IKEA Starts Checking Receipts
Party time is over at the Red Hook IKEA where, taking a cue from their big-box brethren Walmart and Home Depot, the Swedish maker of flat-packed furniture has instituted some intense receipt checking procedures.
I went there last night and immediately noticed they've cordoned off the wide throughput areas of the entrance and exit area on the checkout floor with retractable belt systems that allow for a single person to pass through at a time. The security guard stands in the opening. When you leave the store, the security guards check your receipts and your items in your bags to make sure they match, an employee theft and shoplifting prevention measure. IKEA even makes customers open their purses, like at a ballgame.
The checkers were dressed in security guard uniforms that were very much like NYPD uniforms down to a similar logo. There was also a standing station a few yards away manned by a uniformed off-duty NYPD cop.
Part of the problem is that IKEA doesn't give you any shopping bags. You can buy their sturdy reusuable big blue bags (shown at left) for 59 cents. Perhaps they've had a problem with people coming back to the store with those bags and just walking out with tons of stuff in it. Now it seems their feel-good behavioral incentive has come to bite them in the ass and customers get hassled as a result. Come to IKEA, where our cost-cutting measure is your forfeiture of privacy!
Remember folks, they can't detain you unless you've signed a member agreement consenting to receipt checks, or they have reasonable suspicion that you're shoplifting. Refusing to show a receipt does not count as reasonable suspicion. My guess, though, is that IKEA guards are better trained than Walmart's and will back down if you tell them to buzz off.
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(Photos: Ben Popken, daniel.julia)
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Comments:
At Costco, they told me it for my protection. So, I asked for an example. He said to make sure I wasn't being overcharged. I was buying one item, so that's easy, I asked him what the price should be on that item. He reached for the receipt to find out. Gotcha.
Ah, another "just show your receipt" people vs. the "I'll never show my receipt" people thread. It must be Thursday.
@clickertrainer:
I think at Costco it's part of your membership agreement, so you have to show the receipt.
Here's the scenerio w/the rent-a-cop (vs. 70 year old Uncle Joe at Wal Mart):
You walk past the 8 person deep line with your bag (you're in a hurry). They yell STOP, you keep walking to your car-- they chase up to you, physically stand in your way, you continue past them, they tackle you, claim you were disrespectful/physical, and even though your receipt proves you did not shoplift, you have a charge for assault pressed by a rent-a-cop.
@eccsame:
Yeah, I can't get too worked up about it. I feel like I have bigger fish to fry and better things to be indignant about.
Remember folks, they can't detain you unless you've signed a member agreement consenting to receipt checks, or they have reasonable suspicion that you're shoplifting.
Actually they can't detain you without reasonable suspicion (probable cause, in some states) EVEN IF you signed an agreement. The most they can do in that case is rescind your membership.
Violation of a civil contract (i.e. you refusing a receipt check that you agreed to in your membership agreement) is 1) not a criminal act and 2) not (by itself) enough to rise to the level of reasonable suspicion
Unless a merchant has probable cause (reasonable suspicion, in some states) to believe I'm shoplifting, The only authority they have over me is ejectment.
/not a lawyer, not legal advice, etc
@tbax929 is back from the beach: Actually, I'm a Price Club member and I know I never signed anything of the kind.
@tbax929 is back from the beach: Meant to add, my problem isn't showing the receipt. It's being lied to that I have a problem with. Just flat out say it's a loss prevention thing, we all know that anyway.
You should never get close to someone carrying a long box, or you may become victim to what I have termed, "Three Stooge Board Contusion" when someone turns to ask their partner for the receipt.
@tbax929 is back from the beach: I've always wondered, what would Costco do if you declined to show them your receipt? They still don't have legal authority to detain you, membership agreement or not. They could rescind your membership, but supposed you just kept walking and declined to give them your membership card or identify yourself. Anyone know what happens then?
I'm not one to hate on receipt checking. I feel like I'm on private property and they can request whatever they like. It takes me thirty seconds and makes them feel better.
However; if a rent-a-cop receipt checker asks my wife to open her purse, I'm going to have to decline. They can detain us if they have video or some other proof of her putting something unpaid for in there, otherwise they will just have to request that we never return (which, in a case like that, I would be happy to oblige)!
Receipt checking, okay. If they ever cross the line into trying to search my person/personal property, I won't do business with them anymore.
