‘You’re wrong’ Walmart shopper fumes after being forced to show receipt – staffers allowed them to check out items

AN irate Walmart shopper has lashed out over staff standing around while customers struggle with self-checkout purchases.

She told the mega retailer to change its treatment of customers.

Getty

Getty

Alamy

“You’re wrong in this one. I hate having to show my receipt to the people who just watched me check out my own stuff@Walmart,” the woman complained on X /formerly Twitter.

“And all these other stores are paying these people to stand around while I do their work, I’m not having it.”

The firm has prompted anger after limiting some self-checkout lanes to people purchasing 15 or fewer items.

Receipt checks are also annoying shoppers who have to use payment options like self-checkout .

“Another Walmart rant,” seethed one customer yesterday on Facebook .

“If you’re going to have four employees watching over everyone in the self-checkout area, and then have another one watching receipts of only the people exiting the self-checkout lanes on the way out, obviously you don’t trust people to shop there.

“If that’s the case, then shut down the self-checkout and use those five employees to open five more regular checkout lanes.”

NO TRUST

One fellow disgruntled Walmart shopper replied that they’re fed up with having their receipts checked on the way out.

“Also, you don’t have to show them your receipt as you leave,” she said.

“I just walk right by and haven’t been addressed about it once.

“Once I pay for my goods, they belong to me, so they have no business checking anything.

“They don’t check my purse as I come in, so why is it OK for them to check my belongings on the way out?”

But another shopper explained that Walmart was not trying to be “offensive” while checking receipts.

“Would you immediately trust every individual that walked into your store?” she asked.

“Honestly consider these things.

“If it still offends you to prove your trustworthiness, shop online and have it delivered or choose a store that doesn’t check you as you leave.”

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

Meanwhile, another ranted on Facebook about the frustration over finding no carts to place her items.

“I hate Walmart. I walk in… no carts… like okay, I gotta get a big box of diapers, a big box of wipes and a gallon milk,” she said.

“I go to self-checkout because that’s all they have nowadays, and check myself out.

“I go to walk out of the store with my hands full of big items and the old guy at the exit has a line of people he’s checking receipts.

Y’all have enough people to have someone check receipts at the exit, but y’all don’t got enough people to bring the carts in? It’s a damn shame.

Walmart shopper

“I’m like, I am not waiting in the line holding all this stuff so I go to walk around, and he’s like, ‘ma’am where’s your receipt?’ and steps in front of me.”

She described how they argued in-store as she claimed to have pointed out she had nowhere to place the bulk buys.

“Y’all have enough people to have someone check receipts at the exit but y’all don’t got enough people to bring the carts in? It’s a damn shame.”

The woman received many replies showing sympathy for the “frustrating” situation.

One person recommended she should instead shop at Costco, Kroger or Target.

The U.S. Sun has contacted Walmart for comment about receipt check complaints.

A spokesperson has previously said the firm wants customers to experience a fast and easy checkout process.

“Today’s customers are tech savvy,” it said last month.