Rhode Island’s Checkout Mandate Will Cost Consumers

Thanks to Governor Dan McKee’s recent union handout, the grocery store experience is about to get a lot worse for consumers and businesses.

Just last week, Governor McKee signed legislation that requires grocery stores to maintain a ratio of one grocery store worker for every three self-checkout stands. At a time when grocery prices are increasingly unaffordable in Rhode Island, the state has instead added more onerous regulations, which will make this crisis even worse.

Simply put, this law will raise grocery prices. Under the law, retail employees must monitor the self-checkout line and cannot perform other duties during that time. This will require grocery stores to hire additional staff to ensure operations can continue under this regulation. Given that grocery stores already operate on razor-thin profit margins, they cannot simply absorb the cost. What this will lead to is grocery stores passing the increased costs onto consumers, as past regulations have shown.

Rather than creating a more business-friendly environment, Rhode Island politicians seem more interested in micromanaging grocery stores. Self-checkouts are adopted because they are a win-win for consumers and stores. 66% of consumers prefer self-checkout kiosks to human-run checkouts, primarily because they are faster and lead to smoother interactions. If shoppers can move through the checkout line more quickly, more customers can be served, increasing store profits. Even if some consumers dislike self-checkout machines, they will just go to the human-run checkout lines.

The impacts of these limits are clear. If it is no longer profitable to maintain self-checkout lines, grocery stores will simply remove them. This happened in Long Beach, California, where businesses opted to remove self-checkout lanes due to restrictive laws. This has also been the case in Philadelphia and Santa Ana, California. Rather than empowering consumers, Rhode Island would rather limit their options.

If the law does not benefit consumers or businesses, who is the winner? The answer: Governor Dan McKee and his union buddies, especially those who recently endorsed him. Looking at the legislation, it only impacts grocery stores, even as other businesses use self-checkout lanes. Are the self-checkouts at these non-grocery stores just so much more different than the ones grocery stores use?

By signing this legislation, Governor Dan McKee has made his priorities clear. He is willing to place ridiculous, costly regulations on businesses to buy votes from his union pals. As other states, like California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Washington, consider similar legislation, remember who the real winners are. It is not you.