Retail sales haven't been spectacular lately, so you'd think stores would want to please their customers rather than trample on their rights. But many retailers seem to be adding ways to tick us off.

More stores seem to be:

• Stopping customers to check their receipts before they let them out the doors.


• Posting minimum-purchase requirements for credit cards.


• Insisting that customers present identification when using credit cards.


• Asking customers for personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses or (heaven forbid) Social Security numbers before starting transactions.

These behaviors are so commonplace that you might not realize there's anything wrong with them.

But there is.

The receipt checkers

If you've signed a membership agreement with a warehouse club such as Costco or Sam's, you've agreed to present your receipt upon exiting one of their stores. Other retailers have no such agreement with you, but some station employees at their doors to ask for your receipts anyway.

Receipt checks are supposed to be voluntary. The law varies from place to place, but U.S. retailers generally aren't allowed to detain you unless they have good reason to believe you've stolen something — and refusing to present your receipt does not constitute probable cause.

Some people report that they're able to breeze past receipt checkers simply by saying, "No, thanks." Others say they've been harassed or even detained by overly zealous employees or security guards when they refused. (One woman in China was beaten to death for failing to turn over her Wal-Mart receipt, according to Chinese police.

Retailers typically try to walk a fine line between protecting their merchandise against theft and inconveniencing their customers, said Daniel Butler, the vice president of retail operations for the National Retail Federation. Many opt for universal receipt checks, he said, rather than risk discriminating against certain customers by singling them out for checks.

Certainly, some shoppers are happy to give up their rights in exchange for low prices. If you're not, you can:

• Cause a stink and risk an incident.


• Shop somewhere else.


• Shop online (same stuff, no frisking involved).


• Write a letter to the chains' CEOs telling them exactly what you think of their receipt-checking policies. Here are a few addresses to get you started:

Michael Duke, CEO
Wal-Mart Stores
702 S.W. Eighth St.
Bentonville, AR 72716

Bradbury H. Anderson, CEO
Best Buy
7601 Penn Ave. S.
Richfield, MN 55423

John Fry, CEO
Fry's Electronics
600 E. Brokaw Road
San Jose, CA 95112

Credit card rule breakers

I wrote about this in "9 big credit card myths": Merchants' agreements with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover specifically forbid the retailers from requiring identification. Your signature is supposed to be enough.

The store clerk shouldn't even ask for ID by Visa and MasterCard rules. American Express and Discover don't prohibit asking but strongly discourage it.

Visa, MasterCard and Discover also forbid merchants from setting minimum-purchase requirements before allowing you to use a card. (American Express doesn't specifically forbid minimum-purchase requirements unless they're imposed only on AmEx transactions.)

And while merchants can give you a discount for paying cash, they're not supposed to inflict a surcharge for using credit.

To say violations are rampant is like saying that a little snow fell on Washington, D.C., in February. Ya think?

The trend of asking for ID is particularly annoying because it doesn't protect you, the shopper — it's all about protecting the merchant. If someone used your card fraudulently, you wouldn't be out a dime, thanks to the cards' zero-liability policies.

Meanwhile, surcharges and minimum-purchase requirements stem from the fees the merchants pay to accept credit cards. They want you to spend with them, which is why they accept plastic, but then they balk at the price.

(I do have some sympathy for small merchants, since they pay more proportionately to accept cards than the big guys, but it still bugs me when they violate their merchant agreements at my expense.)

What to do? Similar to what I suggested above:

• Cause a stink and risk an incident.


• Shop somewhere else.


• Shop online.


• Call your credit card issuer (the number on the back of your card) and lodge a protest. Or write customer service using the address on your statement.

Card issuers won't enforce the rules unless people like us complain.

I've pretty much given up protesting the ID issue, because it's so ubiquitous now and the person demanding the ID is usually a low-level employee who's been told to do it by her boss. But I never let a clerk write down any of the information on my driver's license. That's not just a violation of the merchant agreement; it can also set me up for fraud. Speaking of which, beware:

The marketing machines

"What's your phone number (or e-mail address)?" "I need your name and address to start the transaction." "We have to have your Social Security number."

None of this information is required to complete a retail transaction. So why do they ask?

To add you to their marketing databases, of course.

If you want their spam (and maybe coupons, too), you're certainly free to divulge your name, address, phone number and birthday. But you're never required to do so just to complete a transaction.

And any request for a Social Security number should really raise red flags. There are a few times you have to fork over your Social Security number to a private business:

• If you're applying for credit.


• If the transaction will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.


• If there's a financial institution involved, and it's required to verify your identity.

Health care providers and potential employers usually want your SSN as well. Privacy advocates suggest you avoid revealing it unless you have to — in the case of an employment situation, that's after you've accepted the job. But that might be a tough line to draw if the health care provider or potential employer makes a stink about it, since you want (or need) what they have to offer.

In other situations, you should be extremely stingy about who gets your Social Security number, since it's the key to your financial identity and revealing it can make you a target of identity theft.

When asked for this or any other personal information, the best response is the simplest: "I prefer to keep that information private."

Related Links:

Don't let identity thieves ruin your vacation

Do you keep your receipts?

18 ways to foil credit card receipts