Another Orange County city is set to begin regulating self-service checkouts, with Santa Ana leaders citing concerns over theft, accessibility, and employee workloads this week as they unanimously approved a new local law.
Self-service checkout systems, prevalent in grocery and drug retail stores across America, have begun to face local regulatory actions in cities. Long Beach was the first in California last year, followed by Costa Mesa in February.
“In no way, shape, or form are we attempting to close any stores,” Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua said, adding that, similar to Costa Mesa and Long Beach, the city is just looking at how it can support employees.
The new law will require a second vote from the council before going into effect, requiring stores to maintain at least one fully staffed traditional checkout lane whenever self-checkout is available, and cap self-checkout transactions at 15 items. It would also bar customers from using self-checkout for age-restricted products such as alcohol and tobacco or merchandise secured with theft-deterrent tags or locked cabinets.
A city staff report to councilmembers said the required employee presence would be a possible deterrent to retail theft, which has “been identified as a growing concern in retail environments.” Additional staffing, officials said, would help reduce the burden placed on grocery and drug retail store employees tasked with monitoring multiple transactions, while ensuring seniors and individuals with disabilities have access to traditional service options.
Councilmember Phil Bacerra said the law simply codifies “what should be already expected.”
The ordinance will also allow customers or employees to sue drug retail or food retail establishments that violate the law for civil penalties of up to $1,000 per employee per day, plus attorneys’ fees.
Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez emphasized the significance of the proposed measure, adding that there was not one worker who spoke in opposition. It received support from labor unions, including the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Orange County Labor Federation, and the Service Employees International Union.
“Whether it was in Costa Mesa, whether it was here in Santa Ana, or whether it’s in cities that are very similar to our size,” he said. “Not only are they in favor of this, but they’re the ones organizing these initiatives.”
A letter from the California Growers Association to the council said local stores had no notice or outreach from the city about the proposed changes and the city was making decisions with “significant impact on current and future grocers with no interest or effort to understand policy impacts.” It asked for a delay so grocers could participate in the discussion formulating an ordinance.
Such regulations so far have “only burdened operations” and led to the removal of self checkout options, which would put “Santa Ana brick-and-mortar grocers at a competitive disadvantage.”
If the ordinance receives final approval, the rules would go into effect 30 days later.