Self-Checkout Machines Cause Retail Theft and Put Workers in Danger

Today, Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), Lorena Gonzalez, grocery and retail store workers, criminal justice advocates and researchers held an online press conference on how the proliferation of self-checkout has caused an increase in theft and violence and presented new data on how self-checkout has negative consequences related to staffing levels and customer disrespect and bullying.

“SB 1446 is a win, win, win. It’s a win for workers, win for consumers, and win for public safety,” said Senator Smallwood-Cuevas. “While concerns with retail theft continue to grow, we must work to address the root causes of the problem – including the changing environment in which retail theft is taking place. When workers’ safety is compromised, the legislature must act. SB 1446 makes it clear that while emerging technologies are inevitable, we must ensure that workers’ health and safety come first.”

Grocery and retail workers are forced to stock merchandise, operate checkout, and cater to customers, all while trying to monitor the stores for theft. SB 1446 – Retail Theft Prevention and Safe Staffing Act, authored by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, will protect workers and the public by ensuring safe staffing levels at grocery and drug-retail stores and better supervision of self-checkout machines. This bill will also require stores to provide notice on new consequential technology introduced in the workplace that is intended to eliminate, automate or electronically monitor workers' jobs.

“When customers need to process restricted items or produce, they struggle with self-checkout. They frequently ask for help, and I have to assist while managing long lines at the regular cash registers,” said Aurora Hernandez, a cashier at Food 4 Less in Boyle Heights. “Sometimes, I find myself assisting six people at once at self-checkout, which is overwhelming. Self-checkout machines also make theft easier, increasing shoplifting and putting our safety at risk.”

“Recently, a customer became violent after attempting to steal merchandise, verbally abusing us and making threats. In another instance, a customer used pepper spray on me during a dispute. Thankfully, I avoided injury, but these incidents are increasing. We don't feel safe at work anymore,” added Hernandez.

Researchers from the Shift Project at the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School released a report “Please Wait, Help is on the Way: Self-Checkout, Understaffing, and Customer Incivility in the Service Sector” that finds the deployment of self-checkout machines often leads to understaffed workplaces, resulting in more frequent occurrences of customer disrespect and bullying. Workers are 14% more likely to never or rarely be treated with respect by customers if self-checkout is in their stores.

Other key statistics from the report include:

• 58% of grocery workers report have self-checkout in their stores.
• 53% of workers reported that their stores with always or often understaffed.
• 61% of workers report there is always or often insufficient staff to get the work done if they work in stores with self-checkout.
• In workplaces that were always understaffed, 26% of workers reported that customers never or rarely treated them with respect.
• 25% of workers report feeling bullied by customers in their interactions if they work in workplaces that were less consistently understaffed.

“Self-checkout promises labor savings and convenience, but when we look at the data, we find that self-checkout instead leads to problematic understaffing that sets up both workers and customers for toxic interactions,” said Daniel Schneider, Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and co-director of the Shift Project. “Workers, and the public more broadly, need a voice in shaping technology in the workplace and the future of work for us all.”

"When stores are adequately staffed, employees can focus more on customer service, which leads to better assistance, faster checkouts, and less theft. This benefits everyone — customers enjoy an easier, safer shopping experience, workers are protected, and businesses can thrive. That's why SB 1446 is a win for our communities," said Cristine Soto DeBerry, Executive Director of Prosecutors Alliance Action. 

“The future of work should be shaped by workers and community, not left to corporations that profit from automating jobs. No one wants to shop in stores staffed by machines instead of workers. Replacing grocery workers with automated self-checkout machines has made stores less safe for everyone," said Lorena Gonzalez, President of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO. "This bill ensures safe staffing and limitations on self-checkout to protect good jobs in the industry, restore safety and reduce organized theft.”

SB 1446 is the only legislative solution that takes into account working people’s voices and how the culture of understaffing embedded in corporate grocery and retail stores has affected the increase in theft and violence Californians experience daily.

“Between 2019-23, the number of cashiers working in grocery stores fell by 2.4%, whereas the overall number of workers in grocery stores grew by 4.4%,” said Chris Tilly,  Economist and Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA. “In general merchandise, which includes retailers like Walmart and Target, the number of cashiers went down by 23%, at a time when total employment in those stores was growing by 3%. These findings point to the need to place some limits on the use of self-checkout technology, which is a job-killer and in its current form is making both workers and consumers miserable.” 

The author and sponsors of the bill are proposing the following amendments to address opposition concerns:

• Removing the prohibition on items that are locked or secured with anti-theft protections from going through self-checkout stations;
• Removing the requirement that employers, as part of their Workplace Violence Prevention Plans, address self-checkout machines as a potential workplace hazard; and
• Increasing flexibility for workers staffing the self-checkout area to perform additional tasks and duties while still requiring one person in the self-checkout area to be alleviated of all other duties to assist customers at all times.

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