We can all agree that everything seems to be getting more expensive, right?
Housing, groceries, the general cost of living—it’s a tough time for most of us regular folks, and belts are only continuing to tighten. So the last thing anyone needs is a set of mysterious charges added to their regular grocery bill.
What Was On Her Walmart Receipt?
In a video first posted on Apr. 30 that now has over 2,700 views, content creator Ashley McCormick (@mommcormick1) issued a warning. She told her followers about an experience she’d allegedly had with a cashier at her local Walmart.
“OK, so this is a ‘Walmart’s trying to steal your money’ post,” McCormick begins in her video. “I went yesterday with my mom to get some groceries and a couple other little household-y things, and I knew roughly what I had spent. I get up there, and they give me my total, and I’m like, ‘That seems high.’”
McCormick says she generally keeps a “bit of a running total in [her] brain” whenever she shops. However, she didn’t want to hold up the line, so she checked her receipt after the cashier checked her out. And that’s when she saw something odd.
“I saw something that said ‘site merch,'” McCormick reveals. “I’m like, ‘What the [expletive] is site merch for $14.98?’ I knew nothing I’d picked up was $14.98 cents. So I went up, I went on my Walmart app and I typed in the [Universal Product Code (UPC)] that was on there … and there was nothing on the website.”
McCormick then holds the receipt in question up to the camera. It does indeed show a line item listed as “SITE MERCH” for $14.90. She says she made a beeline for customer service, who scanned her receipt to no avail. Finally, the customer service rep manually typed the UPC code into their computer, and something even odder popped up.
Did She Buy This Item?
“‘It brings up a pair of shoes, did you buy a pair of shoes?’” McCormick recalls the rep asking her. “And I said, ‘No, here’s my basket … I don’t have any shoes. And the shoe price, they showed it to me, was $18.98 [instead of] $14.98.”
The rep ended up refunding McCormick, but she was stricken by how easy it would have been to miss the extra charge—and how such extra charges might add up, every day, countrywide.
“How many people does this happen to every day that no one catches?” McCormick finishes. “And we’re talking like, there’s got to be tens of thousands or millions of people across the country who shop at Walmart on the daily … Check your receipts, people. Walmart’s trying to take your money.”
Receipt Scams: Are Walmart Cashiers Sneaking Extra Items Onto Bills?
It is very much against Walmart’s policy to charge customers for things they did not buy. There is hardly a grand conspiracy by Walmart to overcharge customers for random phantom items.
However, people in McCormick’s comment section and in forums across the internet speculate that some cashiers might be sneaking products that they want for themselves onto the bills of unsuspecting customers—essentially, stealing without getting caught, thanks to the customers unwittingly paying for the item.
For example, in one well-trafficked Facebook post from Oct. 2023, Walmart shopper Anthony Verdin posted a picture of his receipt that appeared to include a mysterious $10 charge for “WALMART PLAS.”
“Check your receipts always, just went to Walmart.” Verdin wrote. “Amount seemed a tad high and sure enough, this was added. They don’t even know what this but whatever it is I didn’t get it. Got my refund before I left the store.”
One commenter pointed out this seemed like good-old-fashioned theft, with the transaction appearing to point to the purchase of a PlayStation gift card: “Wonder how many they accidentally charge people for each shift?”
Ultimately, one of McCormick’s viewers gave some sage advice—namely, to make a habit of double-checking receipts, no matter the location or situation.
“This isn’t just Walmart,” one viewer commented. “And you should check every recipe from everywhere!!!!”
We reached out toMcCormick via TikTok comment and Walmart via contact form.
