OLYMPIA, Wash. – Proposed legislation could change the way customers shop at grocery stores, as one Democratic lawmaker is pushing for regulations on self-checkout machines.
House Bill 1739 would establish rules for when and how self-checkout stands could be used in grocery stores. If passed, self-checkouts could only be used when a regular checkout lane is open. An employee who monitors self-service lanes would have to do so exclusively, and be limited to supervising a maximum of two stands. For their part, customers would be limited to bringing just 15 items to check out.
The regulations would apply to grocery stores over 15,000 thousand square feet in size, but not to any bulk goods stores with memberships. The Department of Labor and Industries would be responsible for investigating and enforcing violations with a fine.
“There has been a lot of challenges across Washington for grocery workers with unchecked automation and chronic understaffing,” said prime sponsor State Representative Mary Fosse (D-Everett).
At a House Committee on Labor and Workforce Standards hearing Wednesday morning, Fosse said she wants a conversation about making sure the self-checkout technology supports clerks.
“We know it can be a convenience, but when it’s used to–as a way to eliminate workers and cut labor costs, that’s when it really puts workers and customers at risk,” she said.
Grocery workers testified in support of the regulations, saying self-checkout makes them unsafe and overwhelmed.
“On a particularly hard day, a woman threw a steak at me because her item did not qualify for a bogo deal we were running,” said Bellevue grocery clerk James Reed. “I would have overridden the machine given the chance. She just didn’t give it to me.”
However, critics of the proposal argued stores themselves know best how to regulate self-checkout.
Organizations representing grocery stores said other policies can better address theft and worker safety, and the bill is ultimately just too restrictive.
“Removing the flexibility that they have to meet staffing demands, customer demands and the other variables that come with operating stores,” said Brandon Houskeeper with the Northwest Grocery Retail Association. “Including things like when stores are busier during holiday seasons, when stores are slower different times of the day.”
The proposed regulations have yet to be scheduled for a vote out of committee.
Albert James is a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University.
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