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Best Buy bag check article

Old 01-11-02, 08:38 AM
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Best Buy bag check article

http://www.die.net/prose/bestbuy/

Basically, the guy feels that, since the receipt check at the door is technically voluntary in nature, he shouldn't have to put up with it.

Then he goes and buys expensive electronics components and acts all offended when Best Buy want to make sure he paid for them.

While the Best Buy employees did overreactand apparantly violated store policy when he refused to produce his receipt, the guy's still a jerk. 10 seconds of receipt check would have saved him quite a lot of headache. That is, unless his hobby is complaing.

I think the Best Buy employee on the second page summed things up pretty well.
Old 01-11-02, 09:37 AM
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I think the guy who posted the story sounds like a *****ing jerk. It would have taken 10 seconds for the guy to check his receipt, so "avoiding" the long wait is a bullsh*t copout. Secondly, I think a store has every right to check and make sure that the big box I'm carrying out the door has been paid for. "Check your stock and make sure"?! What an a$$hole!

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Old 01-11-02, 09:40 AM
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This comes up periodically, there was a big thread about long lines at Fry's. Personally, I think the receipt check is pointless because they never really look, but is a fair policy to have.
Old 01-11-02, 10:09 AM
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Talk about someone who has nothing better to do, so they sit around and think of way to be [rhymes with witchy] to store employees who are there to help. Sheesh!

I've worked in retail and I will agree the "customer" will always be there to lie, cheat, and even steal their way to a better deal. On the bright side, where I worked we seemed to have more guests than "customers".
Old 01-11-02, 10:26 AM
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Clearly, the Best Buy employees overreacted...but let's face it the guy in the story was being deliberately abrasive. Why go through all the trouble of getting chased down when all he had to do was show his receipt and merchandise? It seems to me that he deliberately refused to give his receipt in order to provoke a reaction, complain about the reaction on the Internet, and then get free goodies from Best Buy.
Old 01-11-02, 12:11 PM
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I don't think they overreacted THAT badly. Think about it. You're working loss control for a retail chain, a customer with a lot of $$$ in merchandise tries to leave and REFUSES to show a receipt. Wouldn't that make you suspicious? As someone who works in retail and in a place where 3 PS2's were stolen out from under our noses this Xmas, I can say that we would have been on "high alert" if this guy had pulled this $hit with us.

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Old 01-11-02, 01:55 PM
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I haven't read the article - but when I was working for a CD/stereo chain in Canada (A&B Sound), one of the things we were told to watch for was people picking up big boxes of expensive electronics and just brazenly walking out, the theory being that if you're walking right past a clerk with a big box, there's no way you're stealing. So it's a common tactic to watch for. If some guy were to look like he were walking by without paying and then refusing to show a reciept.. well yeah, I'd be on high-alert too...
Old 01-11-02, 02:49 PM
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G. Gordon Liddy was talking about a very similar experience at Best Buy a few months ago.

It was a very similar situation, though he was buying a small refridgerator (the small dorm room type) and didn't want to show his receipt when he left.

In the end, I think that Best Buy did call the police, and Liddy explained to the police that Best Buy had no right to search him (there was no sign posted at the door saying that they will examine receipts when you leave), and the police let him go on (without showing his receipt, if I remember right).

The guy in the story was a little abrasive, but was within his rights. I show my receipt when asked, but there is never more than one person ahead of me. As for the few times I go to Sam's Club (a warehouse club that checks receipts for everybody when you leave), I amost always put the receipt in my mouth (and give it a lick), or, while they are looking, scractch my crotch or butt(inside my pants), with receipt in hand, before handing it to the door lackey. But I do show it to them.
Old 01-11-02, 02:56 PM
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Originally posted by Heat
As for the few times I go to Sam's Club (a warehouse club that checks receipts for everybody when you leave), I amost always put the receipt in my mouth (and give it a lick), or, while they are looking, scractch my crotch or butt(inside my pants), with receipt in hand, before handing it to the door lackey. But I do show it to them.
Why punish the clerk like that? They didn't instigate the policy...they're just doing their job and don't deserve that kind of abuse.
Old 01-11-02, 03:09 PM
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I have always gotten a real kicl out of the "spottiness" of Best Buy's doorchecks. On several occassions the cashier did not de-activate the sensor tag, and I have set off the alarm. The guy at the door would just ask "DVD?" With a nod he sent me on the way without checking anything.

