Exiting Costco While Black

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Left the College Park Costco with DH and DD an hour ago. We spent a long time leaving because the two door monitors were meticulously checking the receipts of the customers ahead of us (both African American). Every item was checked against their receipts. Then, their personal bags were checked.

My husband had our cart and I had my daughter in her stroller. I finally went past the monitors and out the door. They didn't check me at all -- of course I could have had an item in her ample stroller basket. Did I mention I'm white?

Another white customer did the same. Just took his item and walked past the checkers. Nothing said to him.

From my vantage point outside the checkpoint, I observed them meticulously checking all black customers. My husband and an Asian customer came up. Got a quick visual check and a black check mark on their receipts -- and then waved through. I said to my husband -- "They were practically strip searching the black customers, and then they waved you through." He replied: "You noticed that too."

Costco in Sterling VA gets AA, white, hispanic, asian, plus african immigrants and other immigrants. The checkers look at the receipt and then the stuff. Takes longer if you have a lot. I never saw a purse have to be opened. I dress like a slob since I garden alot.

My guess is the checkers were inexperienced immigrants with a hunk of prejudice.

Is it less offensive if immigrants display prejudice because they may have been brought up in a homogeneous society rather than an American born person?

I posted about Costco in Sterling. No. It is NOT less offensive. As an experienced Costco shopper I would have said something to the management prior to leaving the store. Costco does a lot of business and the door checker is supposed to match purchased items to the receipt. Costco is not the neighborhood Giant or Safeway so many have longer drives home. Many people buy frozen food, meat, produce - items that need to be refrigerated ASAP.

Those checkers were intruding on the dignity of the AA shoppers. The checkers were also HOLDING up the movement out of the store for people who needed to get their stuff home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is totally off topic WRT the OP, but I wouldn't patronize a place where my stuff gets checked every time I shop there.

There are no bags for the items at wholesale stores. You're just walking out with a large cart of merchandise. Receipt checking is standard at Costco, BJs and I think also Sam's Club. It would be a shoplifter's paradise without the door checking.

I've noticed more/less scrutiny at different BJs stores. The one in Woodbridge is more thorough than the one in Fairfax.

I'm not saying I don't understand why they do it, I'm just saying I wouldn't shop there.

And to the PP who posted about the security alarm going off due to cashier error- I don't recall it ever accidentally going off for me, so I'd rather take my chances with that than get checked every time.

[Anonymous]

I believe to the whole checking process is just an excuse to to more closely check people that they have seen on security cameras doing something suspicious. It is very unlikely that Costco's door receipt checkers have ever found any stolen items simply from taking a quick look at the cart and matching it with the receipt. If they were going through this family's cart with a fine tooth comb it was because they were instructed to do so from the store's security center and it had nothing to do with the ethnicity of the individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe to the whole checking process is just an excuse to to more closely check people that they have seen on security cameras doing something suspicious. It is very unlikely that Costco's door receipt checkers have ever found any stolen items simply from taking a quick look at the cart and matching it with the receipt. If they were going through this family's cart with a fine tooth comb it was because they were instructed to do so from the store's security center and it had nothing to do with the ethnicity of the individuals.

OP here...once again it was not "a family." It was several African American shoppers (some families, some individuals) leaving the stores with their carts, versus several other white or Asian shoppers.

If it were just one family, I would not have posted! Reading comprehension skills, people!

[Anonymous]

"It would be a shoplifter's paradise without the door checking. "

Where the free shit at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP that is so ridiculous. If I were them I would've turned around and returned it all. And then complained like hell to management (politely of course). I've been shopping at Costco for many years and have yet to see anything like that. And I do know exactly what the PP is talking about in regards to being written off just for walking into a store while being Black. That and I cannot walk into a Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Giant, etc, without customers assuming that I work there. Doesn't matter if I'm holding my purse, pushing a cart. It happens so often I don't even get offended anymore. If I can answer their question I do. If not, I tell them to ask someone that works at the store. Strangely, this has not once happened to my White husband.

