Officials in Anaheim could be the latest in Orange County to require grocery stores and retail pharmacies like Walgreens to have an employee monitor their self-checkout aisle.
It’s a move grocery companies said will raise prices for customers.
Local grocer union officials say it will curb theft and provide employees with extra support.
At Tuesday’s 5 p.m. city council meeting, Anaheim City Council Members are slated to consider adopting an ordinance establishing item limits, restrictions and staffing ratios for self checkout kiosks at local supermarkets and retail drugstore chains.
[Read: Anaheim Might Require Staffing at Self-Checkout Stands]
“The expansion of self-service checkout stations in grocery and drug retail stores has been a growing trend nationally. While self-checkout technology can improve efficiency, concerns have emerged regarding its impact on worker safety, retail theft, customer service, and employment levels,” reads a staff report.
Jenna Thompson, a spokeswoman for United Food and Commercial Workers, said in a Monday email that companies are relying more on self-checkout and the ordinance is about keeping workers and customers safe.
“Workers who oversee self-checkout areas commonly help customers with lotto tickets, Coinstar, and more while unlocking locked cases and cleaning up spills in the front. This is on top of their main job – to help customers who are using self-checkout,” Thompson wrote in a Monday email.
California Grocers Association representatives did not respond to a request for comment Monday morning but said in an email to Anaheim officials in March saying regulating self-checkout stands is burdensome and retail theft is minimal at grocery stores.
“The reality of retail theft is thieves simply walk the items out of the front door bypassing all checkouts. (Self-Checkout) stations are equipped with multiple layers of technology to prevent retail theft, which includes hiding or improperly scanning items,” reads a March 3 letter from Tim James, director of local government relations for the association.
James added that having self-checkout stands keeps stores competitive.
Officials in Long Beach, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana have adopted similar ordinances regulating self-checkout – despite push back from the California Grocers Association.
[Read: Santa Ana to Mandate Staffing at Self-Checkout Lanes]
The ordinance sets a one employee for every four self-checkout kiosks ratio, limits shoppers to 15 items at the self-service stands and bans them from buying cigarettes and alcohol – something already barred by state law.
It also requires there be at least one cashier working a register between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If adopted, violations to the proposed rule could result in employees or customers suing the stores with penalties of up to $1,000 per employee per day if the store doesn’t cure the violation within three weeks.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
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