Overview
- The measure would limit stores to eight operating self-checkout stations, require one staffed lane for every two self-checkouts, and restrict any one employee to monitoring no more than two machines with no other duties.
- The bill empowers the Attorney General to enforce compliance, with fines starting at an amount equal to one day of pay and benefits at the highest retail-clerk wage for each day of violation.
- The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure held a hearing on Oct. 20 and must decide by Dec. 3 whether to advance the bill.
- Sponsor Sen. Paul Feeney frames the plan as a consumer and jobs protection effort, while the Massachusetts AFL-CIO backs it and the Massachusetts Food Association opposes state staffing mandates, warning of slower service.
- The proposal is part of a wider trend that includes Long Beach’s new staffing ordinance and Rhode Island’s deliberations, as retailers like Target test alternatives such as 10-items-or-fewer self-checkout and more cashier lanes, reporting faster transactions and reduced theft.