City officials say the measures aim to improve working conditions for retail employees, enhance shopper convenience and curb the roughly $400,000 in annual sales‑tax revenue the city loses to retail theft.
Under the proposed rules, grocery and drug stores would be required to staff one employee for every three self‑checkout kiosks, limit each self‑checkout transaction to fifteen items or fewer, and maintain at least one fully staffed checkout lane whenever any self‑checkout stations are in use.
San Jose would become the first Bay Area municipality to impose such restrictions; Southern California cities including Costa Mesa, Long Beach and Santa Ana have already enacted comparable regulations.
Retailers have pushed back, with Nate Rose, spokesperson for the California Grocers Association, warning that the rules could raise grocery prices, create longer lines and fail to stop theft, while also potentially putting workers at risk.
Labor groups support the initiative. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 5, which represents a diverse workforce in Northern California, has circulated a petition that has gathered more than 1,400 signatures and provides a template letter for residents and employees to send to the council.
Statewide, Rhode Island enacted a similar 1‑to‑3 employee‑to‑kiosk ratio law in June, slated to take effect in January 2027, providing a precedent for the San Jose proposal.
A related state measure, Senate Bill 442, has cleared the first legislative chamber and is under committee review. The bill would embed self‑checkout requirements in employers’ occupational safety programs, mandate a 60‑day notice to workers before new kiosks are installed, and impose civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day per violation, capped at $200,000.
UFCW data cited by officials show loss rates of up to 3.5 % at self‑checkout stations, compared with just 0.21 % at staffed lanes, attributing the disparity to administrative errors, product damage and tactics such as “short‑ringing” where items are omitted from the scan.