Walmart, Target & Costco shoppers fume, ‘I’m not an employee’ as self-checkout receipt check open letter goes viral

SHOPPERS are pushing back against retailers checking receipts, especially after self-checkout.

So much so that an open letter to retailers voicing the frustrations of many has gone viral.

Getty

Getty

Getty

In a post on X , the shopper said that on his last few trips to Walmart, Target, and Home Depot, only self-checkout was offered. An employee also checked receipts at the door.

“I didn’t choose to participate in that nonsense. So I just skipped the exit line and left,” he wrote .

“You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.”

He said shoppers had to be cashiers “with no training,” and the store should accept the risk associated with it.

“Don’t audit me for a position you refuse to employ any longer.”

The post quickly racked up over 71,000 likes and 12,000 reposts.

Self-checkout has become commonplace at stores like Walmart , Target , and even Costco .

Customers say it’s getting harder to find traditional staffed registers and feel forced to use self-checkout .

After doing the labor, they are often stopped so employees can check their receipts and verify what’s in their carts.

This extra step has rubbed more and more shoppers the wrong way.

Several shoppers said they never stop for receipt checkers.

“I don’t stop or show receipt. I’m not an employee and do not have a policy and procedures book,” another customer agreed .

Others argued that they should get discounts for doing the work themselves.

“You don’t pay me to scan my own shopping. You don’t give me a staff discount for working for you!” replied another shopper.

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.

WALKING OUT

Customers at both Walmart and Target have left behind full carts rather than wait in self-checkout lines.

“Hey, Target, fix your f**king staffing problems,” wrote one unhappy shopper on X.

She said the lines at the store were so long that her ice cream started melting before she got to the register.

At Walmart, one customer didn’t mind the long lines but was upset that the only option was self checkout .

“I’ll take the long lines, I’m in no hurry. I’ve been in Walmart where they had no checkers working, only self-check,” he wrote.

“Person in charge said I’d have to use self-check. I said ok, walked out & left them a full cart.”

Another shopper abandoned their cart due to a payment issue .

Millions of Americans will be affected after the sale of an item is banned at self-checkout.