A new bill put forward by the California State Senate has proposed banning self-checkout lanes from select grocery and retail stores in an effort to stop rampant retail theft. Senate Bill 1446, which places strict conditions on when and where self-checkout can be used, also includes provisions to protect employees from losing jobs to automation.
Democratic State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, who introduced the bill, stated that self-checkout machines cause 16 times more losses to theft than manned cashier stations, resulting in $100 billion in annual losses for stores. The rise in organized crime targeting retailers—a particular problem in California—also poses a threat to the physical safety of retail workers.
“As self-checkout has become more commonplace, lone workers have become easy targets for theft and violence as they are forced to stock merchandise, operate checkout stations, and cater to customers” all while “trying to monitor their stores for retail theft,” Smallwood-Cuevas said.
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According to a summary of the bill, the new legislation would “prohibit a grocery or retail drug establishment from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are met.”
Under these conditions, a single employee may only monitor up to two self-checkout lanes, and customers will be limited to 10 items at a time. Purchasing items like alcohol and cigarettes, along with any items kept in locked cabinets or equipped with electronic surveillance tags, will only be done with an in-person cashier.
These provisions will also require retailers that want to offer self-checkout options to complete an assessment showing the number of jobs eliminated by each machine.
“We must protect jobs and ensure worker safety,” Smallwood-Cuevas said. “[SB] 1446 is essential to making sure that we are addressing all of the complexity of this issue of retail theft and most importantly, putting workers and consumers first.”
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However, opponents of the legislation say that the bill constitutes an overreach that will limit customer convenience and limit store owners in conducting their own businesses.
“Customers love self-checkout for its convenience, but SB 1446 would add barriers to make it anything but-restricting what shoppers can purchase through self-checkout and forcing grocers to overstaff the area,” the California Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
But despite the objections, recent months have seen large retail chains willingly removing self-checkout lanes in areas prone to theft. Last month, Walmart announced plans to return to exclusively manned checkout stations at several locations in Ohio and Missouri, citing a desire to “improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service.”
Target, while still open to self-checkout options, is limiting them to just 10 items per customer and is also opening up more manned lanes.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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