Hey guys.. I'm curious if any of you have ever been stopped and asked for your receipt before you walk out the doors when shopping somewhere?

I find it kinda ironic, I was reading some internet stories about receipt checking last night where people have peoplehave been illegally detained when refused to show their receipt. Technically, once you pay for the stuff it's yours and they can't force you to hand the receipt over or forcibly keep you from leaving.

The irony is.. I went shopping at Wal-Mart for some household stuff today.. spent about $80.. and I got stopped at the door and asked for my receipt. I didn't think twice about it, so I just let the door greeter take a quick glance and I was on my way...

The more I think about it.. I think it woulda been interesting to see what woulda happened if I didn't let them see my receipt and just walked out.. lol

Here's a few notes I've read to kinda sum it up..

1. Once you pay for your items, they belong to you, just like anything else you may have brought into the store, like the clothes you're wearing, the watch on your wrist, the shoes on your feet or the cell phone in your pocket. They are YOURS.
2. Nobody has the right to take your property from you, even to look through it, except a police officer on suspicion of wrongdoing.
3. A store employee does not have the right to detain you unless you have committed a crime, namely shoplifting. If they detain you and you have committed no crime, you can have them arrested for kidnapping and unlawful detention and quite likely win against them in a civil suit.

Now obviously these don't apply to club stores like Sam's when you agree to sign their contract and terms. But this was just a Wal-Mart, and I was walking out the front door.

Mind you.. I'm a 22 year old white male (not that this should matter ) and was in there shopping with my wife.. had a cart with bagged groceries..

Does this bother you? Or do you just flash the receipt and go on with your day? lol..

 

That law varies from state to state. Here in GA, they have a legal right to ask to see the receipt to prevent shoplifting since you are on their property.

It does get old showing a receipt when you know you paid for your products.

 

If it helps keep the under belly honest then I'm all for it.

 

Yea.. by all means.. it doesn't bother me.. I didn't have anything to hide, and the 5 seconds it takes for someone to look at my receipt isn't really a big deal.. I used to work retail at an HEB.. so I'm familiar with seeing shoplifting and stuff..

As far as I know.. just about every store has the right to ask to check your receipt, regardless of state.. you as a consumer and citizen also have the legal right to refuse to show your receipt and exit the premises..

Whether they have the right to forcibly make you show them your receipt and detain you without probable cause of shoplifting and theft is another story.

Just stirring the pot.. curious about how others feel on the topic

 

if you havent done anything wrong you shouldnt feel akward showing your reciept althoguh it is a little annoying when they ask for you reciept just b/c of how they view you(im 18 years old so im sure they have thought something bad a tiem or two) and all the people asking for the reciepts are like 80 years old so i doubt they are goin to do anything if you dont show them the reciept

 

Walmart checks receipts here if you have any items that aren't bagged.

 

Sams makes you sign a contract which states you have to show a receipt when asked to.

 

I look suspect anyway, kinda like "you look like one of those guys in the pictures on the wall of a post office", so no matter where I go I'll usually keep my receipt in my hands till I'm in my truck. Doesn't bother me as I don't shoplift, as I'm sure most folks in here don't.


Sometime back, there was a case of a couple of young HEB employees that were stealing. They'd load up stuff in trash bags, throw them out with the real trash bags, then go retrieve the loot after work. HEB damn near made it a federal case against these kids just to set an example. I hate HEB just as much as Mal-Wart, HEB's predatory pricing has driven out just about every grocery store here in SA, except the Mal-Warts & Targets that sell groceries.

 

whats a heb?

 

http://www.heb.com/

Think like a Woodman's or a Meijer.

 

ok we got woodmans up here never heard of that other thing

 

Nothing to hide.....no problem showing receipt.

 

I haven't been asked for a receipt in a long time, but I have nothing to hide and it will take a lot longer then five seconds if I tell them no.

 

I am not trying to be argumentative, but unless it's a police officer they cannot touch you, as you can get them for assault. They have no lawful powers to stop you if you just decided to keep going, their property or not. It's commercial property used for public business, it's an assumed risks, theft.

I am also from Georgia.

However, they can call the police, take a tag number and description and so on.

They cannot touch you, and there has been a topic maybe here or another forum in which wal-mart has passed a memo down that if a person decides to keep going do not try to stop them.

You can Google this or you tube it.

To answer you're question, yes, you could keep going, and there isn't anything they can do except call the police. As a matter of fact, even if you were stealing, their security has no lawful power to detain you, as again, they have no policing powers (most security agencies don't) and cannot hold you, or touch you if you decide to keep going.

Heres a police detective talking about how they won't stop you and yet refuse to prosecute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfwth3MFuKY

 

i personally get annoyed by this.
im a pretty good kid, i was raised right and im very honest, never got in trouble in high school (no ISS etc) the only run-ins ive had with the law are traffic violations etc etc etc.

but i feel that i get stereotyped almost everywhere i go.

the next time i get asked to show my reciept im gong to refuse, and ill bet this forum 20 bucks they make a huge deal out of it.

/rant.