Anyone who’s been to Best Buy, Walmart, and (depending on where you live) Fry’s Electronics knows all about the Bag Nazi. For those of you who don’t, the Bag Nazi is the person who stops you on your way out of the store to have a look at your receipt and dig through your bag to sure you haven’t stolen anything.

As a customer of these establishments, this really pisses me off. There are at least two dozen stores that sell electronics in my area. Knowing this, Best Buy chooses to reward me for doing business with them by having a loss prevention employee harass me for a receipt as I’m walking out of the store. This would be perfectly acceptable if I was spotted opening boxes and stuffing their contents into my pockets — but I’ve never done this. At Best Buy, I walk in, take what I need, and walk straight to the check-out area. I pay, take my item, and head for the door. Regardless, Best Buy’s loss prevention people still ask to see my receipt every time I’m trying to leave the store.

Until a few months ago, I had no problem showing my receipt, and leaving the Bag Nazi with an antecdote (“didn’t steal anything today”, etc.) on my way out. This was all perfectly acceptable until one day there was a lengthy line of at least 15 people waiting to have their receipts checked.

At that point, I decided that I had better things to do with my time, and that I would not be waiting in line just to have some guy glance at my receipt and mark it with his highlighter. This was something I’d never done before, so I made a plan while I waited for my turn to pay for my purchase. I would maneuver around the line at a regular walking pace, step out of the store, and walk directly to my car. A clean getaway.

And that’s exactly what I did. So, what happened? Did the Bag Nazi stop what he was doing so that he could chase me through the parking lot? Was the police called? Did Best Buy release the Geek Squad so that they could run me down with their black and white Beetles?

Nothing happened. The Bag Nazi looked in my direction as I walked by, but said absolutely nothing. The police weren’t called, and the Geek Squad remained in their area of the store. All in all, it seems that nobody gave a damn that I walked out without showing my receipt.

This made me wonder about the Bag Nazi’s purpose in the store. Common sense dictates that he has no right to detain me unless he can prove that I have committed a crime. If he does decide to follow me out of the store, he has no right to forcefully detain me while I’m walking to my car. Once I’m in my car, he has no right to hold me on Best Buy’s property against my will. The worst he can do is write down my license plate number, call the police, and get laughed at when he tries to report a shoplifter despite not having any kind of proof.

With that in mind, it seems that the purpose of the Bag Nazi is simply to deter theft. I can see how the “I’m going to check your receipt” trick might work for middle school kids who want to walk out of the store without paying for some Xbox game. But does this really work with real shoplifters? Would it work for the the guys who make a living out stealing items from stores? I doubt it — it’s not like a real shoplifter would even give the Bag Nazi a chance to ask for a receipt. A real shoplifter would make it out of the store and halfway down the road by the time the Bag Nazi even realizes what happened.

My solution now is to just say “no thanks” or ignore the Bag Nazi on my way out of the store. I’ve done this over a dozen times now, and have yet to be harassed, detained, or arrested.

Problem solved. :)