Which of your rights are you willing to give up in order to keep retail prices low?

Obviously, to some people here having low prices at retail stores is more important than their rights.

I'd like to know which rights you feel are so unimportant that you are willing to trade them for lower prices.

As if the retail chains are going to pass along any savings to the customer anyway. But that's another argument for another day.

wing brother in law. That's where I draw the line.

Who knows though, he may eventually see the light.

But probably not if he's a strong RWA.

beating their breasts over being asked to produce a fucking receipt after they have set off the inventory control alarm.

For christ's sake, how small does you life have to be to get that worked up over something that insignifcant? And NO, complying to a simple request to look at your purchases is NOT a slippery slope to a police state. What is REALLY sad is that some of the people here are too immature to realize that.

The problem with the store demanding to inspect bags/check receipts is what it implies. They are saying that you are not presumed innocent of shoplifting, you are presumed at the least possibly guilty, and therefore are being require to prove your innocence. Is it a major discomfiture, or assault on rights? Maybe not, but the line it crosses is quite important IMHO.

and this is the very least of it.

This is the kind of moronic tripe that makes me understand the Right's dismissive view of the Left.

Gay marriage?

Religious displays on public property?

I'd just keep on walking out the door.

They have a right to ask.

You have a right to refuse.

and is not interested in productive debate.

You can usually tell when they use words like "moronic", "childish", etc. to describe their opponent's position. Somehow irony is lost to these kinds of posters.

I was responding to someone who called my beliefs "moronic".

I am talking to you about the person you are engaging. Sorry for any confusion.

That's why I tried to be nice about it.

Thanks for your support..

There is a LOT of scary shit going on in the world. However, unlike apparently you, I can find the energy to confront that which is wrong wherever I find it. ALL of it. Not just the large outrages.

... how I feel. I believe in picking your battles. This one is not even on the radar screen.

Plus, it seems to be lost on most of the folks here that these reciept checks are to prevent EMPLOYEE THEFT, not particularly shoplifting.

Certain kinds of merchandise, particularly electronics, suffer an inordinate amount of what retailers call "shrinkage". Shrinkage is the difference between what was purchased and what was sold.

It is assumed that most shrinkage comes from employee theft, since it is pretty tough to walk out of a store with a dvd player or computer as a shoplifter.

The most common scam is for a cashier to have a friend come in and "buy" a bunch of stuff, only the cashier only rings up some of it. The ONLY WAY to detect this theft is with bag/receipt checks.

the theft: the checker! Casinos watch dealers.

and they will take a yard; give them a yard and they will take a mile.:popcorn:

Nobody else has a problem with it. Besides, the back of the bus is almost as comfortable, and you'll feel better among your own kind. Now quit being an uppity troublemaker.

If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about.

No, no 'Exactly'. Not even CLOSE.

I know exactly what it was like back then.

And yes, giving up your rights is a stupid thing to do because once they are gone you'll never get them back.

Rights are always *taken* never given. You have to take them if you want them.

And then you have to hold on to them, they are precious.

To me, this is ridiculous. To you, it is a serious violation of your right to...what was it a violation of again? I swear, I cannot even remember now.

Once you pay for something it is your *personal* *property*.

I really don't understand why that is so hard for some people to grasp.

Without checking your bag or the receipt, how does the merchant (should he have some doubt) assure himself that you did pay for the item? Are you saying that the only point of the receipt is to return stuff? And without comparing the receipt to the items in the bag, the receipt is valueless for the purpose of verifying purchase.

I don't like anyone assuming I'm a criminal without justification.

I've had guests steal things before. Should I pat them down before I let them leave?



;)

Saves the embarrassment of having to pat them down.

"what are you willing to give up to keep your rights?"

But the main argument I heard on the Circuit City threads was that receipt checking helped keep prices down.

A claim I find kind of dubious.

I am not giving up anything by allowing my receipt and bags to be checked. And making a scene about it would not make me a 'better' American. The IVth Amendment is designed to keep the government from arbitrarily seizing and searching both people and their belongings. It is not there to allow me to avoid the 30 second delay showing my receipt and opening my shopping bag would cause. Someone else may have another interpretation. Just like a lot of people think that the II Amendment gives them the right to own an AK-47.

