Proposed California law could force some stores to do away with self-checkout

SAN FRANCISCO -- A proposed state law could change regulations on self-checkout, forcing some California stores to do away with the service altogether.

"The hope is that we can reduce the amount of theft that happens. That's a much better solution than punishing theft after it occurs," said Cristine Soto DeBerry, founder and executive director of Prosecutors Alliance of California.

Senate Bill 1446 would regulate self-checkouts in hopes of boosting employment and cutting down on thefts.

"There's data on this that shows there is stuff that happens at self-checkouts," said Soto DeBerry.

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If voted into law, grocery and pharmacy retailers would have to meet certain requirements or get rid of self-check outs, including upping the number of employees monitoring the stations.

"One of the main deterrents from theft is that there are staff paying attention in the store to your activities," said Soto DeBerry.

"In part it's codifying some requirements that I think, from our perspective, are a little heavy-handed, as far as getting down into the granularity of how business or a store needs to operate," said Ashley Hoffman, senior policy advocate of California Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber is coming out against the proposed legislation, in part, over concerns it could hurt business.

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"For example, the grocery space, where they're operating on pretty thin margins. You know, when you're having to make these drastic adjustments or adjust staffing ratios, that can be a big cost impact," Hoffman said.

The bottom line is also a concern among some shoppers.

"Are we as a consumer going to have to pay for that to take it down and redo it or whatever is decided, you know? The cost shouldn't be on us. It should be them as a corporation," said Maryellen Mascitti, a San Francisco resident.

"I understand the concern for theft," said San Francisco resident Steven Brummond. "I'd be concerned, though, that if grocery stores were required to staff more checkout aisles, that that would be a huge cost increase for them and they'd pass that cost on to customers."

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