California wants to regulate self-checkout lanes: Who will benefit from the state’s legislation?
A bill in California would stipulate regulations for self-checkout lanes saying it will benefit workers and shoppers, but not all are convinced.
Some shoppers find them extremely convenient; others loathe them. As retailers seek to cut costs while “improving the customer experience” at stores, self-checkout lanes have proliferated.
While the machines can free up store clerks to fulfil other activities, it also means that supermarkets need fewer workers to staff the registers. As a result, it is “leading to increased workplace violence and retail theft,” according to those pushing for new regulations on self-checkout lanes.
“To better safeguard, workers, jobs and stores” a California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would limit the number of items customers can purchase using the machines and require stores to have more staff on hand to monitor them and accommodate shoppers at registers.
Who will benefit from the California’s legislation to regulate self-checkout lanes?
California SB 1446, the Retail Theft Prevention and Safety Act, has been introduced by Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas in order to protect supermarket and retail workers as well as the public. “While it’s crucial to adapt to new technologies, protecting jobs and worker safety must be prioritized in the process,” said the bill’s author. “SB 1446 will protect workers and the public by ensuring safe staffing levels at grocery and drug retail stores and regulating self-checkout machines.”
If passed, stores would be required to have designated employees to watch the lanes, having one for every two self-checkout stations. Those employees would not have any additional duties other than monitoring what shoppers were scanning at the machines, reports the Sacramento Bee.
Furthermore, stores would have to maintain at least one employee-operated checkout lane as well. Additionally, customers using the self-checkout stations would be limited to ten items or fewer.
Not all are convinced about regulating self-checkout lanes
“In part it’s codifying some requirements that I think, from our perspective, are a little heavy-handed, as far as getting down into the granularity of how business or a store needs to operate,” said senior policy advocate of California Chamber of Commerce Ashley Hoffman.
“For example, the grocery space, where they’re operating on pretty thin margins. You know, when you’re having to make these drastic adjustments or adjust staffing ratios, that can be a big cost impact,” she told San Francisco’s ABC7 News.
Customers have also expressed their concerns that requiring stores to maintain more staff could mean that the costs get passed on to them.
“I understand the concern for theft,” Steven Brummond said to the KGO-TV. “I’d be concerned, though, that if grocery stores were required to staff more checkout aisles, that that would be a huge cost increase for them and they’d pass that cost on to customers.”