If at first you don’t succeed…
One state is trying again, and another has joined the effort, to place strict limits on grocery self-checkouts, which proponents say would be pro-labor, pro-consumer and anti-corporate greed.
During their last legislative sessions, lawmakers in several states proposed laws that would do everything from limiting the number of self-checkout stations a grocery store can offer, to limiting the number of items that customers can take to self-checkout, to offering a discount to shoppers who choose to scan and bag their own items. None was passed into law.
But Rhode Island’s version came close, passing the state Senate while stalling out in the House. So the sponsor of the Senate bill has reintroduced the measure. And lawmakers in Washington state have now proposed their own version as well.
Rhode Island’s Senate Commerce Committee is currently considering a measure that would limit grocery stores to no more than six open self-checkout stations at a time, with at least one manual checkout available per self-checkout station. Stores’ increased reliance on self-checkouts, the bill states, “contributes to social isolation and related negative health consequences” for shoppers, particularly the elderly who “often lack the confidence or ability to use self-service checkouts” and need the “social connection” that interactions with cashiers provide. In addition, self-checkouts “increase the risk for shoplifting… allow grocery stores to rely more heavily on part-time employees… contribute to retail workers feeling devalued… (and) turn customers into unpaid employees.”
Washington state is taking a different approach, as sponsors of a bill there say regulating self-checkout is a public safety issue.
“I have been witness to the unsafe and chaotic environment that unregulated usage of self-checkout machines has created,” QFC grocery store employee James Reed said in testimony before Washington’s House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee yesterday. He said he regularly oversees from six to twelve self-checkout machines, which leaves him “overwhelmed and completely exposed to verbal and even physical abuse.” He described taking “the brunt of customers’ anger when machines malfunction or if it takes a little longer to assist someone while another customer waits,” and described one instance in which “a woman threw a steak at me because her item did not qualify for a BOGO deal.”
Democratic state representative Mary Fosse’s bill would mandate that employees in Washington state grocery stores not be required to monitor more than two self-checkout stations at a time, that at least one staffed checkout station is open for every self-checkout station in use, and that self-checkouts be limited to 15 items or fewer.
“This is not meant to be a ban on automated checkout,” Fosse told the committee. “We know it can be a convenience, but when it’s used as a way to eliminate workers and cut labor costs, that’s when it really puts workers as well as customers at risk.”
QFC cashier Amy Daley Angell also testified in favor of the bill. “Staffing is directly tied to safety. And unfortunately, the reality is that we are not safe at work anymore,” she said. “It’s terrifying to be alone on the front end while people are stealing things over and over. People get in our faces if they get irritated with us or if they’re trying to intimidate us… Allowing stores to replace employees with machines creates an environment where incidents like this are more likely to occur.”
The cashiers’ union representative Joe Mizrahi echoed their concerns. “These devices are linked in study after study to increases in theft, increases in minors’ access to alcohol, increases in mental health strain to workers, and increases in bullying and harassment and even violence,” he testified. “But at least they’ll make your shopping more efficient, right?” he added, before citing “longer wait times, longer lines, more work for customers and less grocery staff to help you” as unintended side effects of the technology.
Retail representatives who spoke in opposition to the bill urged lawmakers to proceed cautiously, and consider the impact the measure would have. “One person for every two checkout stations is overkill and honestly just kind of defeats the purpose of self-checkout,” Katie Beeson of the Washington Food Industry Association said. “This bill will practically remove an option that consumers have come to love and enjoy,” Rose Gunderson of the Washington Retail Association added. They both acknowledged that retail theft and workplace safety are legitimate concerns, but that there are better ways to address those problems besides regulating self-checkouts.
The self-checkout bill “goes too far in taking away the discretion that the stores have,” Brandon Houskeeper of the Northwest Grocery Retail Association testified. Some stores offer self-checkout because their customers like it – other stores don’t, because their customers don’t. It should be left to the stores to decide “how best to serve the needs of our employees and the consumers that we serve on a daily basis,” he said.
Self-checkouts can be polarizing. And, despite retailers’ reassurances, there have long been concerns that self-checkouts can cost jobs, lead to increased theft and eliminate the human touch that one would expect from a neighborhood grocery store. Regulating self-checkouts as a potential danger to employee safety and customer well-being is a novel approach, and one that hasn’t led to successful legislation just yet. Opponents hope to keep it that way. But supporters who’ve seen similar bills come and go, are determined to see things end differently this time.
Image source: Publix
