A LEGAL expert has shed light on the foggy laws that dictate whether shoppers must show their receipts when asked at stores like Walmart — and when they do not apply.

“There are countless videos on YouTube featuring citizens who have refused to show their receipt to employees of various grocery stores and supermarkets,” investigative journalist John Lang (@audittheaudit) began in the video.

But when exactly do Walmart or other associates of other stores have the right to ask for a shopper’s receipt or detain them for refusing?

The answer lies in the Fourth Amendment and the details of the interaction.

“The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures and established the Doctrine of Probable Cause,” Lang explained in the video.

Probable cause is essential to the search and detainment being legal.

“For a probable cause to exist, an individual must have sufficient knowledge of facts to warrant a belief that a suspect is committing a crime the belief must be based on factual evidence, not on speculation alone,” the legal expert said.

This means that the employee asking for receipts must have seen the shopper do something suspicious to legally warrant a stop for refusing to show a receipt.

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But “the circumstances surrounding most receipt refusals create a cloud of legal fog which can be quite undefined and often results in an accusational paradox,” Lang said.

Can refusing to show a receipt be considered a legitimate reason for suspicion of theft? Herein lies the confusion.

“An argument could be made that the very act of refusing to produce a receipt when asked provides the necessary probable cause required for detainment,” Lang explained.

“Therefore, the accusational paradox arises of a shopper creating the very probable cause which they feel is an invasion into their privacy,” he said.

And there is not a simple answer.

“There is no legal doctrine which defines the limitations or parameters of this paradox,” Lang said.

Some court decisions have ruled in similar instances that an inspection of recently purchased items does not constitute an
invasion of privacy because being in a store reduces an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy because it is a public place.

The informational video has been viewed over 5.5 million times and has received over 40,000 comments since it was shared four years ago.

“I always refuse to show my receipts at Walmart and other places, but I always show my receipts at Costco because it’s actually part of the contract when you sign up, and they can actually cancel your membership if you don’t,” one person commented.

“My reaction to Walmart’s practice was to never shop there again. Haven’t returned in years. I’d rather pay 50 cents more and shop elsewhere,” another wrote.