Hm, I wish I could avoid these stores. Stores like Student Bookstores and the U of M bookstores require bags to be checked. This is understandable, as they don't wish to be stolen from when they're trying to rob the student blind. Just think how tough it would be to slip a $180 Calc textbook into your shopping bag or backpack? These stores go through so much merchandise so quickly that they can't afford any type of theft deterrent system other than a cop sitting there, sippin' on coffee.

Other stores I frequent like Cheapo Records in the Twin Cities ask that you check your bag. I feel no pang of violation handing my bag to a clerk working an honest job in an awesome music store. They also go through a high volume of merchandise, buying back and selling tons of music, and none of their cd's are in those big theft-deterrent plastic things. If they used those, they would need twice as much space as the already expansive collection takes up (think about the normal mall Sam Goody and multiply that by four or so). We're talking a lot of space there. If all they ask is to hold my bag behind the counter in plain sight of any other customer, so be it.

The store is a privately-owned business somewhere up the corporate chain, and the owners and managers have every right to protect their property and prevent theft. The business they lose from the few people who refuse to shop there because they check your bag is easily made up by the theft prevented daily.