In general, I think it makes honest customers feel like the store is treating them like a criminal, and in my mind it is a very lazy way of trying to find shoplifters. Also, (I am an African-American woman), I have had friends/family members feel embarrassed or humiliated because their receipt was checked but not others who came through the exit before or after them. I have also noticed in the past (not sure if this is true now) that some stores (i.e. Target) has this receipt-checking policy in Prince George's county, but did not have one went I visited a suburban Va. store. Both of these issues, of course, speak to the issue of race/class profiling.

Retail loss experts explain that the purpose of the bag check is to make sure the cashier correctly charged for all items in the shopping bag or cart. Once this is done, the bag checker makes a distinctive mark on the receipt to indicate that it was checked.