A California state senator is planning to soften a proposal that would have banned self-checkout lanes at large grocery stores and other establishments, Fast Company has learned.
The proposal, announced last month by state Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas of California’s 28th District, was part of a package of bills aimed at “empowering vulnerable populations,” including helping workers and promoting economic growth in underserved communities across the state. As initially worded in the announcement, SB1446 would have created a “narrow ban on self-checkout stations in large grocery and drug retail stores,” presumably impacting retailers such as Walmart and pharmacy chains such as CVS, both of which use the technology.
However, a spokesperson for Smallwood-Cuevas told Fast Company that the text of the bill is not finalized and that the word “ban” would be changed to “regulate.” Asked what prompted the change and what the full scope of the proposal would involve, the spokesperson was not able to provide additional details but said more information would be available next week.
Self-checkout systems have become a common sight over the past 15 years, but whether they’re worth the drawbacks that come with them—increased theft, customer confusion, or just plain-old malfunctions—remains a topic of debate. Recently, retail giants Target and Walmart have begun to limit the use of self-checkout in some locations, sometimes to the ire of customers who are left waiting in long lines at understaffed stores.
Still, state-level proposals to restrict the use of self-checkout systems to purchase everyday groceries, let alone ban them, are rare. One such bill, introduced by a Rhode Island lawmaker last year—which would have limited the number of self-checkouts at retailers in the state—appears to have been stalled in committee.
A spokesperson for the National Retail Federation (NRF), a trade group, did not comment specifically on the California proposal but said the group doesn’t think the government should be in the business of interfering with the use of shopping solutions. “Individual business owners should have the ability to determine when solutions such as self-checkout will improve operations and make economic sense for their business,” the NRF said.
Rachel Michelin, president and CEO of the California Retailers Association, told Fast Company that she could not comment on the proposal until she sees the language of the actual bill, which the group has asked for “numerous times.”
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