My favorite quote from that article has got to be in the response from the Best Buy employee: "That may be simplifying things a bit, but it illustrates the fact that "the customer" will put up with a lot to save 10% How else do you explain the continued existence of Kmart?" Well, maybe not too much longer.

Old 01-11-02, 03:34 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho
Why punish the clerk like that? They didn't instigate the policy...they're just doing their job and don't deserve that kind of abuse.
My grudge isn't with the employees, it's with the store itself (I wouldn't do anything like that at Best Buy, for example). In the late '80s, Sam's Club gave away brown lifetime membership cards to people in qualifying professions (no annual fee, but you paid a 5% upcharge. In the early to mid 90s, they took it away saying that the lifetime card was no longer valid, that you needed to buy a memebership at $25 (now $35).

I punish the help like that to make their work experience at Sam's club miserable, not because of who they are, but because of who their employer is. For what it's worth, I'm one of the people who will make small talk with the Wal-Mart greeter when I go there.

The other interesting thing about Sam's Club, at least in Illinois, is that they cannot require that you be a member to buy alcohol, and they cannot charge an upcharge. But when I go to checkout, they ask me for my club card, I tell them that I don't have one but I am buying alcohol, they tell me sorry, you have to be a member, I tell them that I don't, please call a manager, etc etc (but I've only done this a couple of times). Which reminds me, I need some more red wine at home, I'll stop by on my way home.

Also, for the licking the receipt / butt rubbing thing, I've only done that maybe five times, I rarely go there (because I'm not a member).

Last edited by Heat; 01-11-02 at 03:44 PM.
Old 01-11-02, 03:52 PM
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Originally posted by Groucho
Why punish the clerk like that? They didn't instigate the policy...they're just doing their job and don't deserve that kind of abuse.
I hope he was just trying to be funny.

Originally posted by Abob Teff
I have always gotten a real kicl out of the "spottiness" of Best Buy's doorchecks. On several occassions the cashier did not de-activate the sensor tag, and I have set off the alarm. The guy at the door would just ask "DVD?" With a nod he sent me on the way without checking anything.
This is the fault of all those damn security devices the studios are putting in DVD cases anymore. Stores can't disable them easily, so I guess they just figure "why bother?" It's probably not store policy to let them through that easily. It's probably easier for the clerk to let you go than potentially have another sewlf righteous clown to deal with. And he knows you don't have a big screen TV in that little bag anyhow.
Old 01-12-02, 02:40 AM
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This is the fault of all those damn security devices the studios are putting in DVD cases anymore. Stores can't disable them easily, so I guess they just figure "why bother?" It's probably not store policy to let them through that easily. It's probably easier for the clerk to let you go than potentially have another sewlf righteous clown to deal with. And he knows you don't have a big screen TV in that little bag anyhow.

Yeah, but you could have 10 XP 2000+ chips (ok, maybe not 10, but you get my point.
Old 01-12-02, 08:05 PM
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HEAT -- Fellow Springfieldian -- Sam's used to offer the 5% upcharge to anybody. Typically they would run a "One Day Pass" either on the back of the Walmart ad or even sometimes just in the local paper. Thing was,you could get these at anytime just by going to the service desk and saying "I was thinking of joining, can I just look around?" Anyway . . .

When we moved to Springfield, my wife became a nurse, and she was told that she could get scrubs there. So we called and asked about the guest pass, or whatever they were calling it. They at first said sure, then when we showed up we were told that they had never done any such thing. With a little griping, they did allow us to shop there "Just this once." They really weren't happy when we had to return them (I don't know who does their sizing, but a Large would have fit the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons). It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who does the receipt-lick around here.

I have never been overly impressed with Sam's pricing. I have never seen anything cheap enough to justify paying to shop there.

Old 01-12-02, 11:47 PM
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The customer in the story sounds like someone who will go out of his way to be offended in any way.

I would assume by his story that he has been to Best Buy previous to this visit. If he did not like their policy of checking recipts, he should have shopped elsewhere.

You could walk out of Kmart with whatever you wanted and no one would notice. You could have no bags or packages in your hand and set off an inventory alarm (indicating concealed merchandise), and no one would even look in your direction. I have seen this happen plenty of times at the local store.
Old 01-13-02, 01:44 AM
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Licking a receipt isn't going to change Sam's policies and you aren't doing anything but making life miserable for somebody earning $6 hour.

