What's even worse than a real cop is a poser cop. I love meanmugging them.
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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Mildly Infuriating
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I don't live in the states but there's similar systems in some department stores here in Australia and I suspect, but don't know, that applicable law in these cases is broadly similar. The store and their employees aren't law enforcement and can't arrest you or have any legal recourse for you ignoring their demands to stop and allow your receipt to be checked. They likely also have the right to refuse service to you and deny you entry to their premises and so long as this isn't being done for a small number of specifically forbidden reasons (such as on the basis of race for example) they don't need a legal justification to do so. This would mean that refusing to comply with their receipt checking policy might be enough if they see fit, to decide to deny you entry to their stores going forward. Many large department stores are incorporating facial recognition and don't it seems feel the need for proper informed consent beyond some printed signage saying that but entering you're consenting, so the practicality of them doing this is at least a little bit higher these days but I guess there's no way to assess how likely this really is.
You can ignore them. Don't even acknowledge and walk on by.
Just look pissed off and walk by as though they don't exist. They'll never bother you.
They don't get paid enough to fight and they know it.
They cannot legally prohibit your egress. If you signed a contract agreeing to checks, I guess they could cancel your membership or whatever the contract says.
I always wonder why people get annoyed at receipt checkers, but then again I only see it at Costco.
I don’t have a nearby Walmart, so avoiding them is trivial
Costco requires a membership so it's likely in their terms of service that you have to consent to their checks. Walmart does not, so you can refuse without any recourse.
Really depends on the person. Get a crotchety old guy and you may notice only certain people getting stopped. Or sometimes their tone obviously suggests you stole the groceries you just purchased, even though they have literally no authority or right to suggest such a thing. Or consider when I was ~12, a pedophile old man Walmart greeter tried to make moves on me. But that one might just be me.
The practice feels like/arguably is an accusation. From a multi-billion dollar corporation. When I legitimately bought this shit. Get out of my way.
I just say "no thanks!" and walk by. Our interaction is done once I've paid for my stuff. Want to check my receipt? Too bad, I get it on my phone and I'm not showing you my phone.
So, Walmart has a membership option now, which means, yes they can check your receipts. It's not required my law (lol) but it is legal.
And yes, security theater to scare thieves away. I remedy this by not shopping at Walmart.
There are other shops beside Walmart, aren't there?
I read that as recipe checker and got more and more confused reading that. Are they now having people checking your recipes in the shop to make sure you got all the ingredients?
The idea is to make people who are stealing nervous
It's security theater. They have a whole department, loss control, that watches the cameras and double checks the inventory counts to find thieves and track stuff, plus RFID detectors for high value stuff. Anything that slips through the cracks ends up either insured or a write off that their accountants can use to justify not paying corporate taxes.
So when you see the receipt checker, derisively say no and keep walking. And if they lay so much as a finger on you, file assault charges.
After all, if the corporations can abuse the system, so can you.
Considering that the walmart near me uses exclusively elderly and/or special needs people to do receipt checking, I'm not so sure the "charge them with assault if they so much as touch you" is a great idea.
They can see my receipt for 10 bucks
As everyone has said, they have no legal basis to stop you from walking out, unless they're asserting shopkeeper's privilege, which has certain limits and opens them up to possible liability. This is why employees are trained that only managers and Loss Prevention can do that.
However, they absolutely are able to ban you from a store for not complying. How effective a ban is at a store that sees thousands of people walking in every day, I'm not sure. But it's something to keep in mind if you have limited other options nearby.
However, they absolutely are able to ban you from a store for not complying. How effective a ban is at a store that sees thousands of people walking in every day, I’m not sure. But it’s something to keep in mind if you have limited other options nearby.
This.
Don't take the advice of 'Ignore them and push past them'. You can get trespassed by LP and if you're caught in that store again it is a misdemeanor and you'll be arrested, processed into the local jail and have to post bond.
Your store may not do this but it is completely within their right to trespass anybody for any reason and if they're a store with a lot of theft then they're more likely to target the people who are attempting to bypass their screening.
They're standing there during time periods where there is likely to be theft so that, if they're clued in by LP, they can stop an individual and check their receipts. The average customer they're going to simply look at your receipt and let you go on your way because they have no reason to suspect you. If they thought that you specifically were stealing then they'd be inventorying your cart.
you’re full of shit… i’ve declined every time at many different stores….
it’s your property once you buy it, they can’t compel you to show them your underwear either… if they started banning people for that they’d get sued and lose.
the ONLY caveat is at membership stores like costco, where you sign an agreement that includes the receipt checkers
If a private business decides to trespass you for any or no reason, what would be the basis of your lawsuit?
