I never said anything in my post about the store having a right to detain you.

They can place you under citizens arrest if you do not show a receipt.

They can "legally" ask to see a receipt to protect their property. Obviously, if you paid for it, it is no longer "theirs". That is all they are trying to establish.

 

I found this statement to be correct. I exited a WalMart and was asked for a receipt. I asked why? The clerk told me because I had an item not bagged.
I refused the receipt check and kept walking to my vehicle, no repercussions.

Since that time I insist they find a bag big enough to cover my purchase, or I ask a clerk walks me to the door. Once my receipt goes in my wallet, I don't like to take the time to pull it out of my pocket and sort through receipts just to prove I'm honest in the first place.


HUH???????

 

home depot and lowes around here have someone at the door checking receipts. i dont mind until there is a back up of a couple people because they are slow at finding an item or there is a problem. then i walk around them and leave igonoring their requests to stop. they yell and yell but i just keep going. im sure thats to show their supervisor that they are trying to do their job. for what they get paid they could probably care less.

how about the alarms that go off when they forget to disable or remove a theft sensor. i made the mistake of stopping once a long time ago. it took forever for them to find the sensor.

 

For a couple of months every time I walked thought a theft sensor, they would go off. I'd stop, the clerk or manager and I would play 20 questions and search all my recent purchases, nothing.

I finally walked out of a mall department store and it set off the alarm. After a brief conversation with the security guard, he was content I wasn't shoplifting. He asked me if I'd gotten a new wallet recently? I remembered I had a month or so ago. When I got home I went through the wallet. Tucked in a credit card slot was a 1 inch square paper thin theft sensor.

Now the fun part begins. The next morning I asked my best buddy if I could borrow his cell phone to make a call. While he was talking to a couple of other buddies at our breakfast gathering, I slide this 1 inch square sensor behind the plastic cover on his phone. It's been there a month now and I still get a laugh every time I'm with him and an alarm goes off as we leave a store. I guess I'll tell him eventually!!!

 

I understand that, I was adding to the conversation, not trying to disprove anything you said.

Any citizen can perform this in my state, essentially if they have first hand knowledge of a felony, violent act being committed, etc. A misdemeanor is not means to detain a person. However, as the arresting citizen, you take the risk of being charged with assault, detaining a person against will, kidnapping and so on. Unless you witness a woman being raped or little kids beaten, something violent, or a felony, I would not risk stopping a person stealing a bag of Doritos. This could lead to you being hurt and others and only increase what was once something little into something big.

Besides, try to arrest me with no police powers and you would more than likely get a open can of pissed off rage. This is not directed toward anyone specific so please don't take that personally.

But, I have to go to walmart today, I have to buy something small (deodorant) and I'll put my receipt in my pocket. If they ask me to stop I am going to keep walking. I'll post the results. As most of our door checkers and greeters are elderly persons.

Worse case scenario, police officer stops me and I show him/her my receipt.

 

That's evil!

Lots of stores around here do a receipt check, especially Wal*Mart and Costco.

Many retailers have a huge problem with shoplifting. If you did away with the receipt checkers, shoplifting would probably sky rocket, and us honest citizens would pay more at the register.

I am happy to co-operate and show a receipt if it helps them keep prices low. It takes maybe 5 seconds to show a receipt, though I do get slightly annoyed if there is a back-up (very rare in my experience).

 

It doesnt bother me, Heck I usually try to hand it to them without them even asking.

 

It bugs the crap out of me. I pay for all my stuff and most of its bagged, but they want to check my receipt. It is basically a soft way of calling me a thief and I don't like it. Here, at cosco and sams they make you sign part of the agreement to show your receipt but at walmart and kmart they don't have the right to stop you. So when they ask "Can I see your receipt?" I just say no and keep walking out the door. No problems yet.

 

Agreed. I only hate it because usually I either have stuffed the receipt some where in one of my pockets or bags and do not feel like finding it. I have come from the 1st and 2nd express lanes with bagged items by the doors where they've watched me make a purchase and still stop me in fukin uniform. It seems to be a power trip for some of them.

 

I'm 42 years old so I don't get stopped to show my receipt much anymore, but when I do I just ignore them and keep walking. But once about 15 years ago, some overzealous security guard tried to stop me when i kept walking. The minute he put hand on my shoulder, I considered that assault, he got a broken nose for his trouble. Needless to say the police were called. When they arrived we both told our side of the story, and I claimed self defense. Long story short, I went home with no charges filed and still did not show my receipt.

 

btw guys.. you can't be placed under citizens arrest for refusing to show a receipt.. but you can if they have witnessed shoplifting and you exit the store.. very different circumstances.

I emplore you guys to test your rights next time you get asked for your receipt.. just tell them "No thank you" or "I'm not interested" and be on with your way... it's also called Battery if they touch you .. not that there's much difference between assault. If they do attempt to forcibly detain you without probable cause of shoplifting and etc.. then you can call the cops on them, not the other way around.

btw.. as far as I have read, it's not theft until you walk outside the doors.. techincally, you can pocket something and you have the opportunity to pay for it until you walk out, or walk into a restroom..

but yea.. next time some overzealous door greeter or door guard asks for my receipt, I think I might just pass for the heck of it.. just so long as it isn't some 60+ elderly person.. I'm not that mean

 

Yeah if I have the reciept handy then I usually will do it. If its an 60+ checker then I will usually stop to show them out of respect. If it is some kid or some crazy woman with an attitude and pants that are on too tight I just keep walking.

And on citizen arrests I think it is a lot of work. As in you have to file everything, show up to court, the whole 10 yards. I THINK...

 

Exactly, if it deters some shoplifting and keeps costs down they can look. It is not a big deal. I see no point in making the poor checkers day any worse than it already is. They aren't checking you because they think you are a thief, they are hoping that an actual thief will see the process and it will change their mind.
There are career thieves that don't care but a lot of shoplifters are impulse people that if deterred will change their mind.

 

Be aware that in some states, simply concealing the item is considered theft as well.

 

I read a study some months ago that stated research shows 50% of retail theft is from employees. Maybe they should be checking receipts at the back door instead of the front door. Probably more TV's, cameras, iPods, etc unload from trucks to trunks than walking out the front door of retail establishments by customers without receipts.