Showing receipts at Wal-Mart

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by BSiple

Home Depot policy is to not say anything at all and just let you walk out, so damn Z-man, you REALLY SHOWED HIM.

Wow.

With that being said, I have not been real impressed with the "guards" on the east coast.

Your obvious sarcastic/condescending attitude is that we have some vendetta against the guard-inspector-receipt marker. Nothing could be further from the truth. He/she is just doing their job as dictated/directed by the store.

It is the assumption, by the store, that we are all guilty until proven innocent. It is the imposition of waiting there to be allowed to leave after proving I didn't swipe anything between the 20 ft and 20 seconds from cash register to exit door. The whole thing is absurd and sometimes I don't have the time to get in yet another line that should not be there in the first place. It's those 3 things that peeves me. Not the greeter/marker/bag checker/receipt verifier.

[Zeke]

People here are admitting they go to WalMart. I ought to find that thread from last year where everyone was saying they never set foot in the place. I wonder....

[Dennis Kalma]

I am not rude to the rent-a-cop or greeter unless they give me grief first. I just politely but firmly just decline and if they ask, the question is....why did you stop me? What is your reasonable cause? I have been known when they say "Its policy" to ask, "Who makes the policy". That'll get a manager involved and I ask them, "Who makes the policy?". Usually by the time you are that far they either are convinced you are hiding something or sorry they inconvenienced you. In the former case, its..."Call the cops, I'll wait".

The issue is one of privacy IMHO, they have no right to inspect your bag especially when there is no reason to be suspicious. The fact that others rip them off does not confer any additional obligation on me, I have done nothing wrong, I have paid the price as agreed and taken the objects into my posession, they are MINE as is every other thing on my body, they have zero rights to see anything and I have no obligation to even speak to them. If they wish to call the police they are free to do so and I will fulfill my legal obligation to that trustworthy authority, not some $7/hr guy who has zero legal status, training or position.

I know it is the store management that makes the policy, but there are precious few ways to get proper feedback to those guys short of digging in your heels and making the point.

Dennis

[fingpilot]

The part all of you have missed is that all of these door security receipt checker people got fired from the TSA for the same lax attitude as people went past them.

Modern airport security is a joke.

[slodave]

I don't see how privacy fits in here. If privacy is really the issue, then I expect that you also do not fly - why should you have to walk through a metal detector, have your bags screened and searched and yourself searched as well. You also wouldn't go to sporting events or concerts. How about banks that employ security doors/metal detectors?

[Dennis Kalma]

Originally Posted by slodave

I don't see how privacy fits in here. If privacy is really the issue, then I expect that you also do not fly - why should you have to walk through a metal detector, have your bags screened and searched and yourself searched as well. You also wouldn't go to sporting events or concerts. How about banks that employ security doors/metal detectors?

The difference is pretty simply one of just cause. The airline (or rather airport authority) has no information about what I am carrying and there is a proven possibility that there is a reasonable risk that I might be carrying something that could cause them harm.

The store has lots of information about me, they just saw me walk my items to the register, pay for them and then proceed to the exit. They have all they need to know....and I am leaving their store. If they have cause or reasonable case to believe I have perpetrated a crime, by all means, they have the right to ask me politely, and failing my cooperation, have the right to ask me to stay while the police do their thing. But there is a pricetag for it....they lost my future business. Their call.

Take it a step further...do the police have the right to drop in at your place, insist in searching your house just in case you are doing something illegal? No....they need reasonable cause, they need a warrant adjudicated by an independent authority (judge) and otherwise they have to leave me alone in my domicile. More rights on the street, at least in Canada, they have the right to ask for identification which you must produce. They can't search your bags or person unless they have reasonable cause. Why should I surrender my rights to some clerk?

Dennis

[TimT]

The part all of you have missed is that all of these door security receipt checker people got fired from the TSA for the same lax attitude as people went past them.

Not really sure how to interpret this... but..

When I go into a big box store.. which I try to avoid at all costs..Havent shopped in Home Despot for years... I've been in a Walmart or two..

