| As my luck would have it, I was stuck in the longest line inside the Monterey Park Costco when I visited last week. |
| Shoppers in the self-checkout queue varied from those with carts jam packed with 20 to 30 items, to flatbed carts loaded with 72-inch television screens along with a random dude waiting to pay for a single rotisserie chicken. |
| The chaos of the self-checkout line is real, not just at Costco but in supermarkets, retail outlets and stores throughout Southern California. |
| Long Beach is trying to do something about it by recently adopting an ordinance to regulate self-checkout lanes, primarily to curtail shoplifting, as detailed by my colleague Caroline Petrow-Cohen. |
| Many employees are in favor of the new standards, most store owners are not and shoppers generally seem confused or oblivious to the dispute. |
| Let's jump into Petrow-Cohen's article and see what's going on. |
Changes adopted by Long Beach |
| The city's "Safe Stores are Staffed Stores" ordinance is the first of its kind in the country. |
| The Long Beach regulations require that large stores have at least one staff member for every three self-checkout stations in use. |
| It also sets a limit of 15 items per customer for self-checkout. Meanwhile, any items locked inside a case in the store can not be bought through self-checkout, according to the ordinance. |
What's the rationale behind the move? |
| The surge in shoplifting has become a headache for retail customers who are witnessing more theft or dealing with security measures to stop it, such as products displayed in locked cabinets. |
| The city said it passed the ordinance to "advance public safety and prevent retail theft," citing "hostile and unsafe" conditions. |
| Theft is common and underreported particularly at self-checkout, according to the ordinance. |
| The National Retail Federation estimates that shoplifting incidents in the U.S. increased by 93% from 2019 to 2023. In 2023, retailers surveyed by the federation reported an average of 177 retail thefts a day. |
Who's in favor? |
| The Long Beach ordinance adds store personnel and puts the protection of employees and shoppers from dangerous situations at the forefront, said Matt Bell, secretary-treasurer of UFCW 324, the union that represents grocery workers. |
| "The checkers and the cashiers are on the front lines of this," he said. "It really is necessary to provide them safety and security and better staffing." |
Who's against it? |
| Groups representing grocers and retailers such as Target and Walmart said the ordinance will increase labor costs for employers, leading to higher price tags on the shelf. It will also reduce sales in stores where self-checkout lanes are closed. |
| "These efforts will ultimately damage self-checkout," said Nate Rose, a vice president at the California Grocers Assn. "We're seeing that worst-case scenario play out where a number of grocers have decided it's not worth it to keep the self-checkout lanes open." |
| The California Retailers Assn. said retailers need freedom to decide on their own what is the most efficient way to deal with theft. |
| In response to the requirements, some Albertsons and Vons in Long Beach have closed their self-checkout lanes entirely. |
Notes from the reporter's notepad |
| The article's author, Petrow-Cohen, said customers she spoke with were oblivious about the ordinance. |
| "The public isn't exactly up in arms about this," she said. "I think that there are definitely people who are annoyed that the self-checkout lanes are closed at plenty of Vons and Albertsons and they had no idea that this fight was going on." |
| Petrow-Cohen also saw the regulations seemingly ignored at a Target, where five self-checkout stations were open and staffed by one employee. Under the ordinance, Target would have needed to add another employee to the self-checkout lanes to open another lane. |
| For more, check out the full story here. |
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| Ramsey 29 motel in Twentynine Palms. Owner Ashton Ramsey took over a motor lodge that dates to the 1940s. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) |
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