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I spent almost 3 hours shopping Walmart with my wife and 4 month-old daughter on a Sunday night.
It was 11:45 PM when we left after almost an hour in line at the register. We had two carts full of groceries and the baby was crying when we exited the store and an employee asked for the receipt. I politely said, No thanks, and kept walking. The employee grabbed my cart and said he wanted to see my receipt. You can’t leave the store without showing your receipt, he claimed.
My wife had twice changed the baby’s diaper inside the store. Each time, she took a fully-loaded cart with her into the ladies room, no problem.
I loudly asked the employee if he was accusing me of theft. Three other employees came running and now I’m surrounded by four employees all talling me at the same time, Sir, you have to show your receipt, it’s store policy.
Within moments, a sheriff’s deputy approached and asked what was going on. The employees say, he won’t show his receipt. I told the deputy it was true, then I point out my wife is hysterically freaked-out and my baby is crying, can I take them to the car and then come back and resolve this? I just paid $516.00 and they’re accusing me of theft.
At this point, the employees say they’re not accusing me of theft and not detaining me, I just can’t leave. The deputy tells me I have to show the receipt–at which point my wife grabs the receipt and gives it to the Walmart employee. They look at the receipt for all of 3 seconds, hand it back, and we go home.
I called the store to complain to the manager. I spoke with Manager Sharon and was told that they have total right to stop anyone and everyone to demand receipts because it’s “store policy.” I said fine, but where is that policy posted? I didn’t see this policy when I shopped earlier. Manager replies, and I kid you not, “we have so many policies that there’s just not room to post them all.
Sumbitted By By Joe R.
Orlando Florida Store#4332
Submitted on Mar 31, 2008
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July 7th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
they have done the same to me. i only go there in an emergency, like 2:00am and you need something-diapers, teething gel, whatever,. in any event, i refuse. it is uncalled for. only walmart and kmart during christmas holidays have ever done this.f-them.
July 20th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Well, you would’ve been out a lot quicker if you would’ve just showed the stinking reciept. What was so hard with that. Rules, just like the ones your gonna have for your kids to follow and they’re gonna think your rules are stupid. Everyone has rules. GROW UP. Some you’ll agree with, and others not. Doesn’t mean you don’t follow the ones you don’t agree with.
August 15th, 2009 at 1:04 am
umm “Meagan”, you may be comfortable with conforming to rules that violate you constitutional rights, but some of us out there know what can and cannot be done. it is afforded to me by the constitution of the united states (under the fourth amendment )to not be searched unless warranted probable cause.
But go a head and DO AS YOUR TOLD !
August 18th, 2009 at 9:16 am
John, Thats a good one. Try using the forth amendment at the airport.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
John,
You were not searched, your open bags were. Who cares if they ask for a receipt? Reducing theft reduces costs, and during this period of economic struggle, lower costs are needed by Americans.
The problem with society is that there are just those people who like to complain about everything, no matter how small the situation may be. Did you ever stop to think that maybe it isn’t only you who could be a thief, but also the cashier who may be giving away merchandise to friends/family?
Does it make you mad that signs in the bathroon tell you to “Wash Your Hands”!?
September 15th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I WILL continue to shop at Walmart for their low prices and I WILL continue to not show my receipt as I exit the door. I actually went back into the store last week to pay for a case of water on the bottom of the cart that I forgot to put on the counter. On another occasion, I intentionally showed the wrong receipt (from the day before). The reciept checker examined my receipts on both occasions and marked them with a highlighter. Did she not see the discrepancies? what’s the freaking purpose? From that day on, I know THERE IS NO PURPOSE. They cannot tell if I stole something by simply looking at my recipt. And goods are not considered stolen anyway until I leave the premises. Their so-called policy is not posted anywhere. So, until they clearly post it either on the receipts, at the registers, or on the doors, their policy is unknown to me.
Now, I see the posts comparing this to the airport and Sams Club checks. These are totally different scenarios. The airport is for security/safety/identification purposes and Sams Club doesn’t provide bags. You cannot compare it to harrassment by Walmart.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
thank obama and the other democratic loons for this type of indignity and for MANY MANY others that are coming down the pike, socialism is grand hooray!