You are correct that you own the items after you purchase them, and the store has no right to stop you unless they are asserting shopkeeper's privilege. For that, I believe they would need reasonable articulable suspicion just like any investigatory stop by law enforcement.
But at the same time, a private business has every right to ask you to leave for any reason at all, as long as they are not discriminating based on a protected class. They can tell you that you're not welcome back, and if you return then you will almost certainly be breaking your state's trespass law.
In reality, I don't really see any store wanting to start the widespread trespassing of customers who are just walking out of a store with their purchased items (assuming no prior agreement with the store to stop or show receipt). It would be a big customer service risk on behalf of the store. However, it's also untrue to say that just walking past a receipt checker is completely devoid of the risk of a store banning you.
To put it another way: you're at a friend's house, and he says you must stand on your head and sing the alphabet. You refuse. He has no legal way to compel you to comply. But he can ask you to leave his house and not come back. Your refusal to comply with his ridiculous alphabet related request is perfectly valid, but doing so can also bring some amount of risk that you're no longer welcome.
a: it’s not a private business if it’s open to the public (sam’s club is private).
b: how are they going to ban you if you don’t stop to talk to them, and they don’t have your id or name?
c: just walked past a walmart receipt checker 10 minutes ago, he didn’t even ask me… they can tell when you’re not having any of that shit, and they leave you alone… act like a coward and get treated like one.
d: imagine if you walk into walmart and they say “hey no blacks allowed, darky”… what’s the basis of your lawsuit? tHeY’rE pRiVaTe!
you have a right to your privacy… a walmart can’t legally violate that… you can sue… go to law school….
you can sue over a wet floor or dusty stairs… you can also sue for being banned for refusing to be searched….
When I use the word "private" I mean that stores, for the most part, are not owned by the government. I am saying that laws related to private property apply in this situation.
Technically what we are talking about here is a private business open to the public. And we are specifically talking about non government here, since getting trespassed from public property is a bit different in some ways.
Yes, there are many laws that apply to a private business open to the public (ADA, civil rights, food safety, etc.).
But the store is still owned by a company or an individual. They have the right to determine who can be on their property and when, within the bounds of any other applicable laws.
For the most part my response was concerned with legalities, as you seem confident that a store could lose a lawsuit merely for trespassing an individual. It seems you are claiming that a private business does not have the legal right to trespass an individual?
I'm not questioning your ability to walk past receipt checkers without talking to them. I do the same thing.
I do not dispute that refusing to talk to the store makes things more difficult if their goal becomes trespassing you from their property. However, the store does not need your name to tell you that you're not welcome on their property. If you return, you will be in violation of trespass law. The store also does not need your name to call the police and report a crime. In reality, yes, this is unlikely to happen to you, but it has certainly happened.
I am not attempting to put under scrutiny your ability to file in court the paperwork necessary for a lawsuit in the event that a store trespasses you.
My question is: what would be the legal basis for such a lawsuit?
Well said.
I imagine that sharks don't eat you
Nothing like being treated like a criminal when I go into a store to give them money.
Stores lose a huge amount of money to shop lifting. They won't risk profits unless it is worth it.
It’s actually down in most areas.
Broader claims about trends in retail theft have not panned out. Walgreens, for example, cited spikes in shoplifting as an explanation for falling profits and store closures. The claim has since been retracted. Target blamed theft for a rash of store closures. But an analysis by researcher Jeff Asher showed that, according to the limited data available, the stores Target closed in Portland and Seattle had less crime than stores that were not closing. Reporting by CNBC in September 2023 also cast doubt on retailer claims about the impact of theft, noting that “certain retailers” have “pulled back” from blaming organized theft as “a primary cause of losses.” In fact, to the extent it can be relied upon, industry data cuts against the idea of a recent national spike in retail theft.
Just... Don't stop? Keep walking. They legally can't stop you and they know it. It's a psychological barrier, not a physical or legal barrier. Make direct eye contact, smile, say "No, thanks" and keep walking. It's worked for me so far.
I did this today as you suggested. I pretended I was deaf and didn't even look at them when they tried waving at me and calling me. Normal employees no yellow vest either so they're not even AP. Just kept walking
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