Some stores are looking to remove their self-checkout kiosks due to issues with theft, and legislation in California may set a precedent for restrictions on them.
Democrat Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas introduced the legislation – Senate Bill 1446, the Retail Theft Prevention and Safety Act – in the California legislature. During an April 17 committee meeting shared by Cal Matters, she said that an estimated $10 billion in losses are attributed to self-checkout stands annually.
In a Monday press release, Smallwood-Cuevas also said self-checkout stands can put store employees at risk.
“Over Super Bowl weekend, I observed three women walking out of the store and not pay for their groceries. I called the Police Department to report the women and the theft, and the women saw me on the phone and came into the store and attacked me,” said Letizia Costa, a grocery store worker at Lucky’s in Pinole, as quoted in the release. “It was very terrifying and I feared for my life, and I still get anxious working at the self-checkout area because my back is toward the front door. Because of this incident, I am terrified to report incidents of theft. But SB 1446 will help by ensuring that grocery stores are properly staffed to prevent retail theft and make sure customers and workers are safe from workplace violence. No worker should have to go through what I went through.”
If passed, the legislation would prohibit grocery or retail drug stores from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are satisfied. Additionally, stores would not be allowed to have more than two self-service checkout stations monitored by one employee.
According to a bill summary, the legislation would require grocery and retail drug stores that offer self-service checkout to include a specified analysis of potential work hazards for their injury and illness prevention programs. It would also require stores to complete an assessment regarding the impact of self-checkout on employment (for example, if the kiosks eliminate the need for some positions).
“The bill would require the grocery establishment or retail drug establishment to notify and solicit input from its employees at least 60 days before drafting the study, to provide the study to employees or their collective bargaining representatives at least 60 days before implementation, and to post a copy of the study in a location accessible to its employees and customers before, and for at least 90 days following, implementation of the workplace technology,” said the summary.
As of Monday, the bill had been referred to the Appropriations Committee APPR suspense file, where its fiscal impacts will be considered.
USA Today reported that critics of the bill have argued that it would impose unnecessary regulations on stores, including businesses that are already starting to limit or scale back their use of self-checkout. Per the outlet, Walmart is taking out self-checkout kiosks in certain stores, Target has limited self-checkout lanes to 10 items or fewer and Dollar General is converting its self-checkout registers to assisted-checkout options in most stores.
“These measures will only serve to frustrate consumers with no evidence that they will reduce theft or provide additional protection to employees,” said Margaret Gladstein, who spoke for the California Retailers Association at an April hearing on the proposed California legislation.
Surveys have shown that consumers are big fans of self-checkout options – and that some of them do indeed steal when a cashier isn’t in charge of their purchases.
Last November, a Lending Tree survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers found that 96% of Americans have used self-checkout options. A survey commissioned by digital solutions company Avery Dennison this year found that more than half of consumers born after 1996 would even switch stores if there wasn’t a self-checkout option available, according to Progressive Grocer.
Still, nearly 70% of the people surveyed by Lending Tree said they believe self-checkout contributes to theft. Another 15% admitted to purposely stealing an item at self-checkout and 44% of those thieves said they would do it again.
While Gen Z led the pack of self-checkout thieves per Lending Tree, with 31% admitting to stealing, these shoplifters aren’t always who you might expect. Audacy reported last September that a Mississippi principal allegedly stole items on several occasions while using a Walmart self-checkout machine.
“In California, less than 7% of people committing larceny and theft are caught. That’s why we need to invest in preventive measures that stop theft before it happens,” said Cristine Soto Deberry, executive director of the Prosecutors Alliance of California. “SB 1446 does just that by ensuring stores and self-checkout machines are adequately staffed, which will deter individuals from stealing and protect the businesses and workers in our communities.”
It is also expected to reduce issues related to understaffing.
Although legislation such as SB 1446 and plans by big retailers to reduce self-checkout may change the way many people have become used to shopping, experts cited by USA Today said that it will not disappear entirely.
“Retailers test things, try things,” Neil Saunders, managing director of the analytics company GlobalData. “Sometimes they don't work.
Sometimes they change in the implementation, and retailers adapt with them… I don’t think it signals the complete disappearance of self-checkout.”
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