Just for that, I am not going to drive 238 miles to the nearest Ikea in Texas and get meatballs!
I'd like to see somebody refuse to show their receipts, record the whole sordid encounter with the rent-a-cops, and then upload it to You Tube. Best worst publicity any store could never want. That'll end the receipt checking BS fast.
Privacy... yeah, I suppose that is something we should care about.
Normally I'm against receipt checking (though not nearly as fanatical as some other commenters), but having shopped at IKEA plenty of times and seeing how busy it can get, it kind of makes sense to do it. As long as they are civil about it and don't make any sort of criminal implications.
It'd be very easy to slip a smaller box behind a larger one under your arm and just slip out, and it probably happens all the time. The issue with the blue bags is also unfortunate.
Though if I'm in a hurry, I'd have no problem walking right past a line. I still consider it a courtesy to the store to allow them to check the receipt.
I' went to the Red Hook Ikea a few months ago, and at that time they were checking receipts. However, when I declined, the security guard asked again in a relatively polite manner and then backed down. Hopefully they retain their sanity now that they've stepped up 'security'.
@Decubitus: At Sam's I walked out without showing them my receipt. You should have seen the looks I got from the sheep that were standing in line trying to leave the store. The checker yelled at me and said sir you can't leave, I ignored her and kept going. Then security and the manager came running to my car as I was unloading the merchandise and told me I had to show them my receipt. I showed it to them, walked back in the store and cancelled my memership and got a refund.
I can't stand waiting in line to show my receipts. This store has a group of particularly surly security folks. Are they expecting some kind of riot. I just can't deal with the humiliation of showing my receipt. I'd rather pay more for a few shoplifters.
@clickertrainer: I'm calling BS on this. Costco members have had to sign this agreement for at least 10 years. I remember seeing it when my parents started their membership ages ago. It is not a separate agreement, but it is part of your contract.
I've never had a huge problem with receipt-checking, but there's no way that I'd let them look in my purse.
Once my husband and I wheeled out of Sam's Club with $400 worth of file cabinets that the cashier didn't scan (we bought a bunch of other stuff too) and that the receipt checker didn't catch. I wasn't with him at the checkout so I didn't know it happened.
About halfway home I was looking at the receipt and realized the mistake so we went back and paid. The customer service manager was really confused when husband explained what happened. I don't think she believed him until he brought her out to the car and showed her the boxes.
@Sylvester McMonkey McBug:
I actually believe it's reasonable suspicion in most (if not all) states. The common law rule is reasonable suspicion, so unless the state has changed it legislatively or a judge has narrowed the scope, reasonable suspicion is all that is needed.
@Gnort: Once you've paid for an item at the store, it is your personal property. It's just personal property that happened to come from the store.
@kaptainkk: I'm sure you feel like a big man now, but you agreed to show them your receipt when you agreed to be a member.
This happened to me this week, but not last week. Also, it seems to be only the security guard who stands at the escalator beyond the cash register (the "moving walkway" thingie where you can take your cart down to the parking level, dunno what it's called officially).
I don't think there are guards posted at the elevator beyond the cash register area - as if you're walking back into the store - that also go down to the parking level. Once you're on the ground level, there's no one at the exit door.
I wonder if it isn't just one over-zealous security guard. Otherwise, they started this policy within the past week.
Anyway, I don't care. When I see a store has that policy, I'm the one holding the receipt out prominently, face-up, the quicker to let the checker see it. Never takes more than a couple of seconds before I'm on my way. "They may get me, but they'll never see my receipt," is just not my personal rallying cry, sorry.
I just went to SAMS and the 75 yr old man just took my receipt and stamped it. Did not look at anything. Also you can not read what the red stamp says. The only thing this process did was delay me from exiting the store. The line was not bad but sometimes it can take a few mins to get out. Irritating and pointless.
What did you do, Ben? Did you show them your receipt?
Oh, BTW, forgot to add: They did not check my handbag (which is a large open tote bag)! And I would *never* have allowed it. They want to touch my personal property, let them call an actual New York City police officer and we'll discuss it. I'm surprised to hear they did that to you, Ben. That's way, way, way out of line.
