SHOPPERS are looking for creative checkout solutions as worries grow over what will happen at thousands of retailers if new self-checkout rules become law.
Millions of shoppers will be affected if California passes SB 1446 — a bill currently in the state senate that aims to regulate self-checkout policies at retailers across the state.
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The bill would require stores to cap self-checkout to 10 items or less and limit workers from having to oversee more than two kiosks at a time, among other requirements.
Major retailers like Walmart and Kroger that have integrated self-checkout into their store plans may be forced to ditch the machines altogether if SB 1446 becomes law.
The regulations have been hotly debated since introduced to the state senate earlier this year by Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, a Democrat from Los Angeles.
Advocates of the bill say the new regulations would protect both retailers and customers, and many worker unions have said they support the law.
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But opponents, many of whom come from the business sector, argue that the regulations are too much and will negatively impact companies.
‘THIN MARGINS’ ALREADY
Retailers are “operating on pretty thin margins,” Ashley Hoffman, a senior policy advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, told ABC News affiliate KGO in San Francisco.
“When you’re having to make these drastic adjustments or adjust staffing ratios, that can be a big cost impact,” she said.
Hoffman said the bill was “heavy-handed” and interfered with “the granularity of how business or a store needs to operate.”
And now, some consumers are saying they agree that the legislation may be too much.
One shopper even suggested creating a third category for checkout — one that would offer both security and anonymity.
“There needs to be a special checkout lane where the cashier doesn’t do small talk,” Sara (@snobbigsara) wrote on X in response to news about SB 1446.
Other customers shared more concerns.
“Are we as a consumer going to have to pay for that to take it down and redo it or whatever is decided, you know?” one San Franciso resident told KGO.
“The cost shouldn’t be on us. It should be them as a corporation.”
“I understand the concern for theft,” another worried shopper began.
“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.”
SB 1446: FIVE NEW RULES FOR RETAILERS
California’s new self-checkout law, officially known as SB 1446, includes five main requirements for retailers:
- Self-checkout must be limited to ten or fewer items
- At least one cashier-led checkout must be open
- Customers using self-checkout are prohibited from buying alcohol and tobacco
- Employees will be limited to overseeing no more than two self-checkout machines at a time
- Workers on self-checkout must be relieved of all other duties when monitoring the area
THEFT TOO HIGH
Legislators who drafted SB 1446 said they wrote the bill intending to help retailers stem shoplifting at their stores.
Recent studies have found that removing self-checkout kiosks altogether may be the best option for cutting back on theft levels.
One recent survey by LendingTree revealed that 15% of shoppers admitted to intentionally stealing an item while using self-checkout — and 44% of those people said they planned on doing it again.
And 69% of surveyants said they believed that self-checkout made shoplifting easier.
California state congress members are expected to vote on SB 1446 later this year.
The office of Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The U.S. Sun.
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