How does Wal-Mart get away with breaking the law by demanding to go through your items as you leave the store?

Question

Does anybody simply and firmly say "NO!" like I do?

Answer 1

It isn't a law, but their outsourcing policies are detestable.  They've checked out my bags but, since I'm not stealing, I never have a problem with it.

Answer 2

In California, shopkeepers have the right to make reasonable searches and to detain you.  I don't know what the laws are in other states.  I think to some degree they're hoping that you're ignorant of the law and what your rights are, and what theirs are.  

I just tell them they have to apologize at the top of their lungs when I'm right and they're wrong, and ask if they have good strong lungs.  

I'm sorry they're having theft losses but I'm not stealing anything.  Usually a clerk forgot to remove the security tag.  Do you notice they never apologize for their mistakes?  

Answer 3

They always have a nice looking old person doing it at mine so I really don't want to give them any trouble. Now if it was a young person I would  just walk on by. It doesn't really matter to me though except when i'm in a hurry to get home

Answer 4

They are not breaking the law.  You are on private property.  In your case they are probably just happy to have you leave.

Answer 5

You can say no.

Then they'll go through your things with a cop present.

You agree to these terms implicitly when you enter the store.

Answer 6

thts never happend to me. where i live their is a superwalmart tht will take anything in the return section even without a recipt so u could pick something off the shelf and return it, but u have to rip off the price taag  

Answer 7

They don't go through a woman's purse or personal items, only the items that you purchased in the store.  it is part of their purchase policy.  Now whether that is legal or not, I'm not sure and it could be on a state by state basis.

For shop lifting, if a person takes something past the register and they saw the individual put it in a secreted place (in clothing, pockets,etc, then they can arrest them after they get past the checkout and in some places they let them get outside the doors.

If y ou say "no" and they haven't stopped you in the past, that mgith work, but they could also  ban you from the store. You have no right to shop in any particular store.  If they arrested  you or held you, they might be breaking the law by false imprisonment if you had not taken anything  you did not pay for.

but you raise an interesting position as to whether, after  you have paid for your items, the store has any right to inspect those items.   You have paid for the items by the time they ask to see them and they have not any reason for suspicion.  I'd like to see a legal opinion on that as you do bring  up a good point.  Doesn't mean that they couldnot restrict you from the store in the future though.   If they tell you to leave and you don't, it could be trespassing and charges could be filed if you refused to leave.  So guess  you take the chance of being prohibited from entering the store the future.  And they can't very well prohibit you from leaving the store as they have no proof of theft as they have to see and follow and make sure before they can restrain you or it is false imprisonment.  That could depend on state.

So answer to your question could be because people don't kow they can leave or dont' want the hassle or embarrassment of saying no when it isn't so important ot them.  And they don't now what the law is. I'm not sure if it is illegal of them to demand to go through your items and i don't kow what they would do if you said no.  But you do make a good point and one an attorney could well argue based on the fact that it is now  your own personal property when you do pass the registers.  If you get stopped, use that argument that those are yours as  you paid for them and it is now your personal property.  Do they wish to make an arrest or detain you?  In which case it may be false arrest and  you mith be able to press charges if they don't find something that is Walmarts and not yours.  But it will really mess  up your day.  And laws in different states could be different.  And I don't know if there are any exceptions that would allow Walmerts to do that or not.

Answer 8

They just do. They run quite an sleazy organization overall. Not that their old bag checkers really even prevent shop-lifting. Why do they even have the security alarms if they're going to just assume you stole something? Oh, that's right. Those alarms don't work 90% of the time anyway, because they're going off over and over when honest people go past them, because employees don't take stickers or scan various things on products before the customer leaves. They don't know what they're doing there. I'm sure they're doing more than just invading people's privacy behind the scenes.

Answer 9

Yeah we just throw the recipt at them and keep walking. When we have about 6 sacks in the cart, They try and stop us to make SURE we don't have a $2,000 big screen some how hiding under a little sack.

Answer 10

I just ignore them and walk away

Answer 11

Well,i was walking out the store and the greeter asked to see my receipt and i ran out,i had 30.00 worth of merchandise in my jacket,so i guess it's for good reason,ya know,LOSS PREVENTION!!

Answer 12

What law would that be? Privacy? You're still in the store and they're looking for shoplifters.

Get over yourself and shop somewhere else.

Answer 13

I never had that happen.

Answer 14

What exactly are you trying to accomplish by saying no?  All you're doing is encouraging shoplifting, which in turn drives up the price for everyone, including you.    

Answer 15

Never happened to me

P.S. You answered this to my question (Should I sleep with him?)

I think you should have already slept with him by now. This pressuring you feel from guys who want to sleep with you is normal frustration that your causing them to have. If you don't want to sleep with men, fine don't do it! But PLEASE don't go out with men who want a woman who is willing and able to fulfill everything about an adult relationship. I understand but hate women like you. Why? it's a real bummer meeting such a sweet and lovely person only to find out she's a catholic nun in regular clothes. Some might call you a tease. That could be just as bad as being the ever-so popular girl who sleeps with everybody. The damage is done with these guys. Wake up, correct yourself and go back out there and try again. Which Sandy D do you want 2 B ?

Before you start hating me and judging me, maybe you should figure out the situation.

The subject of s*x never came up. We were BOTH virgins, so how could I be a tease when we never even thought about sleeping with each other? And I'm no catholic nun, I'm just not gonna sleep with someone unless I'm ready. My boyfriend isn't one of those guys (believe it or not) who just sleeps around, neither one of us was raised that way.