I lived in Israel for a long time and am very, very used to opening my bag when I *enter* a venue, whether store, theater, airport terminal or whatever, because that's standard operating procedure in Israel as an anti-terrorism measure, to try to weed out anyone carrying a bomb. Its effectiveness (a cursory glance at the top layer of your bag or backpack) is debated almost as much as receipt-checking is debated here. But looking in my bag when I *leave*? Not gonna happen.
@Shadowfire: Price Club was bought by CostCo years ago. If you've been renewing your agreement you're agreeing to any policy updates, including the receipt check
@rickinsthelens: I wonder if you showed them your receipt for the restaurant how they'd check for the food...
@JGKojak: Assault is the "apprehension" of imminent harmful or offensive contact. If they actually tackle you, that's Battery.
This IKEA has been doing it for over a year. I resisted when we were there and they instituted it, but we had a hungry, fussy newborn and my wife was like "do NOT cause a scene."
All of you who don't have a problem with this are sheep. They have no right. Why give up your right to privacy? Would you let a security guard pull you over in your car? Would you let Microsoft into your house to check whether your software licenses are up to date? If IKEA suspects you of shoplifting, they can call the police. But they don't suspect you of shoplifting. The majority of store theft is by the employees.
Costco has the right because it's a membership club, and as a member you grant them the right to check your goods and the receipt. Office Max, IKEA, Circuit City (ha ha), none of them have been granted the right to have a McDonald's reject check your receipt.
@consumerwise: I would totally do this w/ a video camcorder or my voice recorder if California wasn't a two party consent state for voice recorders. (Yes, I carry a voice recorder everywhere I go now. It's for school.)
I was asked for a receipt at a BigK about three weeks ago.
I bought a printer/scanner for $20 on sale from $40. Checked out, attempted to leave and... "We're going to need to see your receipt."
*I responded "Oh, let me look for it."
(I knew exactly where it was)
*2 minutes later "Just one more minute."
(I had it in my left pocket)
*"Why don't you call electronics and ask if somebody just bought a printer?"
(Why not waste their time as well?)
*Rep gets through to electronics and I 'find' the receipt. "Here we go!"
_____(Checks my two items down to the UPC code)
*"Thanks" the rep said.
(I spiel about how I could have said no, they say they are required to check, I explain my rights)
___
I then proceeded to return the printer heheheheh.
It'll be interesting to compare the rate of assaults of Wal-Mart customers and checkers versus IKEA customers and checkers.
If IKEA checkers DO go medieval on errant receipt-holders, will customers have to assemble the cunningly, yet confusingly, packaged, self-assembly-required Taser guns and blackjacks themselves? Will the bruises be in soothing ice-blue instead of black & blue? Will meatballs be offered as everyone's lolling about waiting for the ambulances to arrive?
Alternatively, will customers have to assemble their self-defending handguns before brandishing them?
Those IKEA bags, btw, are AWEsome. I grabbed two, keep them in my car trunk and that ball of leftover plastic grocery bags wadded up in my cupboard has dwindled to just a few.
They're large enough to store a posse of runaway clowns AND a herd of cats giving birth to kittens, all at the same time!
@Gnort: "I feel like I'm on private property and they can request whatever they like. It takes me thirty seconds and makes them feel better."
So what if they requested to strip search you and your wife, just for safety?
@Trai_Dep: And, Ben, I'd gently counterpoint that the lack of bags is more a Green measure, especially since many of IKEA products don't fit in the standard bag anyway. I think regular, baby seal-strangling bags are available on request (and a nominal nuisance fee of a nickel)
@squinko: Yeah, regardless of one's stand on the other issues, checking purses (or reaching down my trousers and jingling around for loose merchandize) is way out of line.
Unless, of course, they jingle things around just so. But I'm pretty sure that'd play havoc with the line wait-times. And possibly create a slipping hazard.
@ludwigk: Does the voice recorder law (wiretap law?) depend on expectation of privacy? I'd say there's none when standing in public amid dozens of shoppers.
@Gnort: Why are you going to have to decline your wife's purse being searched? I'm sure she's a big girl and can take care of herself.
@eccsame: I think this story has a bit of a different twist because they're asking to see inside womens' purses. That's way more invasive than just asking to glance at a strip of paper.
It looks like they hired rent-a-cops to do the checking, too. I'm sure that will result in some interesting encounters when someone decides they don't have time for the BS and proceeds to leave without being blessed by the rent-a-cops. I suspect these guys are much less likely to just let it go than some schmuck regular employee would be.