I used to live near the Fry's in Tempe, Arizona. Even 5-10 years ago, I didn't really like going there that much. Their prices weren't that great any more, and returning merchandise was a bad experience. It was clear their best days were behind them. Amazon has been a better experience for a long time now. It was cool how you could find a lot of odd electronics items there (components, soldering equipment, wire, etc.), but you could still get all that stuff much cheaper online usually.
That too (that was an annoying thing about Fry's too; I had totally forgotten about that!), but the returns process at Fry's also treats you like a criminal, whereas Amazon's is easy and asks no questions.
My practice when I used to shop at Fry's was to stop and let the receipt checking person mark my receipt with their pink marker, if no one was ahead of me in that line. This was only to let them feel good about their job, not because I had any legal obligation.
If there was anyone in the receipt checking line I would just smile and wave and walk by. They never stopped me, nor could they legally, but the people waiting in line would often look at me and look at the receipt checker, puzzled that I could get away with it and they "couldn't".
Ownership changes at the point of sale. At the time they do the check, they no longer have any legal basis for preventing the customer from leaving. Costco and Sam's Club can only get away with it because they can revoke membership for non-compliance. At Fry's, stopping someone for a search risks civil suit for kidnapping.
Aside from that, it's a security theater tactic to discourage shoplifting, which also happens to discourage regular shopping.
Costco and Sam's check your receipt to make sure you're leaving with everything you paid for. They're much more likely to find you've left something at the checkout rather than find you shoplifting.
That's the stated, euphemistic reason. The real reason is that they are doing security theater.
Finding something you may have forgotten at the checkout is the only possible benefit to the consumer, so they play it up as a point of customer service, to partially counteract the unreasonable queue they create for exiting the store.
If the genuine concern was forgotten items, they would do the additional QA check at the point of sale, where the item is most likely to be found, rather than at the exit doors.
Don't parrot the corporate propaganda without giving it your own analysis first.
The veracity is easily checked. Buy a small, disposable item with your regular purchase, and put it in your pocket after checkout. If the receipt checker notices the item is missing, note a positive result. Put the receipt in your pocket with the item. Next time around, take the item out of your pocket and put it in the cart, and see what happens. Make sure you project the confidence that yes, that object in the cart is yours, and was lawfully purchased during a previous visit. Beware that this sort of testing may get your membership revoked.
The reason you don't want your programmers doing your QA is that they're too likely to make the same mistake twice. Same with having the point of sale people doing the receipt checking.
I've considered using a collapsible box that I bought at Costco to pack my items after a shopping trip there. I wouldn't have the original receipt for it though, so I don't know how much hassle it would be. Haven't tried it yet.
I didn't suggest that the checkout person do the QA. They already have 1 or 2 people standing at the door. Move them to the checkouts and do QA as people start to leave. AKA look at the checkout to see if there's anything still there as the cashier closes out the sale and starts with the next customer.
It's a moot point, because good QA is not the goal.
You could swap collapsible boxes with someone who shops at Sam's Club, if it worries you.
Their considering me a thief by default has provoked me to spend elsewhere.
The poor buggers manning the front door never gave me any grief for blowing them off, but the unanswerable managerial thought that put them there in the first place makes it a no brainier to shop elsewhere.
And yea, that is despite the pull of preferring to fondle and drool on the merchandise in person.
You can just ignore them. They have no cause to detain you, and you have no obligation to let them search you. I've never had a problem just walking past them out to my car. Only one time did someone even bother to yell "hey, I need to check your receipt!" and I just said NOPE and kept walking.
Virtually all of my electronics tools and supplies came from the Tempe store. Since I've moved back east it's a serious challenge finding stores with even a fraction of the inventory the Tempe store had so I end up ordering stuff off Amazon or Ali Express. I the RTP ares has a good electronics store, I haven't found it yet.
