California unions are attacking self-checkout stations as if they are pawns | Opinion
The first self-checkout machine was invented back in 1986 and since then has been integrated into the framework of the grocery industry. These machines innovated the way that we experience grocery stores. They made our lives in grocery stores a bit easier by shortening checkout lines, making them fast and the transfer of money more reliable. Now the California Legislature wants to over-regulate them.
I’m from Tullahoma, Tennessee and I don’t pretend human cashiers are perfect. And in my conservative home town, they are beloved. Most of the population is older white people who have no desire to partake of the witchcraft of bagging their own groceries or exchanging legal tender without first interacting with a live cashier.
The self-checkout stand innovated the way that we experience grocery stores. They are designed to make our lives in the grocery store a bit easier. Long lines are shorter, checkout times are cut and customers have a reliable option. Let’s not act like cashiers are perfect.
The first week the local Kroger introduced the two-row self-checkout station, it was like they placed a shrine to Barack Obama next to it. No one wanted to be anywhere near it. Me? I noticed the long line at the human-run registers and the clear sailing at self-check and decided, “what the heck.”
Walking with my bags in hand, I could sense the astonishment and envy from the people looking still waiting in the long stagnant line.
Here in California, the self-checkout station is an accepted way of life, even a favored form of commerce. So of course, California Legislature wants to politicize all of this.
In Senate Bill 442, the innovation of self-check machines is a pawn for unions to make a deal for their workers. The California Labor Federation and the United Food and Commercial Workers are cosponsoring this legislation.
Self-checkout stations don’t hinder workers
State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, D-Los Angeles, introduced the bill, which would require stores to have at least one worker to help customers at the self-service stations. It would also make it mandatory for stores to operate at least one employee ran checkout lane and restrict the type and number of items a customer brings through self-checkout.
Now, if you go to stores like Safeway or Target, these two requirements are already implemented.
The proposed bill would require items that need identification to buy and anything with anti-theft security devices to go through an employee ran checkout. This continues a trend started back in 2011 with another union-backed law that banned the sale of alcohol at self-checkout stations.
It’s not wrong for companies to require certain items like tobacco products to be purchased from an employee, as opposed to raising the risk of someone underage buying cigarettes from an unattended machine.
Under this bill, if a store wanted to add a new self checkout station it would need to notify employees and unions in writing at least 60 days in advance. It would face a $1,000 penalty for each day they didn’t do so, potentially paying up to $200,000.
This is unfair. Penalizing a company thousands of dollars based on the time it took for them to acknowledge the addition of more checkout stations is a money grubbing move only a union would suggest.
Self checkouts are not perfect. On top of the increased potential for theft, they are more expensive than a worker ranging between 15,000-40,000 for installation and even more for maintenance.
But they shouldn’t be the center of union discussions for simply improving the retail experience for customers.
Assembly members would be wise to look at the real function of this bill and question its intention.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 11:46 AM.
