A Sam’s Club customer criticized the retailer’s Scan & Go feature for not being as seamless as she would like. In a viral TikTok video, Maris (@marisbeautyboxx) recorded how long she had to wait after using the store’s self-checkout option, which allows customers to use their phones to scan items they plan on purchasing to skip the checkout line.
Typically, an employee tasked with checking receipts of Scan & Go customers will scan several items to ensure that the order is on the up and up. Oftentimes, workers who are tasked with doing this are the same workers who are placed at the store exit and they will check physical receipts as well.
Maris didn’t seem too thrilled with the prospect of having to wait before exiting the store with her Scan & Go order. While some folks seemed to share her frustrations with the retailer over wait times, others had nothing but positive things to say about Sam’s Club.
“Sam’s Club should just charge everyone at the door!” Maris writes in a text overlay of their video as they wait with a full shopping cart as a store associate checks everyone’s receipts to ensure that there aren’t any discrepancies between what they’re wheeling out of the establishment and on their tiny bills of sale.
Maris records her entire time in line in what appears to be an attempt to illustrate just how long it takes to exit the store after folks purchase their items.
The employee checking customer receipts scans one shopper’s paper and then lifts an item from the cart to scan another product in there. The worker is engaged in a conversation with the Sam’s Club member, but a musical overlay in the clip drowns out their words.
Maris questions the practice of double scanning at Sam’s Club. As she wrote in the caption, “Sams Club why do they have to scan half your items at the Exit line ?”
Membership-style bulk retailers, like Costco and Sam’s Club, will often station workers at the exits of their locations. While other stores that don’t require memberships, like Walmart, are implementing these same receipt-checking policies, there are only a few states where this practice is enforced by law. In many areas of the U.S., customers can flat-out refuse to show their receipt to a store worker and exit the premises without having their egress blocked.
However, it seems that manual receipt checking will become a thing of the past in Sam’s Club stores throughout 2024. Simple Most reported that the retailer will be implementing artificial intelligence scanning stations that scan customers’ carts and are currently being tested out at 10 locations. “It works by using artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to capture images of carts and verify payment for all the items, regardless of whether you have a paper receipt or used the Sam’s Club app. The new system will speed up the process, Sam’s Club says, as there is no wait—you simply walk through on your way out the door,” the website penned.
Previously, Sam’s Club said its receipt-checking practices were a way to provide an additional “touchpoint” of employee-to-consumer interaction and enrich the customer experience, per Simple Most. “At Sam’s Club, we are member-obsessed. That means ensuring our members have a delightful experience from the time they enter to the time they exit the club. During the receipt check, exit greeters ensure that experience was met with an additional touchpoint while also reviewing purchased items and receipts,” the retailer said in a statement to the outlet.
@marisbeautyboxx Sams Club why do they have to scan half your items at the Exit line ? #samsclubfinds #sameclubfinds #samsclubmusthaves #shoppingatsams #samsclub #samsclubscanandgo #samsclubexitline ♬ Funny Song – Funny Song Studio & Sounds Reel
However, it appears that this “touchpoint” will be done away with for good, and judging from comments left by several Sam’s Club members, it’s for the best.
“Scan and Go is pointless cause we can’t just Go!” one person wrote.
Another penned, “Yes it is ridiculous that they scan everything before you go out. They should do it like Costco!”
However, some folks defended the store’s actions, stating that they don’t find Scan and Go as that much of an inconvenience.
“They only have to scan 3 items! I don’t understand why y’all lack patience and can’t wait!” another TikToker wrote.
One person said, “Idk what sams club these are, but every time I’ve gone to different ones they only scan 3 items.”
“She could be the one overdoing it, my sams club scans three random items and thats it,” a further user claimed.
“Scan and go is the best part of having a sams club membership!” someone else said.
One customer claimed to have seen fellow shoppers attempt to steal items from the store in real-time, so, as a result, they don’t mind the Scan & Go procedures at the popular bulk retailer: “They have self check I seen people hiding thing under other stuff so I’m ok with them doing this.”
Someone else said that Sam’s Club’s competition does the same thing, except without the physical act of scanning. “Costco basically does the same thing. It’s because too many people steal stuff,” they said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sam’s Club via email and Maris via Instagram direct message for further comment.
