Staffed Stores. Safer Communities.

Self-checkout was sold to the American public as a win-win: faster shopping, lower costs, and better service. Decades later, it’s delivered none of those things.

Prices are up, lines are longer, and experienced cashiers are facing cut hours as stores become increasingly unsafe and understaffed – all to be replaced by a machine that asks you to do their job for free.

The truth of the matter is that this technology doesn’t even work for retailers. Studies have found that self-checkout machines are responsible for 16x more lost sales than traditional cashiers. 

And when stores face lost revenue, they turn to higher prices and leave working families to pay the difference.

Grocery giants like Walmart and Target have already begun to pull back their self-checkout programs, but that is not enough. 

Corporations had their chance. Now it’s time for lawmakers to step in.

“As we move towards a more automated world, too many communities are being left behind, especially seniors.  We need safeguards to ensure that everyone can access the food and services they need in grocery stores”

Rhode Island State Rep. Marie Hopkins (R-21)

How Self-Checkout Costs You

Higher Grocery Bills

They claim self-checkout saves money, but we aren’t seeing those savings at the register. Instead, shoppers left doing more of the work while their grocery bills continue to climb.

“Overreliance on self-checkout frustrates customers and burdens workers. Staffed checkout lanes improve the experience for both consumers and employees.”

Rhode Island Senate President Valarie Lawson (D-14)

Fewer Jobs, Greater Costs for All

When good union jobs are automated away, communities stand to lose more than wages. Fewer jobs means less tax revenue to support public schools, parks, roads, emergency services, and other programs that families across the country rely on every day.

“Self-checkouts reduce jobs and cut worker hours. Consumers still want the option to check out with a real person.”

Rhode Island State Rep. Megan Cotter (D-39)

UFCW Priorities

Safe stores are staffed stores. Your legislators can act to protect safe, well-paying cashier jobs for the grocery and retail workers, who keep our communities fed and our neighborhoods running! UFCW is calling on legislators to pass commonsense self-checkout standards:

Keep at least one staffed checkout lane open at all times in every store.
Limit self-checkout to 15 items or fewer.
Require one employee for every three self-checkout stations.
Ban self-checkout for age-restricted and high-theft items such as alcohol and tobacco.

This isn’t uncharted territory. Cities in California, such as Long Beach, Costa Mesa, and Santa Ana, along with Rhode Island have already passed local ordinances that do exactly this, and their workers and shoppers are better off for it. It is time for communities across the country to do the same.

Let’s make Self-Checkout work for us.