My latest trip to Home Depot

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I needed a small piece of MDF so I stopped by home depot for an 8' section of closet shelf. I know its cheaper by the sheet, but I don't like to store the left over. I also grabbed a 20oz coke from the cooler on the way to the checkout. I pay cash for the items, stick the receipt in my pocket, grab the shelf in one hand the coke in the other and head for the door. I always use the contractor checkouts down at the far end of the store near the large garage door. As soon as I turn around I see a HD employee standing near the door looking straight at me. She had to have seen me pay for the items, there's no way she couldn't have where she was looking. I walk the 25' to the door and she asks for my receipt, which is in my pocket. I tell her "You were looking at me when I paid for the items!" She says "Yes Sir, but I have to see your receipt anyway." I had to put downt he shelf and fish the receipt out of my pocket. If I hadn't been so angry I would have turned right around and gone to the manager. As it was, I knew I'd say or do something more stupid than the woman at the door. I'm going back tomorrow to HD for one last time to tell the manager why I won't be back in the store again.

[Michael Gabbay]

Actually Dennis considering the HD that is near my home that's pretty funny. At ours, the staff don't even look up when the alarms go off for the electronic tags. You could walk out of there with a 12" SCMS and not be questioned.

Don't expect much from the manager. They'll probably say that they do that on a regular basis. You might try calling customer service. They'll probably send you a gift card.

Mike

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I have had the same thing happen, when I bought ONLY a soda, I know weird, but I went in and they didn't have what I wanted. I still needed cash so I bought a soda to get the cash... I need to see the receipt... it is in the garbage right there if you want to dig it out..

Sir you will have to give us a second, meanwhile I kept walking, no alarms and no police visits yet

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I have had the same thing happen, when I bought ONLY a soda, I know weird, but I went in and they didn't have what I wanted. I still needed cash so I bought a soda to get the cash... I need to see the receipt... it is in the garbage right there if you want to dig it out..

Sir you will have to give us a second, meanwhile I kept walking, no alarms and no police visits yet

Jeff, have you seen a black helicopter circling your house?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

No, but we do get buzzed by cargo planes about every week!! Blackhawks are a rare occurance, but still cool!

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I guess that would be an orange helicopter.

[Jeff Harder]

At the HD here in the outskirts of Kansas City they don't look at you when the alarm goes off, but go 10 miles into the city, and they have independantly hired security guards checking receipts 10 feet from the contractor check out.

[Randy Meijer]

I expect the girl was just protecting her job by following store/company policy. If you want to holler at someone. find the store manager; but I expect you will get little satisfaction. I was chatting with the manager of my local store and he mentioned that "shrinkage" was major expense. I don't remember the exact figure but seems to me it was on the order of a quarter million dollars a year, maybe more!!! That's money you and I pay in higher prices to support the thieves of the world who want something for nothing. I'm not crazy about the inconvenience of showing receipts at the door; but it really isn't the stores fault, it is the fault of the low lifes that won't pay their fair share.

Remember the days when you could go to bed at night and not worry about locking the front door???

[Christopher Pine]

I have had the same thing happen, when I bought ONLY a soda, I know weird, but I went in and they didn't have what I wanted. I still needed cash so I bought a soda to get the cash... I need to see the receipt... it is in the garbage right there if you want to dig it out..

Sir you will have to give us a second, meanwhile I kept walking, no alarms and no police visits yet

yes but somday down the road when you want to refinance your home or buy another they will say whats this on your record you did not wait at home depot to have your purchase verified! Hmmm?? I don't know if we can approve you... Oh and look here you didn't buy the required amount of record from a record club you joined about 25 yrs ago... "man I just don't know sir"

[Dave Lehnert]

Theft is a huge problem in any retail store. Unless you have worked in retail you would be very surprised at what it is. That $250,000 talked about above is most likely right. That’s one store we are talking about for a year. I don’t know if you have noticed how much harder it is to return things at a store without a receipt. Not only will they steal a $150 drill but will go to another store and return it for the cash back . The old “I got it as a gift” story. We have a lady now that purchased $125 worth of electronic items and her check came back “closed account” She is now going store to store trying to get cash back for the items. We have a lady at work who full time job is to collect bad checks written at our store. Our store alone gets a stack of bad checks each day about half inch thick.
It is always a challenge to protect merchandise from theft without offending your good customers. My guess is at the store you shopped is having a very hard time with theft. A big problem is employee theft. I cant tell you how many times a person gets a job in a retail store and have their friends come through their line with 15 items but only rings up 10 of the 15. It is very, very possible that the person checking your receipt was not trying to get you as much as the cashier. Did that person checking receipts see you pay for everything or just you were at the register paying for something? Also if a customer is thinking about taking something and sees the store checking all customers as a receipt. They will most likely go to the store next door.
I would not be offended, Be glad they are doing something to keep prices low for the rest of us.

[Gary Sutherland]

I like the Costco Method:

You approach the door with a receipt three feet long and two shopping carts loaded top and bottom to overflowing with a hundred items. The 'doorman' glances at the receipt, glances at the carts, and says: "OK".

Gary

[Lee DeRaud]

I like the Costco Method:

You approach the door with a receipt three feet long and two shopping carts loaded top and bottom to overflowing with a hundred items. The 'doorman' glances at the receipt, glances at the carts, and says: "OK".

Now there's a thought: when is there not a Home Depot receipt floating around in my car? Good thing I'm honest.

[Don Baer]

Now there's a thought: when is there not a Home Depot receipt floating around in my car? Good thing I'm honest.

LOL

Your not alone

[Chad Pater]

[QUOTE=Randy Meijer]he mentioned that "shrinkage" was major expense. I don't remember the exact figure but seems to me it was on the order of a quarter million dollars a year, maybe more!!! That's money you and I pay in higher prices to support the thieves of the world who want something for nothing.

I agree...bring on the receipt checker...what does that cost me?

[John Hart]

I like the Costco Method:

You approach the door with a receipt three feet long and two shopping carts loaded top and bottom to overflowing with a hundred items. The 'doorman' glances at the receipt, glances at the carts, and says: "OK".

Gary

The other day at Sam's Club, I had a cart full of groceries that I had boxed up....So you couldn't see 3/4 of the items. The checker went over the receipt like she instantly memorized the 50 items, then scanned over the cart in 2-5 seconds like she had x-ray vision. I know, it would have been worse if she dug through everything and checked each item, but geez...talk about "going through the motions"!