Are You Required To Show Your Walmart Receipt In Massachusetts?

This has certainly happened to me a lot at many Walmart's including many here in Massachusetts. I'm not going to lie, it can be intimating sometimes especially if you know you scanned every item in your cart.

A lot of customers in 2023 took to social media with TikTok videos showing receipt requests at store exits with filming confrontations of non-compliance.

Are you legally required to show your receipt?

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According to Business Insider, by law shoppers are not legally required to present their receipt but refusing to show it could give the store probable cause to detain you. However, detainment can pose other issues because one Colorado customer sued Walmart for repeatedly refusing to show receipts for the purchases he made that lead to workers to detain him. (Walmart was recently found not liable for false imprisonment of the customer by the way.)

What is the reason for Walmart checking receipts at the door?

The most obvious reason is to reduce theft as retailers have been struggling more than ever in the recent years causing an impact to actually paying shoppers. Hence why Walmart and many other retailers like Dollar Tree have been locking up certain items to keep theft rates down. Walmart's CEO even threatened to close certain stores if theft didn't slow down.

Another reason for your receipt to be checked is to make sure every item was scanned properly prior to leaving the store. Sometimes, forgetting to scan a certain item at self-checkout for example can be an honest mistake. Trust me, it's happened to all of us. That being said, while you're not legally required to show your receipt, it all cause less headaches for the worker and use as a customer in the end.