retail theft costs<\/a> San Jose up to $400,000 in lost sales tax revenue each year, while understaffed self-checkout zones may degrade working conditions and heighten safety risks for store employees.<\/p>\nCouncilmembers Domingo Candelas and David Cohen co-authored the memo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my district, I represent a lot of seniors, and they ultimately feel like shopping is no longer an easy task,\u201d Candelas said during the committee hearing. \u201cThey find themselves having to confront technology with little to no support, and it\u2019s become a growing challenge just to get groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n
The memo notes that the expansion of self-checkout technology should \u201ccomplement retail workers,\u201d but should not come at the expense of \u201cadequate staffing or place unreasonable responsibilities on a single employee tasked with simultaneously assisting customers, monitoring multiple checkout stations, responding to locked merchandise, and addressing potential theft.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEstablishing reasonable staffing and operational standards can help ensure that technological convenience is paired with the human presence necessary for a safe, efficient, and accessible retail environment,\u201d the memo states.<\/p>\n
The United Food and Commercial Workers union is backing the proposal as part of a broader push for similar local measures across California. John Frahm, president of the union\u2019s Local 5 chapter, clarified that labor advocates are not anti-technology, but \u201cpro-staffing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that technology works for us and we don\u2019t work for technology,\u201d Frahm said.<\/p>\n
The union points to data showing self-checkout loss rates reach 3.5% \u2014 compared to just 0.21% in cashier-staffed lanes \u2014 driven by administrative errors, damages and tactics like \u201cshort-ringing\u201d items. Frahm also warned that understaffing heightens safety risks for employees stretched thin by reduced hours or due to fewer workers on duty because employee hours have been reduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt leads to very uncomfortable situations for our checkers,\u201d Frahm said. \u201cThere have been cases we\u2019ve had to deal with throughout the Bay Area where those situations have actually led to violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statewide efforts to regulate self-checkout have stalled or stumbled in recent years.<\/p>\n
A 2024 California Senate bill sought to mandate a ratio of one employee for every two self-checkout kiosks, require staff assigned to self-checkout areas to be relieved of other duties, and keep at least one traditional checkout lane open whenever self-checkout was operational. That effort failed, as did a 2025 follow-up proposal that required dedicated employees to oversee kiosks without setting a specific ratio.<\/p>\n
Both state measures were opposed by retail giants and trade groups such as the California Retailers Association, California Grocers Association, and California Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
In San Francisco, without government intervention, some Safeway and Target stores have quietly disabled self-checkout, due to retail theft.<\/p>\n
Rose noted that average grocer profit margins sit at just 1.7%, meaning higher operational costs will immediately drive up prices on store shelves. He added that checkout workers are neither trained nor allowed to intervene in retail theft. Pointing to a study out of Long Beach, Rose noted that similar regulations prompted 10 out of 13 surveyed stores to close self-checkout lanes altogether, increasing wait times for shoppers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want grocery store professionals running grocery stores \u2014 we don\u2019t want elected officials to be making staffing decisions,\u201d Rose said. \u201cWhere does that end?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yvonne Saavedra, a Lucky\u2019s employee and union member who has worked at the grocery chain for 35 years, isn\u2019t against self-checkout \u2014 she just wants safeguards in place. Managing four kiosks alongside return counters and monitoring theft routinely leaves workers overwhelmed, she said, while confronting shoppers over unscanned items poses growing personal safety risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to do four registers plus returns, plus checking thefts, plus checking everything else \u2014 it becomes overwhelming,\u201d Saavedra said. \u201cFor our own safety, people are getting crazier nowadays\u2026 I wonder every day, am I going to come home?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the aim of improving working conditions, enhancing public convenience, and curbing retail theft amounting to hundreds of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[184,387,7,9,8,2333,1533,181,23,100,182,1969,5500,198,200],"class_list":["post-467319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-editors-picks","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pm-report","tag-retail","tag-san-jose-city-council","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}