What irks me is the fact that I have been under surveillance from the instant I walked into the store.. probably in the parking lot as well.

Granted the store wants to prevent losses..

They have those eye in the sky video cameras at the end of each aisle... they have the eye in the sky camera right over the cashiers, and they have the camera right over the entrance/exit..

Then they have receipt highlighters etc... watching the exit and various checkouts.....

If after all that scrutiny, the store hasn't sorted out who is ripping them off... maybe they should re-examine their security system?

[BGCarrera32]

[QUOTE=TimT;4467525}
If after all that scrutiny, the store hasn't sorted out who is ripping them off... maybe they should re-examine their security system?[/QUOTE]

Well, no, because, you see, that would make too much sense.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by milt

People here are admitting they go to WalMart. I ought to find that thread from last year where everyone was saying they never set foot in the place. I wonder....

I avoid the place like the plague, but I did buy a "Re-Pop" Schwinn Krate tere a while back, that was the last time I went into one and the only time that I have made a trip to just go there(the Classic Schwinn forum) I rode the bike through the store, through check out and out the door, no one asked for anything.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Dennis Kalma

The difference is pretty simply one of just cause. The airline (or rather airport authority) has no information about what I am carrying and there is a proven possibility that there is a reasonable risk that I might be carrying something that could cause them harm.

The store has lots of information about me, they just saw me walk my items to the register, pay for them and then proceed to the exit. They have all they need to know....and I am leaving their store. If they have cause or reasonable case to believe I have perpetrated a crime, by all means, they have the right to ask me politely, and failing my cooperation, have the right to ask me to stay while the police do their thing. But there is a pricetag for it....they lost my future business. Their call.

Take it a step further...do the police have the right to drop in at your place, insist in searching your house just in case you are doing something illegal? No....they need reasonable cause, they need a warrant adjudicated by an independent authority (judge) and otherwise they have to leave me alone in my domicile. More rights on the street, at least in Canada, they have the right to ask for identification which you must produce. They can't search your bags or person unless they have reasonable cause. Why should I surrender my rights to some clerk?

Dennis

The store also does not know if you managed to slip an item that you had in your pockets, into the bag, nor does the store know if you and the clerk at the register know each other and the clerk sticks a couple of extra iTouches into your bag of items the you do pay for. Even with all the cameras, the above scenarios are possible.

[KevinP73]

Originally Posted by slodave

The store also does not know if you managed to slip an item that you had in your pockets, into the bag, nor does the store know if you and the clerk at the register know each other and the clerk sticks a couple of extra iTouches into your bag of items the you do pay for. Even with all the cameras, the above scenarios are possible.

I've seen (pre highlighter at the door days)where one "shopper" has a cart full of hight ticket items, waiting in the wings is an accomplice with the exact same items. The first shopper goes thru the check out line and pays for the items and exits the store. The reciept is passed back to the accomplice who then exits the store. If either one is challenged upon exiting the store they have a reciept. As long as this is done with in minutes of the original purchase it's hard to challenge. The "shoppers" have gotten themselves a 50% discount. This was easily done when stores had empty lanes or areas where a shopper could mill about between the cashiers and the exits. Improved floor plans have helped reduce this activity.

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by BSiple

Home Depot policy is to not say anything at all and just let you walk out, so damn Z-man, you REALLY SHOWED HIM.

Wow.

With that being said, I have not been real impressed with the "guards" on the east coast.

Maybe in Colorado that's the policy, but not in NJ. At least not in that Home Depot.

The way I see it - there's got to be a better way to stop the real shop lifters without the hassle and inconvenience of the security check at the door. Granted, it is a minor hassle, but after I've paid for all my goods, I really just want to get out the door and go home, not matter what store I am exiting.

