Exit Strategy: Sam's Club Will Stop Checking Your Receipt at the Door

Sam’s Club shoppers are about to get a major reprieve from one of the biggest headaches of shopping at warehouse clubs. The company will soon abandon the practice of manually checking receipts as consumers exit stores.

This week, Sam’s Club parent company Walmart announced that the bulk savings store will phase out receipt vetting at the door, which they dub “receipt verification.” Instead, locations will use artificial intelligence and “computer vision technology” to analyze the contents of shopping carts in real time.

In the release, Sam’s Club cited member complaints about the wait to exit as a “pain point” that needed to be resolved.

“Now, after a member completes payment at a register ... a combination of computer vision and digital technology deployed in the exit area of the club captures images of carts and verifies payment for all items within a member’s basket,” the release reads. “With AI working in the background to continually speed the process, this digital innovation not only streamlines the member’s exit, but also allows exit greeters to refocus their time and expertise to assisting members and ensuring they have an enjoyable shopping experience.”

Warehouse member clubs like Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s typically have employees stationed at exits to check paper receipts as a form of inventory control and to make sure guests weren’t under or over-charged for their merchandise.

Sam’s Club recently introduced Scan and Go, an app-based shopping alternative that allows members to scan barcodes on their phone and skip the checkout line entirely. Scan and Go shoppers will also be able to make the same streamlined departure.

Currently, 10 Sam’s Club locations in and around Dallas are equipped with the new exit strategy. The company plans to have it installed at most of its roughly 600 stores by the end of the year.