As self-checkout counters spread rapidly at supermarkets and restaurants, a regulation requiring stores to maintain a certain ratio of human cashiers has emerged in the United States. It is the first time such a regulation has actually been enacted into law in the country. The measure is intended to reduce the side effects of rapid automation, such as the marginalization of older customers, but some criticize it as excessive interference in business management.
'One Human Cashier per Three Self-Checkouts'
The Washington Post (WP) reported Thursday that Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed a bill regulating the staffing ratio in grocery store checkout areas.
Under the bill, grocery stores must maintain at least one staffed checkout counter for every three self-checkout machines. Employers must also relieve workers who monitor self-checkouts of all other duties so they can focus solely on that task. Companies that fail to comply face a daily fine equal to four hours of a retail clerk's wages, up to a maximum of 500 dollars (about 770,000 won). However, the staffing ratio does not have to be followed during off-peak hours, such as before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m., or when a national emergency or severe weather warning has been declared. The bill takes effect in January 2027.
The key force that most strongly pushed the bill was the local grocery store labor union. The union said automated checkouts are vulnerable to theft and that older customers in particular experience great difficulty using them. Citing a Capital One report, the union noted that Rhode Island retailers suffered 244 million dollars (about 343.4 billion won) in losses from theft during 2022. The union argued that this increases the work stress and burden on employees managing self-checkout areas.
Indeed, Amazon scrapped "Just Walk Out," the unmanned automated payment system it had introduced at Amazon Fresh stores, in 2024. The system used cameras, sensors and deep learning to let shoppers simply pick up items and leave without lining up at a checkout counter. But as feedback grew that customers found it inefficient and inconvenient, it was ultimately abandoned entirely.
State Representative Megan Cotter, a co-sponsor of the bill, explained that "this bill is essential to improving the customer experience," calling it "a bill that guarantees customers who want to check out with a person can do so at any time." Starting with Rhode Island, similar bills are reportedly being pursued in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Ohio.
"Easing the Side Effects of Rapid Automation" vs. "Excessive Interference in Management"
But critics also argue that such moves represent excessive interference in private companies. While the WP said that "most shoppers would agree that error-prone self-checkouts are annoying," it argued that "grocery stores are perfectly capable of judging for themselves whether the technology is truly useful to customers without government direction or orders."
The WP pointed out that some grocery stores may eliminate self-checkouts altogether to avoid the regulation. In fact, after the city of Long Beach, California, adopted similar restrictions last year, there were cases of businesses shutting down self-checkouts to avoid fines. The WP expressed concern that "the grocery business is one that typically survives on extremely thin margins of between 1 percent and 3 percent," and that "regulations that generate costs not only raise prices for shoppers but also threaten the very operation of the stores."
The global self-checkout system market was valued at 5.6 billion dollars (about 8.6 trillion won) in 2025 and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 14.5 percent, from 6.3 billion dollars (about 9.7 trillion won) in 2026 to 16.4 billion dollars (about 25 trillion won) in 2033. The North American market in particular boasted the largest scale, accounting for 42.8 percent of self-checkout system market revenue as of last year.
