“Can I check your receipt?”

I was StumbleUpon-ing earlier today and I came by this site dedicated to stopping Walmart and other big box stores from checking receipts at the exit . I haven’t been to a Walmart in who knows how long, but I do go to Costco regularly and they have a similar practice.

I’ve always found it quite frustrating having to wait in line to exit the store. Costco says that they do it to ensure you have all your stuff and everything has been paid for, but it looks to me like the person at the door looks at your receipt, looks at your stuff, draws a line through the receipt, and then gives the receipt back to you. The whole process takes less than five seconds. How does this work, concerning most people at Costco have a cartful of items?

Firstly, the system is not very effective with checking items. It would be impossible to check each item, dollar by dollar, on the receipt with what’s in the shopping cart. Secondly, it’s questioning the honesty and integrity of people who just need to get in, buy what they need, and get out. No one wants to spend precious minutes of life in a dim and ugly warehouse like Costco. How often do they catch someone, anyway?

StanduptoWalmart.com shows stories from people who have “stood up to Walmart” and refused to show their receipts at the door. It tells of people who have been detained, who have had the police come, and who have been physically stopped/attacked by multiple employees. I’m not saying these people are right to do this - but it has made me think more about it.

Apparently, this receipt checking policy is “store policy.” To make sure you haven’t stolen anything, to make sure you’ve paid for everything, to make sure nothing accidentally found its way onto your cart. Heck, maybe it’s to create jobs.

Before, I just thought, “Ugh, this is so pointless.” I probably still will. This site has just given me some perspective. Maybe sometime in the future I will gain the courage to run out the store with my unmarked receipt, hopefully faster than they can catch me.