Many shoppers like self-checkout for its speed, convenience, and the limited interaction with others that it provides. But if you scan your own groceries in one Southern California city this weekend, you’ll find plenty of employees around to help you out – and keep an eye on you in the process.
A new ordinance takes effect this Sunday in the city of Long Beach, imposing new rules on stores that offer self-checkouts. Drug stores and grocery stores must have at least one staffed checkout lane available any time a self-checkout station is open. An employee monitoring the self-checkout area can be assigned no more than three stations at a time. And stores must limit self-checkout purchases to 15 items or fewer.
Opponents of the measure have called it unnecessary, burdensome, and a stealthy way to force retailers to hire more employees. Supporters say it’s a matter of safety.
Back in March, city lawmakers hosted a Retail Theft Roundtable, where they heard from retail employees who they say “shared personal experiences about the chronic understaffing of self-checkout stations operations in their stores, the frequency of theft that occurs through SCO stations, and the associated increases in harassment, violence, and intimidation they have encountered due to understaffing of SCO operations.”
So they proposed a new ordinance to cure what they called “hostile workplace conditions for employees, and unsafe shopping environments for customers.” That ordinance passed last month, was signed by the mayor, and is now set to take effect. Any customer or employee can report a violation, and if stores aren’t complying with the requirements, they can face civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation per day.
Business leaders in the city questioned the measure’s necessity, and its supporters’ true motives. “This approach is a thinly veiled attempt to pass a staffing mandate while doing nothing to actually address public safety,” Celeste Wilson, Government Affairs Manager at the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, told the Long Beach Post. “All this item does is unfairly penalize businesses that are using technology to stay competitive.”
But the measure’s sponsors argued that “adequate staffing levels in retail establishments are critical in deterring retail theft.” The more employees that are monitoring self-checkouts, the less likely it is that wrongdoers who know they’re being watched will cause trouble, they said. “It is in the public’s interest to require retail establishments to adopt effective preventative measures that will limit the public burden that retail theft creates,” they concluded, “especially within the context of self-checkout retail operations where theft commonly occurs but remains largely unchecked.”
This ordinance represents the latest example of a California city taking matters into its own hands, and passing a measure that the state has so far been unable to do. California legislators first proposed a similar statewide bill last year. Other states have proposed legislation of their own to regulate self-checkouts. But so far, none of the proposals has become law.
That’s also what has happened with efforts to regulate digital-only grocery deals. For several years, several states have considered legislation that would require stores to offer alternative ways for the digitally-disconnected to access digital coupons and deals. None of those proposals has become law, either.
It took lawmakers on the local level – in this case, San Diego city council members – to become the first to pass such a law. Effective next month, all grocery stores in San Diego offering digital-only deals must offer alternative ways for the digitally-disinclined to get those deals. At least two other cities have since proposed similar measures of their own.
The California Grocers Association was among the retail representatives most vocally opposed to San Diego’s digital-deal ordinance. They were also outspoken against Long Beach’s self-checkout ordinance. Signs in Long Beach grocery stores urged shoppers to sign a CGA petition to “tell Long Beach City Council to vote NO on higher grocery prices.” The group argued that mandating increased staffing would make groceries cost more, would cause longer checkout lines and limit convenience. “Keep grocery shopping easy, convenient, and cost-effective,” it urged shoppers. Under burdensome regulations, “grocery stores will be forced to raise their prices and/or eliminate self-checkout altogether.”
The CGA also argued that regulating digital-only deals could force grocery stores to eliminate digital coupons altogether. That hasn’t happened, as grocers in San Diego have already begun preemptively complying with the city’s new ordinance, offering offline ways for shoppers to access online deals. Similarly, retailers faced with increasing complaints and concerns about self-checkout have already introduced self-imposed limits on their use.
Opponents of legislation argue that retailers can regulate themselves, so new laws are not necessary. But nothing seems to light a fire under retailers to make changes, than the threat of legislation. Lawmakers in San Diego and Long Beach hope their ordinances serve as models for others across the country – either for other cities to pass legislation of their own, or for other retailers to decide to act before they’re forced to.
Image source: Coupons in the News
