Posted by Steve, steve@thisdomain.com, on 6/20/00

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I am working on a freelance story idea on the subject of a
certain practice many retail stores use for loss prevention.
I am speaking of checking a customer's purchase at the exit
to be certain the items have been paid for.

I have seen some discussion in various online forums about
the legality of this practice. Some claim that because we
are talking about private citizens as security personnel,
the 4th amendment protection against illegal search does not
apply.

Others claim that, because ownership of the merchandise is
transferred as soon as the customer enters into a "contract
for purchase" of the goods, the security person is asking to
search personal property and has no right to do so without
probable cause, if at all.

Any clarification of this question would serve to help me
decide if there is a story here or not.

Thanks!

Re: Retail stores checking purchase receipts, 7/21/04, by Lenoxx.

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