I'm white and I get asked all the time if I work there. It doesn't matter if I have my down jacket on. I must look like I work everywhere, except nice stores.

Same here - I get asked all of the time if I work at stores I am shopping at and I am white also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP that is so ridiculous. If I were them I would've turned around and returned it all. And then complained like hell to management (politely of course). I've been shopping at Costco for many years and have yet to see anything like that. And I do know exactly what the PP is talking about in regards to being written off just for walking into a store while being Black. That and I cannot walk into a Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Giant, etc, without customers assuming that I work there. Doesn't matter if I'm holding my purse, pushing a cart. It happens so often I don't even get offended anymore. If I can answer their question I do. If not, I tell them to ask someone that works at the store. Strangely, this has not once happened to my White husband.

I'm white and I get asked all the time if I work there. It doesn't matter if I have my down jacket on. I must look like I work everywhere, except nice stores.

Same here - I get asked all of the time if I work at stores I am shopping at and I am white also.

White woman, late 20's here and I get asked if I work everywhere from Target to Macys to Home Depot. My mom and DH says its bc I always look like I know what I'd doing/going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe to the whole checking process is just an excuse to to more closely check people that they have seen on security cameras doing something suspicious. It is very unlikely that Costco's door receipt checkers have ever found any stolen items simply from taking a quick look at the cart and matching it with the receipt. If they were going through this family's cart with a fine tooth comb it was because they were instructed to do so from the store's security center and it had nothing to do with the ethnicity of the individuals.

OP here...once again it was not "a family." It was several African American shoppers (some families, some individuals) leaving the stores with their carts, versus several other white or Asian shoppers.

If it were just one family, I would not have posted! Reading comprehension skills, people!

Oh please...you've never heard of groups of people seemingly unrelated working in groups to steal stuff? Seriously? They're called "theft RINGS" for a reason. I'm not saying that this is what was going on, but you don't really have the full story. Sometimes there are posters of suspected thieves in the back room...you don't know if they looked like a suspected thief or whatever or if they've actually stolen in the past. Stop being so judgmental and just be glad they check for stuff because curbing thievery keeps the costs down for everyone. Part of what keeps people honest is the not knowing if you'll be the one who is stopped or not. I've shopped at Costco and been more or less waived through and I've been the one whose cart gets checked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were the door monitors white?

At our Costco - as a white person - I'm the minority. Our receipts are always scrutinized as closely as anyone else's.

Yeah, me too...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe to the whole checking process is just an excuse to to more closely check people that they have seen on security cameras doing something suspicious. It is very unlikely that Costco's door receipt checkers have ever found any stolen items simply from taking a quick look at the cart and matching it with the receipt. If they were going through this family's cart with a fine tooth comb it was because they were instructed to do so from the store's security center and it had nothing to do with the ethnicity of the individuals.

OP here...once again it was not "a family." It was several African American shoppers (some families, some individuals) leaving the stores with their carts, versus several other white or Asian shoppers.

If it were just one family, I would not have posted! Reading comprehension skills, people!

Oh please...you've never heard of groups of people seemingly unrelated working in groups to steal stuff? Seriously? They're called "theft RINGS" for a reason. I'm not saying that this is what was going on, but you don't really have the full story. Sometimes there are posters of suspected thieves in the back room...you don't know if they looked like a suspected thief or whatever or if they've actually stolen in the past. Stop being so judgmental and just be glad they check for stuff because curbing thievery keeps the costs down for everyone. Part of what keeps people honest is the not knowing if you'll be the one who is stopped or not. I've shopped at Costco and been more or less waived through and I've been the one whose cart gets checked.

OP again....yep, you must be right.

All of the black people were a ring of thieves whose pictures were posted in the back room and had been monitored on the shopping floor by security for suspicious behavior. This includes the mother/daughter/grandmother combo that I had been chatting with at the concession/checkstand who I had observed paying for their items, as I wrote in an earlier post.

