This indicates the item was never scanned. Why is everyone but @lookingforward ignoring this? This item left the store undetected and cannot be traced back to the clerk unless the puchaser provides the receipt or credit card number when attempting to make good. Just call the store, say a mistake was made, and pay with a different credit card. No harm done to anyone.
Advising a stranger on the internet is a lot easier than doing the right thing when it means money out of your pocket. I suspect that there just might be a few here who have let a mistake in their favor slip without correcting it. I know I have.
Discussions about ethics are a sort of “perfect world.”
You don’t have to be perfectly perfect to “get it.” Lol.
So what if someone here erred (or was cornered and chose one way over another?)
Does that mean it’s ok to keep the comforter?
You’re legally within your rights to keep the second coat under US Postal regulations as it came unsolicited in the mail.
You ordered one coat…they sent two.
What’s more interesting is even if the company insisting on your returning the item, you’re under no legal obligation to do so and any attempt to recover from the courts would have the judge pointing to the cut and dried USPS regulations stating items sent unsolicited through the mail(doesn’t matter if it’s through USPS or through a private carrier like UPS or FedEx) can be legally considered a free gift under the law or not at the discretion of the recipient.
In short, you’re not only legally covered, you went far beyond what the law mandates in your efforts to return the second coat.
I see it as black and white. Call and pay. It’s the right thing to do. And my first thought was like others who mentioned the quote “character is what you do when no one is watching.” If the person doesn’t have a conscience, she could still possibly be identified. I didn’t read all comments to see if others mentioned the store’s cameras, but there is a high likelihood that the unscanned comforter is on videotape. The tapes are pretty detailed as to who made purchases in a particular checkout line at a specific time. If she used cash, it would be harder to identify her. But then, they have tape of people leaving the stores, loading and getting in cars, and driving away, sometimes showing license plates.
To look at it as “money out of your pocket” seems really strange to me. It’s not like you’re being unfairly docked–it ws money the person planned to pay, and obviously had means to. So it’s not as if it is a loss. It’s a just remuneration. I’m sorry if you think it’s weird that others would feel the obvious obligation. Not just sorry–I’m sad that you doubt it.
Wouldn’t the store have the burden to establish intent to steal an item at the time it occurred?
If there’s no intent at the time, it’s very unlikely one can establish a crime of theft or similar offenses has occurred unless it’s covered by theft laws which don’t require intent at the time the act was committed.
I don’t know, @cobrat. I was just mentioning how much big brother knows our every move.
I don’t think your friend is justified in not paying for the comforter. She doesn’t have to return to the store to do it-- she could phone, read off the SKU number and pay by credit card. The salesperson does not have to be identified.
Apart from all other considerations, what does she want her son to learn from this experience? He will learn something-- what does she want that to be?
Money can make people nuts. Brings out the greed in folks.
Many receipts from big box stores will indicate which cash register processed the sale and also the exact time. Hence, if the OP’s friend calls and says they want to pay and will likely be asked for the time/register info. Then the store CAN trace it to a particular person, at a particular station at a particular time.
It’s also odd that a security tag would not have been attached to an item of that price.
Ok, I would have said something to my friend when she told me about the mistake. Like wow, if that happened to me I would feel so guilty. I’d have to call the store and see what they could do.
At the end of the day, if it was a big box retailer, it would be part of their shrink. It happens, they would probably wonder how someone shoplifted a comforter but it happens.
I have a family member who we feel isn’t as truthful as we would be. For instance we will go to hiking trails which ask for a fee but the fee is honor based. We are those people who would always pay, they are not. Even though they can well afford to. If we are with them, we pay, they don’t. We don’t make a big deal out of it, but will say, we feel better paying because that’s what is required. They don’t care.
To say something now, that’s your call. If it still bothers you, say something. Be light about it but say that the right thing to do is call and see if you can correct the stores mistake. They won’t probably do that but at least they know how you feel about it. It may make you sleep better.
Post #40 is excellent.
For people who say it’s OK not to pay anything for the comforter now:
Do the Ten Commandments not mean anything to you?
The comforter will only show up as missing when/if inventory is done as it was not scanned during the initial purchase event. The cameras are going to show people leaving the cashier area with what appear to be bought items. When inventory shows one fewer light blue floral comforters/item number such-and-such (one of several the store had) than purchase transactions, no one is going to look for it among persons paying through the checkout line, nor will it be visible in the bags leaving the store.
Folks, this item left the store undetected and untraceable. The burden is on the OP’s friend to do the right thing. The only repercussions are conscience, karma, integrity, character, etc.
A lot of convolutions here to justify keeping it.
Ironic to worry so much about the ckerk as if that changes the wrong in keeping it.
I did once have the experience of coming home and realizing that my steak was not added to my grocery bill. Since I wanted to eat it, I went back to the store the next day to pay. At the customer service window I got a " you want to pay for what exactly?" I had to get a manger involved and practically beg him to take my money!I had my kids with me so it was a good lesson for them.
Someone said the friend’s son would be watching (figuratively, I guess.) What if the tale were that the son had come home, got a comforter he wasn’t charged for? What would we parents expect?
“Do the Ten Commandments not mean anything to you?”
Although I’d like to think I’d do the right thing in such an instance based on my own moral and ethical code (which honestly would have been to acknowledge the cashier’s mistake right then and there - how do you not notice when paying that a big ticket item wasn’t included?), nope they don’t. Nor do they to many who don’t practice religion or who practice non-judeo/christian faiths. 
Just what I was thinking, @doschicos. They don’t mean a thing to me, but I wouldn’t dream of not trying to correct a mistake of this size.
If you’re paying by credit card, it’s easy to not notice, especially these days, when you’re concerned about whether the chip will work.
The Ten Commandments mean nothing to me. I’ve never found “God says so” to be a convincing argument in favor of anything, although I know that other people do.
I would “lose” the receipt. (Yes, this is dishonest. But it’s a kindly meant form of dishonesty, to avoid getting the checker in trouble.) But I would still call the store and tell them what happened.