At some stores, checking out isn’t the end of the shopping process. Instead, these stores will require that customers show their receipt to a worker or scan the receipt to exit, ensuring that they’ve actually purchased the items with which they’re intending to leave.
Customers aren’t always the biggest fans of this policy. Some have noted that one can simply refuse to have their receipt checked at a store like Walmart. Others have shared their methods for avoiding receipt checkers at other stores.
Still, in some cases, one must simply wait for their receipt to be checked, as one user on TikTok learned the hard way.
What happens if you throw away your Costco receipt in-store?
In a post with over 48,000 views, TikTok user Jake (@_jake.mp4) shows himself holding a folded 8.5×11 inch piece of paper.
“Guys don’t throw your receipt away before you leave costco or you’ll have to wait 8 years for the receipt of shame,” he writes in the text overlaying the post.
In the caption and comments, Jake reveals that he only purchased a few items. However, after losing the receipt, he was forced to “[wait] shamefully for them to come back with a fully grown 8.5×11 that is literally waving a white surrender flag.”
Costco’s solution
According to Costco, “It is standard practice at all our warehouse locations to verify purchase receipts when customers exit our buildings.”
“We do this to double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers. It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control, and it’s also a good way to ensure that our members have been charged properly for their purchases,” the company’s website reads.
While one might think that it would be easy to hold onto their receipt over such a short time, many internet users report that receipt disposals frequently happen after visiting the food court. People order food and then carelessly throw away their receipts afterward, forgetting that they will need to show their receipt at the door.
In cases like these, shoppers advise following Jake’s lead and going to guest services for a new one. However, many note that this process can take a considerable amount of time when compared to simply holding onto one’s original receipt.
‘Wouldn’t happen at Sam’s Club.’
In the comments section, users claimed that this was a common occurrence, though some shared their disdain for the practice.
“I crumble mine up accidentally so many times and then go oh [expletive],” wrote a user.
“Wouldn’t happen at Sam’s Club,” stated another. “We just have you pull up the receipt on the app, or most of the time we don’t need it because these new arches we have already know if you bought everything or not.”
“My receipt for cut off in the machine and I had to go all the way back for my ONE ‘easy in and out’ trip to Costco,” offered a third. “Apparently they won’t let you exit without the whole receipt even tho they could see I only had one item.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Costco via media relations contact form and Jake via Instagram and TikTok DM.
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