September 21st, 2009 at 10:58 am
Samantha, even though Wal-Mart has bags, people are caught every day bagging thier own stuff while going through the store. I think its funny when security nails them at the door. I followed a guy from the beer isle to the front door and when asked for a receipt he said his wife had it. I told him that I just followed him up here and he put down the beer and said see ya. He’s probably another one that complains about the receipt checking process. Don’t sweat the small stuff or just shop somewhere else.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Obey the rules. Yes, Walmart should obey the rules. They do not have a right to search your bags or detain you after you have paid for your purchases. They can make up a rule saying so but that does not apply to you. They are not a government. I don’t enjoy wasting my time to help them catch their employees stealing.
The most they can do is to refuse you service and ask you to leave their premises if you do not follow their rules. If you are stealing, of course, that is not a violation of Walmart’s rules, it’s a violation of the laws that the government has put in force. If you steal from Walmart the nice police men will come and take you away to a government facility.
As for being checked at the airport, those are government laws. See the difference? Walmart detaining you unlawfully is against the law. They are breaking the rules.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
The deputy was guilty of ordering a search without probable cause in violation of your 4th amendment rights. Some jurisdictions have a charge specifically for such like, “Harassment under color of Law”, meaning he is a peace officer so you believe he is right in what he says.
Police can’t legally stop you in your car, on foot, in public or in private and search you without probable cause. Nor can they do it at WalMart.
Should have asked him to call his supervisor, and then up the chain, thereby prolonging the illegal detention instead of giving up. Then, sue him, the county, the sheriff, all the walmart employees, and WalMart.
“Detained” MEANS they won’t allow you to leave, so the WalMart employee really said “We aren’t detaining him, we are just detaining him”.
In Alabama, where I do know the law, a merchant has a legal right to detain people they suspect (probable cause) of shoplifting. If they are wrong, the detainee is perfectly able to sue for wrongful detention.
Also, a police officer can arrest for shoplifting even though they did not witness it (along with Domestic Violence, DUI at the scene of an accident and one other I can’t remember, those are the only crimes not witnessed by the officer that he can arrest for). BUT, this requires PC, too.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:28 pm
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. It was ratified as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which is a type of general search warrant, in the American Revolution. The amendment specifically also requires search and arrest warrants be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.
WALMART DID NOT HAVE PROBABLE CAUSE LETS LOOK INTO THIS
DEFINITION OF SEIZURE The Fourth Amendment proscribes unreasonable seizure of any person, person’s home (including its curtilage) or personal property without a warrant. A seizure of property occurs when there is meaningful interference by the government with an individual’s possessory interests such as when police officers take personal property away from an owner to use as evidence. The Amendment also protects against unreasonable seizure of their persons, including a brief detention.
A seizure does not occur just because the government questions an individual in a public place. The exclusionary rule would not bar voluntary answers to such questions from being offered into evidence in a subsequent criminal prosecution. The person is not being seized if his freedom of movement is not restrained. The government may not detain an individual even momentarily without reasonable, objective grounds, with few exceptions. His refusal to listen or answer does not by itself furnish such grounds.
A person is seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment only when by means of physical force or show of authority his freedom of movement is restrained, and in the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would believe that he was not free to leave. As long as the police do not convey a message that compliance with their requests is required, the courts will usually consider the police contact to be a “citizen encounter” which falls outside the protections of the Fourth Amendment. If a person remains free to disregard questioning by the government, there has been no intrusion upon the person’s liberty or privacy under the Fourth Amendment — there has been no seizure
NOW ASK YOURSELF THIS…………..WAS THESE PEOPLE WRONGFULLY DETAINED ? YES THEY WAS, THIS FAILY SHOULD OF SUED WALMART AND THE POLICE STATION CLEARLY THEY WOULD OF WON A LARGE AMOUNT OF $ NOW IF EVERYONE (AND IM SURE THERE ARE ALOT WHO DON’T ADMIT TO SIMILAR DETENTIONS LIKE THIS CASE)WAS TO EXCERCISE THEIR 4TH AMENDMENAT RIGHTS WHEN THIS HAPPENS WALMART WOULD HAVE TO “RE THINK ” THEIR STRATEGY ON CATCHING THE “REAL” THEIF HERE …IE “THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT” IN MY OVERALL OPINION I WOULD OF SUED THE PANTS OFF THOSE INDIVIDUALS AND EMPLOYERS FOR MAKING A “UNEDUCATED DECISION”