If that makes you feel like you are doing something, great. To me it sounds pretty childish and demeaning.
Old 01-13-02, 03:04 AM
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you know the guy might be a jerk, but this is Best Buy we're talking about here. I don't know if every BB is like this but the 4 in my area are--You may have only 2 people ahead of you, but that will almost certainly be a 20 minute wait, and like they would bother to open up another register (especially if you're paying with cash. It seems every BB has a register that doesn't accept cash around here, but of course they don't tell you that until you've already waited your 20 minutes). Then to make it worse the guy who would check your bag is literally 1 foot from you watching you check out. I usually just let them check but when there is an actual line just to do the cavity search, thats when i say f*** it and just walk through. Just to see if they do actually check I went in with DVDs from another retailer one time, stuck those in the bag and showed them my receipt for 3 different DVDs, the guy looked at it, marked it and said thank you. So basically theyre just paying people to play with a highlighter all day. And if 2 BB employees parked behind you to block you in like that for not stealing something, I'm sure you'd be pretty ticked off too.

Last edited by DVDKrayzie; 01-13-02 at 03:14 AM.
Old 01-14-02, 12:38 PM
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I think this topic has been covered quite a bit here. I side with the guy in the story.

The basic question here is: Does the store have the right to demand to see the receipt before a customer can leave? The answer is clearly NO.

All the other issues are just smoke and mirrors. It doesn't matter that it will only take 5 seconds. It doesn't matter how much the store claims they are losing to shoplifting. If you don't want to submit to the procedure, YOU DON'T HAVE TO.

If a cop stops you and asks if he can search your car, you can say NO. If he has probable cause and orders you to allow a search, well then, he can do that.

I think at one of those membership clubs you may be SOL if one of their membership rules is that you allow them to do a confirmation check at the door.

And, had I been that customer, I would have called the police. He was illegally detained by the stunt with the pickup truck.
Old 01-14-02, 04:50 PM
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Yeah, well see...who really cares if they check your bag. Your analogy with a police officer searching your stuff is complete hyperbole.

Most of us respect our privacy enough and value our civil liberties to understand that an illegal search by a police officer is a REALLY bad thing...Not some guy who doesn't even look at your bag and highlights your receipt. You just showed Best Buy what you purchased when you went up to the counter 3 seconds before hand..so it isn't like you have something to hide.

Secondly (or thirdly), no one is here arguing that you don't have a right to walk out of the store without a receipt. I just get pissed off when people act like Best Buy (or any other store) is ripping away at our civil liberties when they are not.

Finally, the tone in which this guy wrote leads me to believe that he was either (a) exaggerting the illegal detention or (b) making it up. Answer this to me: Why if he is so set on proving his right, would he NOT CALL the POLICE if the "detention" really occurred.
Old 01-14-02, 04:54 PM
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Originally posted by greenerdog
I think this topic has been covered quite a bit here. I side with the guy in the story.

The basic question here is: Does the store have the right to demand to see the receipt before a customer can leave? The answer is clearly NO.

All the other issues are just smoke and mirrors. It doesn't matter that it will only take 5 seconds. It doesn't matter how much the store claims they are losing to shoplifting. If you don't want to submit to the procedure, YOU DON'T HAVE TO.

If a cop stops you and asks if he can search your car, you can say NO. If he has probable cause and orders you to allow a search, well then, he can do that.

I think at one of those membership clubs you may be SOL if one of their membership rules is that you allow them to do a confirmation check at the door.

And, had I been that customer, I would have called the police. He was illegally detained by the stunt with the pickup truck.
I agree...
The moment you pay for the stuff at the register it is yours. Period. If they have probable cause to stop you, like they suspect that you have stollen something, fine. But you better be right.

I submit to the 5 second check because I dont want the hastle.
But it is a bunch of BS.
Old 01-14-02, 06:53 PM
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Originally posted by FonMan


I agree...
The moment you pay for the stuff at the register it is yours. Period. If they have probable cause to stop you, like they suspect that you have stollen something, fine. But you better be right.

I submit to the 5 second check because I dont want the hastle.
But it is a bunch of BS.
Same here. I'll try to skip the check when I have lots of spare time.
Old 01-15-02, 07:02 AM
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Originally posted by greenerdog
I think this topic has been covered quite a bit here. I side with the guy in the story.

