{"id":6832,"date":"2025-10-15T23:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T23:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/6832\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T23:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T23:07:07","slug":"long-beach-restricts-self-checkouts-in-attempt-to-stop-shoplifters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/6832\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach restricts self-checkouts in attempt to stop shoplifters"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California city is cracking down on shoplifters<\/a> with a first-of-its-kind rule dramatically restricting self-checkouts.<\/p>\n

Long Beach passed the \u201cSafe Stores are Staffed Stores\u201d in September, which requires large grocery stores and pharmacies to have at least one staff member monitoring every three self-checkout stations, the Los Angeles Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many stores say they\u2019ve been forced to simply shut down self-checkouts altogether because they can\u2019t hire the staff to meet the new rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently unable to operate our self-checkout lanes,\u201d read a recently posted sign at a downtown Long Beach supermarket, blaming \u201ca new City of Long Beach ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city \u2014 located on the Pacific coast just south of Los Angeles \u2014 is one of countless across the US that has seen an enormous spike in shoplifting since the 2020 pandemic, with the The National Retail Federation reporting a staggering 93% increase from 2019 to 2023.<\/p>\n

Long Beach grocery stores and pharmacies are required to post one worker for every three self-checkout kiosks. Kandl Studio \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

And those are just the numbers that are known \u2014 the Long Branch ordinance described shoplifting as extremely common and severely underreported, adding that such crime made retail work \u201chostile and unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stores are also required to limit customers to buying 15 items per self-checkout kiosk under the new rules.<\/p>\n

The ordinance is intended to \u201cadvance public safety and prevent retail theft,\u201d according to its own language, and some local union reps think it will do just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe checkers and the cashiers are on the front lines of this,\u201d Matt Bell, secretary treasurer of the grocery worker union UFCW 324 told the LA Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is necessary to provide them safety and security<\/a> and better staffing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Long Beach shoppers are also limited to buying 15 items per self-checkout kiosk under the new rule. UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Shoppers are saying the ordinance is just slowing down their grocery store experience. EdNurg \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

And a nearby Target wasn\u2019t keeping up \u2014 with just one worker recently posted for its five self-checkout booths, the LA Times reported.<\/p>\n

Some customers have also grumbled that the law has done little more than slow things down when they go shopping.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the stores are the same now, they have it closed,\u201d shopper Francilla Isaac told the outlet.<\/p>\n

The ordinance is the first of its kind to be mandated at a city level across the country.<\/p>\n

Stores have generally taken measures into their own hands, with the sight of goods locked up behind plastic barriers becoming commonplace across the country in recent years.<\/p>\n

Attacks on employees attempting to stop shoplifters have even become more common<\/a> \u2014 with a 30-year-old Family Dollar worker winding up stabbed in Brooklyn as recently as Sunday, and a Texas CVS security guard fatally shot earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California city is cracking down on shoplifters with a first-of-its-kind rule dramatically restricting self-checkouts. Long Beach passed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,131,133,132,47,1699,238,3586],"class_list":["post-6832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-shoplifting","tag-theft","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6832","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=6832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}