LEGAL experts have weighed in on whether major retailers have the right to stop and detain shoppers that they suspect of shoplifting — but the answer may confuse you.
Asking shoppers to confirm their purchases when exiting stores like Walmart is an increasingly popular strategy for combating theft, which has been on the rise in recent years.
But it has also resulted in many shoppers complaining about the practice as discriminatory, especially when it leads to a shopper getting detained by store employees.
And now, many shoppers have one big question: Can stores legally detain a shopper for not producing a receipt?
Legal experts across the country say the answer varies — depending on where you live.
“Yes, a store can request to see your receipt and stores increasingly are doing so as a means of loss prevention due to shrinkage, a.k.a. shoplifting,” the attorneys at Setliff Law Firm wrote last year.