The basic question here is: Does the store have the right to demand to see the receipt before a customer can leave? The answer is clearly NO.

I called the police in a mid-sized town in NE Massachusetts regarding this very issue, and I mentioned BB by name.

I was told by a Detective that in order for the store to legally inspect your bag, demand a receipt, lay hands on you (i.e., even touch you), or detain you, they had to have BEYOND a reasonable belief that you were trying to walk off with something. The fact that you were walking out of the store with product in your arms is not enough to demand a receipt. They had to have some solid reason to suspect that you were leaving with unpaid itemS. The only area where they had any leeway at all was if you had been looking at items that could VERY EASILY be slipped into your pocket and that item was missing. Otherwise, they needed to SEE YOU DO IT.

CompUSA created MAJOR headaches for themselves in MA with their strongarm tactics......
Old 01-15-02, 05:06 PM
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Originally posted by chanster
Yeah, well see...who really cares if they check your bag. Your analogy with a police officer searching your stuff is complete hyperbole.

Most of us respect our privacy enough and value our civil liberties to understand that an illegal search by a police officer is a REALLY bad thing...Not some guy who doesn't even look at your bag and highlights your receipt. You just showed Best Buy what you purchased when you went up to the counter 3 seconds before hand..so it isn't like you have something to hide.

Secondly (or thirdly), no one is here arguing that you don't have a right to walk out of the store without a receipt. I just get pissed off when people act like Best Buy (or any other store) is ripping away at our civil liberties when they are not.

Finally, the tone in which this guy wrote leads me to believe that he was either (a) exaggerting the illegal detention or (b) making it up. Answer this to me: Why if he is so set on proving his right, would he NOT CALL the POLICE if the "detention" really occurred.
Perhaps you misunderstood my analogy to the police. If the police don't have the right to search you without probably cause, why should a civilian be granted that right?

Are you so sure that they are not "ripping away at our civil liberties"? I think they are. If they are not, why would anyone object to having their bags searched and receipt checked, if it only takes a couple of seconds? And before anyone jumps down my throat about getting searched before boarding an airplane or going to a public event, that is a different matter because it involves public safety.

Once it becomes acceptable for stores to do this, what's next? Will it become commonplace for everyone leaving the store to get patted down? Why not, it will only take a couple of seconds. If you've got nothing to hide, you shouldn't object, right?

As to why the author chose not to call the police, only he knows. I would speculate that he didn't want any further hassle, or felt that while there was an illegal detainment that the police wouldn't see it that way, or maybe he had unpaid parking tickets. I think he was more concerned about this from a civil point of view rather than a criminal point of view.

A store has every right to ASK to see my receipt. I have every right to say NO.
Old 01-15-02, 08:02 PM
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If you feel that BB is stripping away your rights, vote by not going there.
Old 01-15-02, 09:41 PM
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Bottom line: Loss prevention saves the legit customer money in the long run, since losses are passed onto the legit customers. Also, unless they are "profiling" (two people walk out with the same exact item with no bag, one is one race and the other is another race or gender or whatever, and they check one but not the other), I don't see the civil liberties issue. Believe it or not the store has some rights in the transaction as well.

As for the lack of a mention of purchase verification in the Uniform Commercial Code, he is correct. Though I am certainly not a lawyer and have not retained one to research relevant statutes and case law for me, it is my belief that an item that I purchase becomes my property and therefore is mine to do with as I please as soon as I would be subjected to the store's return policy for it. This is the case when the cash register closes or the credit card transaction completes.
Stores CAN limit what you can do with your personal property on their premises. I believe stores can keep you from carrying in book bags, and other personal property. They can certainly keep you from bringing in drinks or food, etc. Seems to me that they can verify your ownership of the items you currently have in your hand. I'd be interested if he stops at the check in point when returning something?

Seems to me that this is a massive over reaction. Anyone who was really interested in saving time would not have done this. The employees may not have handled it entirely properly, but to me his actions were more than a little suspicious. If his time is so much more important than everyone else's in line let him just be an A$$ and cut in front of the line. Also, sounds to me like this would be a great gimmick if you had 2 people. Have the first one buy something and make an A$$ of himself and tie up the check point personnel, meanwhile the second person walks out with whatever. Just my opinions, but apparently from the quoted statement above, his article is only based on his opinions and not actual law.

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