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Comment by MarketingJason | Hacker News Reader

The weight check slows the whole process down and I find I have to make sure I grab items with the cart-side hand or the system thinks I am trying to drop the item in the bag without scanning.

Worst of all is the receipt check after the process - looking at you Costco. It feels like checking pockets in a diamond mine. If I am going to be doing all the work to save the store money they should loose the right to check it.

Regarding that last point, has anyone tried brushing past them or refusing? I doubt they can detain or stop you without evidence. I guess the worst case is they could ban you or cancel a membership.

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They'll complain/look bewildered but little will come of it (probably) if you just do it once and weren't rude. However they can (not necessarily will, but can) revoke your membership for it, which you'll discover when you try to use the card at checkout or online. YMMV of course, but then checking the receipt is something you agreed to when signing on as a member. It really probably depends on how much of a scene it makes and if that stores stop loss dept takes note, which is likely tied to the value/fullness of the stuff in your cart.

I've done it before when busy, the line was long and I just needed tp (I was fortunate Costco was essentially my closest grocery store at the time). The girl doing receipt check looked non plussed and "Sir'd" me, I just smiled held up the receipt, told her have a nice day and kept going. No issue. Full cart might actually get a response though.

The act of checking is like a deterence, likely they found it lowered shoplifting by x %. If anyone works in that area, they probably was instructed to look like they check, and just dash it

They don't do weight checks in the Netherlands. The process is super efficient. They have certain reasons to have a human check out your load before accepting payment (weight might be a part of it? But probably not). You must scan your receipt to leave. So far as I understand, I think it works really well here. They probably catch enough serial shoplifters to make it work.

My guess is that the "featurism" of the weight check was promoted so much that they feel weird just relying on the tendency of people to be honest. But people do tend to be honest (especially when there is a small chance of being caught)

Yeah the weight check slows everything down enough that my girlfriend and I opt for the grocery store that doesn't do that over the one that does. It's obnoxious the way it works the way I can't just grab a bag without being yelled at or the way it gets mad if one of us leans on it etc.

Every Costco I’ve been to has actual cashiers. The self checkout is there if you really want to use it but I never do.

Costco is also technically a private membership club, not a store. That’s why they can check your receipt.

I have. This was before I realized it was in their cardmember agreement. The woman grabbed my cart and held onto it, preventing me from leaving with my belongings until I conjured a receipt.

I mean... Differences in location. I'm in Norway.

Most places have turned off the weight balance on the two sides, so it is no longer an issue.

I don't have a receipt check, but I do remember walmart did that before I moved ~10 years ago - those Walmarts didn't have self-checkouts, so it definitely isn't because of those. Stores thought this was good before self-checkouts were everywhere.

My mother once refused. They harassed her, and she ended up yelling. I cannot recall where this was, however, since there were not a Costco in the area.

I do - at some stores - get a random check, where they check a few items to make sure they were scanned. And then most of the time, I scan my receipt to get out of the check out area.

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