All of the whites and Asians were honest shoppers.

You're right. My bad. I'm just looking for racism, and apparently the fact that my husband arrived at the same conclusion about what was going on was pure coincidence. Shame on us for impugning this fine institution.

[Anonymous]

OP, give it up. It's depressingly predictable the way many white people will firmly deny the possibility of racial prejudice, just because it doesn't comport with THEIR experience. What you observed sounds like racism, and possibly stemmed from some kind of management directive. I'm not sure what I would do either, but good for you for picking up on this and being properly aghast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe to the whole checking process is just an excuse to to more closely check people that they have seen on security cameras doing something suspicious. It is very unlikely that Costco's door receipt checkers have ever found any stolen items simply from taking a quick look at the cart and matching it with the receipt. If they were going through this family's cart with a fine tooth comb it was because they were instructed to do so from the store's security center and it had nothing to do with the ethnicity of the individuals.

OP here...once again it was not "a family." It was several African American shoppers (some families, some individuals) leaving the stores with their carts, versus several other white or Asian shoppers.

If it were just one family, I would not have posted! Reading comprehension skills, people!

Oh please...you've never heard of groups of people seemingly unrelated working in groups to steal stuff? Seriously? They're called "theft RINGS" for a reason. I'm not saying that this is what was going on, but you don't really have the full story. Sometimes there are posters of suspected thieves in the back room...you don't know if they looked like a suspected thief or whatever or if they've actually stolen in the past. Stop being so judgmental and just be glad they check for stuff because curbing thievery keeps the costs down for everyone. Part of what keeps people honest is the not knowing if you'll be the one who is stopped or not. I've shopped at Costco and been more or less waived through and I've been the one whose cart gets checked.

OP again....yep, you must be right.

All of the black people were a ring of thieves whose pictures were posted in the back room and had been monitored on the shopping floor by security for suspicious behavior. This includes the mother/daughter/grandmother combo that I had been chatting with at the concession/checkstand who I had observed paying for their items, as I wrote in an earlier post.

All of the whites and Asians were honest shoppers.

You're right. My bad. I'm just looking for racism, and apparently the fact that my husband arrived at the same conclusion about what was going on was pure coincidence. Shame on us for impugning this fine institution.

It's PG count, most of the shoppers are black. That store would never close if they had to check every black person to the degree you describe. There was probably a reason, not necessarily racism, that you were not privy too. Just because the family you spoke to seemed nice and honest, doesn't mean they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were the door monitors white?

At our Costco - as a white person - I'm the minority. Our receipts are always scrutinized as closely as anyone else's.

Yeah, me too...

Same here - My stuff is always overturned and double checked and that's with two cranky kids in the front of the cart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, give it up. It's depressingly predictable the way many white people will firmly deny the possibility of racial prejudice, just because it doesn't comport with THEIR experience. What you observed sounds like racism, and possibly stemmed from some kind of management directive. I'm not sure what I would do either, but good for you for picking up on this and being properly aghast.

Yes, I love how on posts like these, people will come up with other explanations for what happened other than racism. "I shopped at a completely different Costco, at a completely different time, and I am white, and they checked my cart, so there's no possible way that what you saw was racism." Wake up, people. There may be another explanation, it's possible, but often, the simplest explanation is the right one. I also say kudos to you for noticing and being bothered. Probably most of these other Costco shoppers posting would not have noticed such an imbalance.

[Anonymous]

Could be racist. Could not be. Maybe Costco has a policy that every 5th and 6th cart has to be checked item for item?

As for theft--they come in all colors. White, Black, and Asian people all steal stuff. Sometimes white people will be scrutinized, sometimes Black, sometimes Asian. OP saw what happened this once and it happened to be a Black family. Was it a repeat pattern, maybe? Maybe not.

Not enough info here to make a judgment call. The incident has passed, OP can still complain if she wants. OP will probably complain on the spot if she sees it again.