A WALMART shopper has threatened to boycott the retailer due to unfair anti-theft policies.
The customer threatened to take their business to Target, after a terrible experience at Walmart.
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The shopper took to X, to slam the retailer for its anti-theft policies.
“@Walmart you have no one working registers anymore. You have everything under lock and key,” the shopper wrote.
“Then……. you bust my balls on the way out to check my receipt???? Time to start shopping @Target again”
Receipt checks and locking up items have become a staple for the retailer in recent years.
In 2022, it was revealed that shoplifting cases across America have risen by 19.4% according to research conducted by Capital One.Â
The following year, it was reported that retailers lost $121.6 billion due to theft.
That amount is projected to rise to around $150 billion by 2026.Â
While stores like Walmart looked to prevent theft from occurring in the store, many of the retailer’s paying customers have voiced their frustrations about the practice.
One customer claimed they were harassed by store associates to show their receipt.
“Thanks, Walmart for hassling me to show my receipt because you don’t want to pay cashiers,” said a customer on X.
“Now because your camera didn’t like how I put my corn in a bag, I now have to deal with another worker coming and accusing me of stealing and checking everything in my cart,” his post continued, “get better.”
Another customer argued that Walmart has to “get a search warrant” if employees want to see his receipt.
“As soon as I give you money those items are now mine,” David Mickelson said in a Facebook post.
“Get a search warrant. And for those of you that say all this checking without a reason is just how it is, you are part of the problem.”
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.
REFUSING RECEIPT CHECKS
With the rise in animosity toward receipt checks, many people have stated that they now refuse to show it.
One woman noted that she was not going through the hassle to “prove I paid.”
“If you have two cashiers open with like 60 self-check-out lines and the bathroom is also closed and I’m pregnant and have a baby,” the shopper texted her husband.
“Sorry, I’m not digging through the bottom of my car for the receipt to prove I paid.”
Criminal Law expert, Tonya Krause-Phelan, also previously stated that it’s not illegal to avoid receipt checks.
“In public stores, as a general rule, you can refuse to show that receipt,” she told ABC news affiliate WZZM.
However, she noted that there could be consequences to doing so.
“The flip side is, if the store has reason to believe that you may have stolen something or are about to steal something, they actually can detain you until law enforcement arrives,” Krause-Phelan said.