I have written letter after letter to my representatives about the Patriot Act. I have stood on street corners with signs protesting this war every year since it started. I am not interested in giving up my rights.

Just keep walking.

That's what I do.

Just minding my own business while I expect others to do the same..


On edit: Why are you so defensive about this?

I will carve them up and have them served at the food court.

NEVER AGAIN will I suffer the humiliation and embarassment of having my sacred rights ripped from my beating heart by submitting to any questions of any sort.

DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!

You enjoy being treated like a potential thief without any cause..

anything they want.

... with all of the REAL abuses going on, getting outraged at having your reciept checked is just pathetic. Don't shop places where that is a practice, YOU pay for all the employee theft.

You enjoy being treated as a potential thief with no probable cause.

I don't..

It's that simple.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Why so defensive?

BTW, you've been alerted on, personal insults are not allowed on DU.

... the truth hurts don't it.

You're getting worked up over NOTHING. If you don't like receipt checks, shop elsewhere.

And I walk out the door without showing a receipt..

Nothing you can say will bother me in the slightest, all you are doing is showing your own immaturity by making this personal.

... rip vinyl better than you as well.

What does that prove?

And I still don't understand why you are so defensive about this..

... I apologize for being an asshole to you. I disagree with your stance on this issue, but that's no reason to call names.

I wish I could understand why this is such an emotional issue for some people..

I'm not upset at all and yet I see harsh language flying around.

American jobs. I'll happily pay a higher price if my electronic item is made in Indiana, my sheets in the Carolinas, my chocolate in Pennsylvania. I assume this post is about Circuit City. If you don't like a store and its policies, don't shop there. We all buy too much unnecessary crap anyway.

And if they try to treat me as a potential thief with no probable cause I'll sue their asses.

I don't like being treated like a potential thief, which is exactly what the receipt checking is doing.

If you like having your personal belongings gone through by some minimum wage employee, be my guest.

bosses, not the minimum wage guy hired to check the receipts.

Why should I bother complaining?

They aren't going to change..

All it will do is get me frustrated.

about nothing. Stores have policies, they're private entities and are entitled to have policies, end of story. Shop there or don't.

Why do you keep on posting?

There are plenty of other threads to post on about more substantive matters.

Someone else put it well: There are no small battles in the fight for our freedoms.

I agree with that.

And the nuke story was planted, that sort of thing just doesn't happen by accident with the safeguards around nukes. They take that shite very, very seriously.

You are being suckered on that story.

Maybe they're watching employees who put 2 of something in the bag when a friend is buying stuff. If this is all you've got to worry about in life, you're a very lucky person. As for the nukes, the fact it is a "planted" story is why it's important.

Face it, the jobs wouldn't be outsourced if people would pay the higher price.

Same for the mom and pop chains being closed out by WalMart. People could have gone to those and paid the higher price, rather than gonig to Walmart, and doing without what they could not afford under that basis. And they might even personally know mom and pop. Even then, they prefer going to Walmart.

Lost jobs in the U.S. Sweatshop labor in Asia. Unchecked pollution at unregulated factories. Tons of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere thanks to the great distances all these "cheap" goods travel. But hey, if it's cheap, we don't want to know. And if we're stopped and made to show our receipts by some minimum wage guy who probably can't even afford to shop at the store where he works, it's none of our business.

I have room in my house if the Queen of England wants to send a few troops over for a stay.

I'll give up all of them if I can get a 5% discount.

Well, maybe not all of them-- I do think the 13th amendment is pretty spiffy. But if was a solid 6.5% discount, then yeah-- I'd give 'em all up for a 6.5% discount off of the manufacturers suggested retail price.

And if the service is *really* good and they have bathroom attendants-- the kind that pass out soap and mints and such, I think I'd probably sell my family into servitude and let them make my dog into pasta for a deal like that.

Free delivery, too??!! That's it-- I'm selling out 'Murika and replacing the trout on my ball cap with a hammer and sickle...

Why do you read the threads?

next time, make sure you've got a thousands receipts in your bag. If you can't beat them... etc