NY Dems Propose 10% Discount for Self-Checkout Purchases at Food Retailers
“The bill’s argument is rooted in a common consumer complaint that the labor once performed by the cashier now falls on the customer, without any compensation.”
If a bill currently under consideration in the New York Assembly were to become law, food retailers would be required to give shoppers who use self-checkout kiosks a 10% discount. The rationale? Customers should be compensated for performing the work of cashiers.
Apparently, the lawmakers behind this proposal have little understanding of basic economics. Supermarkets typically operate on razor-thin profit margins of about 2%. Requiring them to offer a 10% discount to self-checkout customers — who would quickly become the overwhelming majority of shoppers — would drive them all out of business.
If Assembly Bill A11501 were enacted, grocers hoping to stay in business would have little choice but to raise prices across the board to offset the enormous hit to their bottom lines. In the end, shoppers would wind up paying for the mandated discount themselves.
Source: https://t.co/hcs0Ro9IfC
— Democrats Deliver (@DemzDeliver) July 31, 2026
The initial draft of A11501 defines a “food retail establishment” as a “supermarket, grocery store, or other food retailer.” It remains unclear, however, how the measure would apply to self-checkout purchases at mixed-merchandise retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Walgreens, where food is only one part of their business.
According to Forbes:
The bill’s argument is rooted in a common consumer complaint that the labor once performed by the cashier now falls on the customer, without any compensation. Customers question why they are performing work the retailer has been traditionally expected to handle, without sharing directly in the savings. Self-checkout may reduce the friction of waiting for a cashier, but it replaces it with the work of scanning, bagging and processing payments. The New York bill taps into that sentiment by placing a financial value on that exchange.
As State Assemblymember Nikki Lucas, a Democrat from Brooklyn, wrote in the bill:
Retail businesses increasingly rely on self-checkout systems to reduce staffing and operational costs by shifting responsibilities traditionally performed by employees onto consumers.
Since customers are effectively completing portions of the checkout labor themselves without compensation, providing a mandatory discount helps ensure fairness, acknowledges consumer participation in store operations, and allows the public to share in the financial savings created by self-service technology.
I wasn’t aware that self-checkout had become such a burden to consumers. I had always assumed most shoppers appreciated the convenience and the ability to get in and out of the store more quickly. My husband certainly does — he’ll head for the self-checkout every chance he gets.
Perhaps, until free grocery stores become a reality, this is just the latest gift far-left lawmakers are trying to deliver to their constituents in exchange for political support and, ultimately, their continued hold on power.
New York is only one of several states to introduce legislation related to the self-checkout process. Others include California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and, unsurprisingly, Washington.
However, as the New York Post noted, “this particular bill is unique as it’s the only proposal that would hand money back to the shopper.”
Last month, Rhode Island became the first state to implement statewide self-checkout restrictions.
Its Restrictions on Self-Service Checkout Stations Act, which takes effect January 1, 2027, “requires grocery stores to have at least one human-operated checkout station for every three self-service stations during peak hours. It also stipulates that at least one must be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and self-checkout monitors must also be free from other duties.”
WPRI News reported, “Grocery stores that violate the law can be fined based on the wages for one full shift at the highest hourly pay rate, up to $1,000 per day.”
It’s reasonable to require self-checkout monitors to be available to assist customers when problems arise. As Forbes noted, there are times when “an item lacks a barcode, a promotion fails to register or an age-restricted purchase requires an approval.”
But requiring retailers to give every self-checkout customer a 10% discount is an entirely different proposition. Such a mandate would not create savings out of thin air; it would merely shift the cost elsewhere. Grocers would be forced to raise prices, reduce staff, or absorb losses that many simply could not sustain.
Consumers may appreciate the convenience of self-checkout, but convenience is not the same as exploitation. The notion that every customer who scans a few groceries deserves a government-mandated discount ignores a basic economic reality: businesses cannot absorb costs indefinitely. Eventually, someone pays. In this case, it would almost certainly be consumers themselves — through higher prices, fewer employees, or both. That’s not consumer protection. It’s economic illiteracy disguised as populism.
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Comments
Great, DEI puppies who are functionally illiterate and have never, ever produced a thing or service of value in their entire lives now think they can dictate pricing structure to private business.
Gee, I wonder what would be the result? Prices increase elsewhere to make up the difference? Self-checkout lanes disappear altogether in these jurisdictions?
Morons, absolute morons.
Stop thinking that the people who come up with this are morons. Certain followers are. But the people who come up with this nonsense? They understand perfectly well what will happen, because that’s what they want to happen. They don’t think like we do. They don’t have the same goals. They are not compatible with freedom and liberty. They are control freaks.
