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LAWYERS and law experts have been weighing in to tell the public that typically they can refuse receipt checks, but one long-time shopper has discovered just how to do that.
As a consistent patron of Walmart, one YouTuber commonly deals with employees stopping him to check his receipt before leaving, as do many other customers.
@Jesuscross9 recently determined the best way to refuse a receipt check at the door and it is all in what you say.
In a previous video, the vlogger had told his viewers that they can simply refuse and walk out of Walmart and other stores when being asked to show a receipt.
Now he believes this method is “totally wrong.”
In a new video, he revealed how to limit employee suspicions when refusing to submit to a receipt check.
@Jesuscross said that after an employee requests to see a receipt, your words determine how they may react from a legal perspective.
“It’s either a yes question or a no question,” he explained employees assume there are only two answers to a receipt check request.
Employees in all but five states cannot compel a customer to produce a receipt by law, but refusing may increase their suspicions that a shopper is shoplifting.
The YouTuber’s concern is that simply responding, “no” may increase suspicion and lead to security or employees detaining a customer until the authorities arrive.
The store’s right to detain a customer suspected of theft is referred to as the “shopkeeper’s privilege,” but they still have to be able to produce some sort of fact or witness to the accused’s theft.
“They’d have to have some other fact that they saw, in addition to you not showing your receipt, that would allow them to say, ‘Hey we think they’re actually shoplifting,’ and justify detaining you,” explained Tonya Krause-Phelan, a criminal law expert from the Cooley Law School.
@Jesuscross figures he should not even give them a reason to look for those facts.
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With Walmart’s policy specifically training their employees to check unbagged items only, the YouTuber has found a workaround and a better answer to a receipt check request.
“Don’t go out the door with something that’s not in a bag,” he advised his viewers.
The avid Walmart shopper even stretched a plastic Walmart bag around a 44 pound bag of dog food.
He recounted the experience.
“I said, ‘Sir everything in my cart is bagged.’ He said, ‘That dog food’s not.’ I said, ‘Yes it is sir, it’s bagged.’ And he looked again and saw that bag shoved on it and he said, ‘Okay sir, go ahead.'”
The YouTuber has found that simply saying something like, “Everything in my cart is bagged,” is what works best for him as it directly targets their policy.
“That’s all I’m gonna say … every time they ask me that question,” said @Jesuscross.
He concluded by directly addressing his viewers.
“I hope that helps that’s a legal way, I believe, that you can refuse to show your receipt at Walmart and not be hassled,” he said.
If a store such as Walmart were to detain a customer without fact justifying probable cause, they could face legal ramifications themselves according to New York lawyer Alex Mainetti.
“So the primary law that applies to these types of wrongful detentions cases is called ‘False Imprisonment’. 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,” he explained.
“The damages vary, what’s it worth to be wrongfully detained against your will for (5 mins, 10 mins, 30 mins, hours?) The longer the wrongful detention usually the more money,” described Mainetti.
The factors do not end there, according to the attorney.
“But also if the person was caused to miss something important, such as a wedding, or funeral or surgery etc. the damages can be more significant,” he explained.
Walmart has yet to respond to request for comment regarding their receipt and item checking policies.
