When I first met pqbon years back, I went to Fry's with him, and I stood jaw-dropping agape as he walked straight by the recipt check at the exit. He might have muttered a "No, thanks", but I don't remember. As we were walking out, he explained that "submitting to a receipt checks is a courtesy. There's nothing that says you have to show them your receipts." Since then, if I've purchased anything at a retail store (with one exception), I don't stop for receipt checks. It's a waste of my time, and what gives a business that has already profitted from my purchases the right to take even more of my time?
I can't seem to get out of escaping the receipt checks at Costco because the other sheep are so slow that there's a big bottleneck at the exit. If anyone's got any tips for this, please share!
I don't purchase items anymore at Best Buy or Fry's. I used to think that Best Buy or Fry's discounted things down, and maybe they did at one time, but online is presently the cheapest option, particularly if you can get free shipping on your item. Sure, there's that sense of "But I want it now!" that's been lost, but after a while, you just become less of a consumer because the thought process changes from "I need to buy this now" to "I need to go home, look at the reviews and then decide if I want it". Too often we fall into the "sunk cost" habit of "what the heck, I'm here already, I may as well purchase it".
But also, I think it's the idea of being treated like a thief everytime I walk into their store. In Best Buy world, you are guilty until proven innocent.
A Best Buy Customer relates this story, at a Best Buy near my hometown:
Apparently the employees of my local Best Buy aren't very familiar with annoying pedantic individuals who will choose principals over convenience when walking out with a shopping cart full of expensive home entertainment gear. I manage to get about 5 steps out the door before the door guard catches up to me and grabs my cart, with the "sir" in his "I need to see your receipt, sir" somehow not very complimentary. This is apparently a stalling tactic, as shortly a few more blue-shirted employees make a move to block me from making any more progress toward my car.
He goes on to say that:
As I get in my car to leave, two Best Buy lackeys in a pickup truck decide its a good time to park behind me, blocking my path again. By this time, I've had just enough of this crap and not very politely or discreetly ask them to get out of the way. With only a little hesitation, the yellow-shirt nods in their direction and I'm soon free to leave.
More Tales of Customer Disservice Satifaction at: BestBuySux.com and
comments to "Sir, present your reciept: Best Buy sucks for more reasons than that damned ad"
To my knowledge you are not allowed to walk out of a costco without a reciept check. Because you are a member of costco, you agree to their terms as a member, one of those terms is the reciept check. The reason you can walk out of fry's and they can't stop you is because you did not agree to the reciept check in a contract, therefore it is a courtesy. You can try but I'm pretty sure they would get very nasty and a manager would be there in seconds. I found this out when I tried to walk into a costco with out showing my card. I had my hands full and couldn't get into my purse to get my card. I figured you only had to have your card to purchase something and I have walked into costco without showing my card before. But the lady at the door stared yelling at me and a manager appeared out of nowhere. So I had to drop the items in my hand to get into my purse and find my card. It probably didn't help that I am never in a good mood at costco and was a bit bitchy with her.....but hey she started it.
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