Reader ‘Kaje’ sent in an email with a couple of valid complaints about Costco, so rather than cram them all into a blockquote and see what happens, we thought we’d pull out the salient bits to get your responses about one issue at a time. In this instance, although Kaje is talking about Costco, it’s could really apply to just about any big box store.

And speaking of illegal, I haven’t even mentioned their acts of false arrest every time I
try to leave the store. They try to FORCE everyone to stop and have their receipts & carts checked before they leave the store. I cannot tell you how much this bothers me. Once I pay for my merchandise, it is MINE – I own it! If they want to check my cart or my receipt, they need probably cause to detain me – otherwise it is illegal search & seizure. They want me to wait in one line for 30 minutes to check out, and then wait another 5 minutes to have some lackey check my receipt? FORGET IT! I have complained about this repeatedly to the store manager. They claim it is to make sure that I haven’t been “over-charged” for anything. But after some argument, they admit it is used to keep tabs on their employees, and make sure that the checkers are actually scanning all items. Is that my problem? Nope! And I refuse to be have my civil rights violated because they don’t trust their employees.

This sounds like a job for an attorney or someone who has had at least one cup of coffee, but Kaje raises an interesting point. How can stores legally search your bags or cart after you’ve paid for an item? Doesn’t the ownership of the goods transfer once you have been given the receipt or bill of sale? Wouldn’t refusing a search on their property lead to, at worse, an ejection from the premises? (You know, like, ejected all the way out to your car so you can drive home?)

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