Posted on 07/03/2026 8:40:43 AM PDT by V_TWIN
Rhode Island has become the first state to take on big ... self-checkout?
Legislation passed and signed in the Ocean State limits the number of self-checkout lanes a store is allowed to have, and it's based on the ratio of normal checkout lanes with cashiers. The goal is to protect jobs.
Here's WPRI:
'Today, we're protecting jobs and strengthening customer service,' [Rhode Island Governor Dan] McKee said. 'Whether it's helping a customer with an issue, assisting a senior, or ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities, this law is about preserving choice and keeping people at the center of the shopping experience.'
Stores have to have one manned checkout lane open for every three self-checkout lanes.
They also have to have an employee who oversees the self-checkout area, and that employee is not allowed to be assigned any other tasks while they stand around watching people self-checkout.
The law also states that stores all have to have a manned register to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
And if you don't abide by these restrictions, it'll cost you $1,000 a day!
(Excerpt) Read more at notthebee.com ...
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“Rhode Island passes law restricting number of self-checkout lanes allowed in stores”. If I have to scan my own there’s going to be a sale, buy one, get one free.
THe state knows all about rapid checkout, they have years of experience with motor vehicle departments.
I always have to laugh when they say this is the era of "the service economy." Stores make YOU do all the work these days. I don't want to be a checker. I don't want to be a bagger. I don't want to unload my shopping cart. I want to pay others to do that for me.
Scanning the cart leaves a cart full of loose items and not neatly bagged by an employee.
For people who fill up a cart and sometimes need two carts, this no bagging stuff is a massive regression to a primitive America.
I like the way Trader Joe’s and other stores do it in Mo. You wheel your shopping cart up to the cashier and she takes the items out of cart one by one and scans them while you are on the other side not having to lift a finger. I stopped going to Kroger’s because after wheeling the cart around the store, I had to lift everything out and put it on the counter, while the cashier impatiently waited for me. Then I was expected to bag everything myself. The icing on the cake would be she cashed out and forgot to ring in my coupons. She said that was ok because I could wait in line at the service dwsk and they would ring up my coupons.
I was happy to find the following voting reference and hope that there are other websites like it. The following link shows how each RI lawmaker voted on this bill.
Rhode Island Senate Bill 2342
Browser flagged that one of few websites was not secure.
It seems like links to voting records of constitutionally limited power (hint) federal government lawmaker voting records are all over the place. Unsurprisingly, links to voting records of state lawmakers with their vast 10th Amendment powers to serve the people seem to be few.
Wake up sheeple patriots. We desperately need to repeal 16th and 17th Amendments.
Stupid politicians who probably never even worked as a bagger in a grocery store.
Let the stores figure this out. If you don’t like self check out…go to another store.
My next door neighbors were refuseniks from the Soviet Union, who finally got asylum here. They didn't know how to do anything for themselves because they had been taught to never take work away from another comrade.
I hate self checkouts. But I know many people like them. I think stores can respond to consumer preference without the government’s “help”.
Perhaps the writers of this law should consider whether upping the minimum wage might play a part in replacing labor with machines.
Oh, I like that.
I do both Costco and Sam’s Club. Nothing is faster or better than the Sam’s Club Scan and Go. Without Scan and Go, Costco is far superior for net throughput.
Scan and Go is the best feature I have ever seen in a shopping app experience.
The few times I go to Walmart I either check out at electronics or jewelry.
I use Amazon’s nutscan. Go to Whole Foods, walk out the door, drop trou and flash my nuts. (Need panoramic view to get it all in). Go home snd eat the inferior, overpriced 365 brand food.
Costco has scan and go in some stores. They’ll probably be getting it in all stores. I don’t want it. I’m happy with letting them do all the work and scan for me while it’s in my basket. It’s so fast - much faster than I could do it.
What I hate about self-checkout lanes are slow people and people provisioning supplies for a platoon for a week.
“Costco has implemented a new plan. As you are waiting in line an employee comes by and scans all the items in your cart. When it’s your turn at the register you don’t have to take the items out of your cart. You’re already scanned. All you do is pay your bill. The lines go very fast!”
Sam’s has an excellent scan and go feature in their app. Scan each item with your phone, hit the check out button, done. No check out at all.
Even that requires you to wait in lines. Scan and Go throughout the store and then head for the exits. No waiting in line with all the 3rd worlders at Costco and Sam’s. At my Costco, I feel like I am in Asia, rather than the US. It’s crazy.
Costco is one of those places that makes me say, “what the Hell happened to my country?”
I think nowadays it’s limited by the number of employees available to monitor the checkout registers. They experienced too much “leakage.”
Where I live, there is usually a store employee in each pair of self-checkout lines to help customers with problems and questions. Also, some items require an ID check before the system will process them. Also, because of rampant shoplifting, most stores now have one or more security people on hand at all times.
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