San Jose self-checkout reform effort gets grocer pushback

A union-backed push to impose staffing requirements for grocery store self-checkout areas in San Jose faces fierce pushback from local retailers.

Taking inspiration from a handful of Southern California cities that have already adopted such measures — including Costa Mesa, Long Beach and Santa Ana — councilmembers have asked staff to draw up regulations for local self-checkout lanes.

Labor groups, which have been spearheading a statewide campaign to advance similar measures throughout California, argue the proliferation of self-checkout kiosks has eliminated jobs and led to a worse in-store experience for customers. The campaign has also zeroed in on the state’s persistent struggles with retail theft, warning that understaffed self-checkout areas have become a magnet for shoplifters.

“It hurts businesses, puts workers in difficult situations, contributes to merchandise being locked behind cases and can ultimately make shopping a more frustrating experience for customers,” Yvonne Saavedra, an employee of a Lucky’s grocery store location in San Jose, said during a recent committee meeting.

But as the reform proposals advance, retailers are warning that adding new regulations could disrupt their industry. When the measure went before San Jose’s Rules and Open Government Committee on Oct. 7, a parade of industry executives and representatives for local business groups told councilmembers the rules could force stores to abandon self-checkout lanes entirely. The fallout could even lead to increased food prices, they said.

“As an industry, grocery stores operate on thin margins of about 1.7%,” Kent Streeb, a director for Safeway’s Northern California Division, said during the meeting. “An ordinance would at least double operating costs for self-checkout (machines) at our 12 remaining stores in San Jose. The financial impact could force businesses to make tough decisions.”

A memo laying out the policy push — authored by Councilmembers Domingo Candelas and David Cohen — references self-checkout regulations that have been adopted elsewhere, including a requirement for stores to maintain minimum staffing of at least one employee for every three self-checkout stations. Another measure would impose a 15-item limit in self-checkout lines. And another would prohibit the use of self-checkout machines to purchase products stored behind locked cabinets.

The memo cites a study from the Public Policy Institute of California that found shoplifting increased by 48% between 2019 and 2024, an upsurge that has continued even as the state’s overall crime rate has begun to decline.

Backers of the change — including United Food and Commercial Workers, a union representing grocery store workers — point to industry research suggesting that far more items are stolen in self-checkout areas than in traditional checkout aisles.

The campaigners attempted to pass self-checkout regulations at the state level, but their legislation failed twice, first in 2024 and then again in 2025. Since then, they have turned their focus to lobbying city governments, including San Francisco, where one of the city’s supervisors recently put forward a package of self-checkout safeguard proposals.

While grocers acknowledge retail theft is a major problem, they contend it has little to do with the advent of self-checkout stands. Instead, industry representatives said most shoplifters simply grab goods and walk out the front door.

Meanwhile, they said the cities that have adopted such rules have already seen negative impacts take shape.

Nate Rose, spokesperson for the California Grocers Association trade group, pointed to a recent report from Long Beach assessing the rollout of a minimum staffing policy that took effect last year in the city. Since then, 10 out of 13 impacted retail businesses reduced the service or abandoned it entirely, the report found.

“A lot of the grocers have just thrown their hands up in the air and said, ‘Well, we’re just going to close self-checkout altogether because we can’t get this to work,'” Rose told San José Spotlight.

While the sometimes glitchy self-checkout machines can frustrate many shoppers, industry representatives said others seem to prefer them. If stores abandoned the self-service option, they warn shoppers who prize the convenience of online transactions would abandon brick and mortar retail entirely.

But labor advocates scoff at industry groups’ concerns.

“They want to distract from what’s actually going on, which is they want to reduce the labor costs,” Jim Araby, a campaigner for United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 5, told San José Spotlight. “They want you, the consumer, to carry more of the burden to do the work, and then they will benefit from the higher increase in prices and it will help them get better returns to their shareholders.”

In the face of blowback from grocers, Candelas, who represents District 8, pledged to continue gathering feedback from the retail industry and others as the reform proposals take shape.

“Our goal is not to eliminate self-checkout, but to ensure that any standards we consider are practical, balanced and responsive to the needs of workers, customers and businesses,” Candelas told San José Spotlight.

Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.