AMERICANS are tired of the treatment they receive from major retailers and have had enough. ..Read Full Article
Shoppers have been complaining online about everything they are experiencing when they have to go shopping thanks to Walmart’s anti-theft policies.
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From everyday items being locked behind glass to the lack of employees available for help, extra receipt checks, and massive issues with checkout lanes that lead to long wait times.
Some customers have even expressed that they feel like they are treated as if they are customers when inside the store.
Yo @Walmart, stop accusing people of theft!,” wrote one shopper on X, formerly Twitter.
“You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place so they can resume the position,” her post continued.
She also blasts the mega-chain’s receipt-checking system as well.
“I chose not to participate in that foolishness,” she said of the Costco-like checks.
“l’m not interested in the job, so if I fall short, oh well,” she said of having to ring yourself up as a cashier.
“I’m also not interested in proving that I did your job for you. If you expect me to be a cashier with no training then that’s your problem, not mine.”
“Don’t audit me for a position you refuse to employ any longer.”
And plenty of customers deeply agreed with her in the comments.
Receipt checking tips from a lawyer
My husband stops, but I refuse,” read one comment.
She says she just walks out right past the checkers when asked and shows her receipt in the air as she walks without stopping.
“‘I can’t see it,’” she wrote mimicking a worker, “not my problem,” her post ends.
Other shoppers didn’t understand what the issue was.
“I prefer self-checkout,” wrote one comment, “I show the receipt and bounce, never a problem.”
“You prefer free labor?,” replied the user behind the original post.
“I actually like the self-checkouts,” wrote another customer.
“They are usually faster and I can just go about my business without awkward exchanges with the cashier.”
Some customers did express sympathy to Walmart employees who were just doing their jobs when they asked shoppers to see their receipts.
“The employee is only doing what they are told to do by managers,” they said.
“Don’t get mad at them. Just like when your food is messed up at a restaurant… Don’t blame the waitress,” they continued.
“They hate doing it too I’m sure,” she said.
“Have loss prevention do their job themselves.”
Legality of receipt checks and detention
In an effort to curtail retail crime, stores are increasingly turning to receipt checks as shoppers exit.
Legally, stores can ask to see a customer’s receipts, and membership-only stores have the right to demand such checks if shoppers agreed to terms and conditions that authorize it.
Many legal professionals have weighed in and come to similar conclusions, caveating that all states do have specific laws.
Generally speaking, stores have Shopkeeper’s Privilege laws that allow them to detain a person until authorities arrive when they have reasonable suspicion that a crime, like theft, has been committed.
Declining to provide a receipt is not a reason in itself for a store to detain a customer, they must have further reason to suspect a shopper of criminal activity.
Due to the recent nature of the receipt checks, there is little concrete law on the legality of the practice, as it takes time for law to catch up with technology.
Setliff Law, P.C. claims that “there is no definitive case law specifically relating to refusal to produce a receipt for purchases.”
For stores that improperly use their Shopkeeper’s Privilege, they could face claims of false imprisonment.
“The primary law that applies to these types of wrongful detention cases is called ‘False Imprisonment’,” explained Hudson Valley local attorney Alex Mainetti.
“Of course, you’re not literally imprisoned, but you’re detained by a person who has no lawful authority to detain you and/or wrongfully detains a customer.”
It is likely that as altercations in stores over receipt checks continue, more court cases will occur giving clearer definitions and boundaries to the legality of receipt checks.
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