shop online for everything except food.