-Z

[peppy]

Highlights from this highly anticipated annual theft survey include:

* Participants: 24 large retail companies with 19,151 stores and over $689 billion in retail sales (2007).
* Apprehensions: 708,962 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2007, up 10.08% from 2006.
* Recovery Dollars: Over $150 million was recovered from apprehended shoplifters and dishonest employees in 2007, up 9.73% from 2006.
* Shoplifter Apprehensions: 626,314 shoplifters were apprehended in 2007, up 9.16% from 2006.
* Shoplifter Recovery Dollars: Over $83.2 million was recovered from apprehended shoplifters in 2007, a 7.69% increase from 2006. An additional $30.5 million was recovered from shoplifters where no apprehension was made, up 15.09% from 2006.
* Employee Apprehensions: 82,648 dishonest employees were apprehended in 2007, up 17.57% from 2006.
* Employee Recovery Dollars: Over $66.7 million was recovered from employee apprehensions in 2007, up 12.39% from 2006.
* One in every 28.2 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer in 2007. (Based on over 2.3 million employees.)
* On a per case average, dishonest employees steal a little over 6 times the amount stolen by shoplifters ($808.09 vs $132.91).

http://www.hayesinternational.com/thft_srvys.html

“Employee theft is the single biggest contributor to inventory shrinkage even though shoplifters far outpace dishonest employees… This is because the dollar value of employee theft on a per incident basis is much higher than that of shoplifting."

http://www.expertbusinesssource.com/article/CA6407513.html

Maybe the stores should strip and cavity search the employees.

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by peppy

* Shoplifter Apprehensions: 626,314 shoplifters were apprehended in 2007, up 9.16% from 2006.

How many of those were apprehended by the clown at the door with the Sharpie?

Has anyone ever seen the receipt checker find anything? I haven't. Hell, half the time the RF tag alarm at the door goes off, nobody does anything.

[911boost]

emcon, as I stated earlier, I know for a fact that in certain markets $1.4M was recoverd in 2008 by the folks at the door for one big box. A renturn on invest for a couple locations of over 200%.

You guys would not like shopping in Puerto Rico, if you get upset by seeing what is done here....

Z-man, like I said, I don't do any work with regards to this topic in NY/NJ, but have heard that the company you are talking about it aggressive.

Employee theft is huge, and its not just them taking the merchandise. LIke I said earlier, if some fof these crooks actually put their minds towards doing honest work, they could do very well. The creativity shown from shoplifters and internal theft is sometimes very surprising.

[Deschodt]

Thankfully, or not (it opens another can of worms) , RFID tags will soon make this a thing of the past... You could pass under a scanner that will automagically tally up all the **** you got on you and you get a bill... I suppose they can have an exit scanner that double checks what you got in case you managed (again) to steal between the register and the door ;-)

I've always wanted to have them call the cops, but they back down everytime !

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by KevinP73

I've seen (pre highlighter at the door days)where one "shopper" has a cart full of hight ticket items, waiting in the wings is an accomplice with the exact same items. The first shopper goes thru the check out line and pays for the items and exits the store. The reciept is passed back to the accomplice who then exits the store. If either one is challenged upon exiting the store they have a reciept. As long as this is done with in minutes of the original purchase it's hard to challenge. The "shoppers" have gotten themselves a 50% discount. This was easily done when stores had empty lanes or areas where a shopper could mill about between the cashiers and the exits. Improved floor plans have helped reduce this activity.

There's more to this. Then they return a batch of the stuff. What they have now is free. With the return policy that some stores had, they could return the second batch a few days later. I knew a guy that would take an item out the door and then bring it right around to the return aisle for cash. All within minutes. This was 30 years ago. Things have changed.

[pc100porsche]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

The last time I went to Costco I Nazi saluted the greeter at the door who was asking for ID cards. Now my wife won't let me go there or Wal-Mart . . . bonus!

Ian

Genius 👏

[tabs]

When they ask for my receipt at the door..i pull down my pants, bend over spread my checks and say ok pull it out of there.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by 911boost

It is entirely driven to deter shop lifters.

Yes, and it’s a small inconvenience. If I can help a business catch or deter thieves I don’t mind a minor inconvenience.