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I'm with the OP, what is the point of the receipt check? Security? Well why don't they do that at Walmart, Target and a myriad number of other stores. They all carry expensive merchandise and could rationalize checking receipts upon leaving.
I personally find it to be a nuisance. You have to wait in a second line and you have some guy looking to see that you didn't steal a box of water or Tyson chicken.
The point of the receipt check is one that everyone has overlooked. They want to "check" your receipt so they can mark it with a highlighter. This isn't really to make sure your items match your receipt, it's to prevent the obvious issue of someone taking their unmarked receipt back into the store and loading up another cart with the same items and then walking out.
I buy large volumes of soft drinks for a vending machine at work, and I purchase most of them at Sam's. If they didn't mark my receipt, it would allow me to (not that I would) go back in the store, load up another flatbed of the same drinks and walk right out again.
I do not have a membership at Costco or Sam's. I used to, but I did not save money the $50 membership fee they charged. I never liked that I would always buy stuff I did not need nor that much. I never liked that people would rush and wait to be fed. I shop at Fry's and get 10% 55 and older discount, if I shop the 1st Wednesday of the month. I also can download the coupons to my Fry's card and the store's cash register recognizes the discount.
I purchase the 32 count of bottle water from sams instead of buying at the grocery store because its cheaper...the 32 pack of water is around $3.88 and a 24 pack at say, kroger or even walmart, is around $3.49, so you are getting 8 more bottles for only $.39 more....I also purchase rotissere chickens, salads, potatoe chips and a few other food items, but some of their stuff is way overpriced. like their ground beef, steaks and washing liquid/powder.
I dont care about the receipt check leaving the store...what I hate is when one of the door checkers wants to verify item by item whats in your basket vs whats on your receipt....thats real stupid to me....
1. Pricing doesn't work like that. Stores with a lot of shrink don't just get to charge higher prices than stores with less shrink. Shrink gets absorbed and passed on to customers over a pretty wide area.
I've worked hoity toity stores and ghetto stores for the same company in the same district and we all get the same pricing on most of our mdse. The biggest difference is in how visible the theft deterrents are.
(Inner city stores do often charge higher prices, but that's has as much or more to do with a customer base that has limited options.)
2.No it doesn't offend me, most businesses operate this way. They aren't presuming that "pretty much the second you walk in the door that you're more likely than not to steal", only that someone is and they want to try to prevent that someone, whoever it may be, from stealing. I want them to keep other people from stealing, it benefits me. So if they need to take certain measures to keep that theft from happening I'm fine with that.
When is the last time you shopped somewhere that didn't have one or more of the following: cash registers near the doors, small expensive items locked in display cases or kept behind counters, security devices that can only be removed at checkout, EAS tags and checkpoints, mirrors, cameras, observation areas above the sales floor, etc. Why don't people get worked up and offended over those things too? A receipt check is just another layer of preventative measures businesses take.
I think the only reason people are bothered by the receipt checking is because they take it personally, as if they have been singled out, and it embarrasses them. It doesn't bother me because I realize it's just some employee doing their job randomly checking as many receipts as they can, not that I've personally been targeted as a potential thief.
Maybe I'm just weird in that if I want certain things (safer roads, better schools, lower prices, etc.) I'm prepared to put up with some inconveniences (traffic cops, higher taxes, theft deterrents, etc.) to get them.
Thanks for writing my post for me.
The silliness of some of the attitudes shown here is beyond belief...
Paying $25 or more for a "membership" to pay retail, wait in incredibly long lines, have to scrounge for boxes for packing, and then have some bozo inspect my receipt has got to be one of the stupidist things I've done because other people talked me into it. Even more stupid is that I did it more than once.
The stupid thing is not paying for one. The money you save from buying the gas alone more than pays for your annual membership. And you don't pay retail. You save a considerable amount of money on things like toilet tissue, paper towels, trash bags, etc. I'm sure if you specifically targeted some store, you could fine some items at that store that are cheaper than Sams but is it really worth going through all this trouble and multiple stores just to save $25? I don't think so
The stupid thing is not paying for one. The money you save from buying the gas alone more than pays for your annual membership. And you don't pay retail. You save a considerable amount of money on things like toilet tissue, paper towels, trash bags, etc. I'm sure if you specifically targeted some store, you could fine some items at that store that are cheaper than Sams but is it really worth going through all this trouble and multiple stores just to save $25? I don't think so
You may not think so, but as a cheapskate (frugal person in mixed company) I can save more money than that without even breaking a sweat.
The Sam's Club gas was for a while lower than other places. States started looking into it, and found that in many cases it was being sold at less than cost to drive out the competition. That is predatory business practice and was stopped by law. I can buy gas around here with no ethanol for less than the ethanol laced stuff sold by Murphy or Wal-mart or Sams. Since it has a higher heat content, that means I'm getting an even greater savings.
I used to sell janitorial supplies as a part of my business. Every once in a while, one of my customers would go to Sams or BJs, buy some paper towel or toilet tissue, and gloat over the good deal they got. I would then point out the smaller packaging, or more diluted cleaning chemicals, do a pound for pound comparison on the paper goods and cost per use on the chemicals and have them immediately return to buying from me.
I've trained myself to spot real bargains and real value. The warehouse clubs don't have it. If you think you are paying wholesale when you go to one, you have fallen for the marketing hype. That is totally fine by me. I don't like crowds when I shop.
Just off the top of my head, last gas we got was $3.25/gal no ethanol, paper towel rolls of decent quality are roughly 75 cents per roll, toilet paper roughly $5 to $6 for 12 double rolls (retail - I could do better if I wanted to go back to a wholesaler like Lagassee). Try to beat those at your Sams once you factor in that additional $25 or however much top fee.
I think the only reason people are bothered by the receipt checking is because they take it personally, as if they have been singled out, and it embarrasses them. .
Embarassment and privacy are possibilities. I don't necessarily need the world knowing I have beer, cigarettes, rubbers, tampons for my wife (I'm a dude), twine, duct tape, and toy handcuffs in the bag.
The warehouse stores have lousy gas prices in my area. They are often easily beaten. The only advantage they have is on certain days when the price goes up a lot everywhere else...they're the last to go up, sometimes not until the next day. The paper towel and TP prices at Costco are good compared to national brands, but I get mine at Aldi/Family Dollar/Big Lots. Aldi has the best paper towel prices I've found in terms of price/square foot and their TP is very competitive (though FD/BL is very close on TP). Costco's store brand laundry soap rates very well in Consumer Reports and is priced comparably to Aldi's Tandil (imitation Tide, decent quality). Milk at Costco is priced about the same as Kroger's sale price. Aldi is often a dime less and for some reason, Save A Lot is a lot more. Where I've found great prices at Costco is in big ticket purchases, in most cases, though I got a camera for quite a bit less at Circuit City one time.
I'm a Costco member; the membership pays for itself in toilet paper and cat litter alone, not to mention gasoline and personal care products. It can be good for some big ticket items but it's not always the cheapest option. Still, it's nice to have that card in my pocket so I have more options.
I know this is an old thread but I just encountered a similar situation with a shopper in front of me at Costco, throwing a fit over having their receipt checked. It's one thing if they do it at Walmart or Fry's which is open to the general public and another thing entirely when you sign up for a membership at Costco or Sam's. They let you know from the get-go what their policies are and if you don't like them, don't sign-up, shop elsewhere. I have absolutely no problem with them checking receipts at the door at Costco because its not a public-access business, its entirely private and they can set their rules however they see fit.
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