The left plays the long game and look what it got them – a kommie mayor of the largest city in America.
Would be nice if our side ever understood what they’re up to.
I’m well aware of the history and the high level schemers who think they’ll rule the world because THEY are smart enough to make it work THIS TIME.
But the particular person I’m referring to in my original post is a full blown USEFUL IDIOT. Look at her picture… she’s a mouth-breather. Read her bio. She’s no Marx or Lenin or Mao or Casto, etc. She’s a DEI puppy who ate the intellectual slop and thought it tasted good.
“Gee, I wonder what would be the result? Prices increase elsewhere to make up the difference? Self-checkout lanes disappear altogether in these jurisdictions?”
All groceries in the city run by the commie government.
Schemers, absolute schemers.
This is the state, not the city.
Actually, what would probably happen would be a 10% across the board price increase. So self-service people would see no effect (after they get their “discount”) and the economic substance would be a 10% surcharge for people using the full-service lines (which would lead to less demand for the full-service lines). To the extent that supermarkets were required to offer full-service lines in excess of demand, prices would be further increased to compensate. This isn’t that complicated. The statute (which I haven’t read) would probably try to close these “loopholes,” but I spent 30 years structuring around contracts and statutes and I suspect that despite the legislators’ best efforts, there will be ways to enforce economic reality. At the end of the day, people will pay the same and there will be fewer full-service lines.
This is guarantied to convince stores to get rid of self checkout. But most of them won’t hire more people to make up the difference. They’ll just go out of business.
Possibly the self check out users ARE benefitting from overall lower prices?
Flip this: a 10% surcharge for customers using full service checkout…how does that look ?
In MA some stores are already applying surcharges for credit card purchases, They also have the concept of local sales tax where some amount goes to the town and the rest to the state. NYC has had this for a long time. Also some locales charge for paper bags now and many stores only carry one size bag which is often too big. The add-on charges are getting crazy.
But…but…it’s for the CHILDREN!
As of August 1st, Louisiana banned the surcharge practice. The government gets it right once in a while, but not often.
I am benifitting by not having to wait for the 2 or 3 checkers that are working.
I can get the heck out of the store in a timely manner by using the self check.
I am paying the agreed price and if I want a cashier then I can decide to do that and wait.
We don’t need another law.
Except they’re not. Self checkout increases the price of goods. Theft has become so rampant that it’s now cheaper to actually hire employees than watch 3% of your sales walk out the door in shrinkage every day.
The other thing that you can do is cluster self-checkouts together and hire one employee to watch all of them. Target does that. In addition there are cameras.
There’s been claims that Targets will let self-check shoplifters walk out unconfronted at first, and only bring in police when they’ve come back and stolen enough for it to be a felony.
Some would call that entrapment.
You can’t bust anyone for shoplifting any more without them leaving the premises.
The charges won’t stick because even the most basic attorney can argue that the person still intended to pay and provide reasonable doubt. It’s precedent now.
That is basically what it will become. Overall stores raise prices 10%, then self checkers get the 10% off.
I’m flabbergasted by this. Store cashiers are unionized. This means the NY democrats are shooting a shot across the bow of one of their biggest supporters. They are doing this when they are under siege by the socialist DSA who are even bigger union supporters.
Perhaps the above posters are correct and this is really a ploy to drive stores to get of self-checkout and hire more cashiers,
You know I;m really beginning to hate democracy as it has devolved in the US. Of course any reader of history knows that these types of shenanigans are nothing new,
Those unions would be in favor of this because it might preserve at least a few cashier jobs.
Why 10%? Why not 25%? Why pay stores at all? Why do Dems always want to control everything? Is it just because their daddies abandoned them or are there a multitudes of reasons.
They’re socialists. Drive the stores out of business and the government takes over. That is the end goal for everything to be under government.
A lot of places plan to remove the self-checkout because of theft.
In my area of Florida, Walmart has removed or reduced self-checkout in many of its stores. The reason: greatly increased theft. Unless closely monitored, some customers apparently used self-checkout to “accidentally” fail to scan some items (usually the most expensive ones).
No food retailer can long sustain a 10% loss in profits. The margin is just not there. This democrat plan for New York will guarantee “food deserts” for residents. And only the economically illiterate will fail to see it coming.
The NEA/AFT has now ensured that covers most of the electorate.
In my experience the self-checkout camera alerts if it even suspects that you didn’t scan something.
Self checkout already raises your prices due to theft. It’s gotten bad enough that some stores are eliminating it or reducing it because it’s cheaper to hire an employee.
There will be a race between theft costs and the costs of employees. With wages being driven up by democrat governments as well as the difficulty of hiring reliable employees it is tough to know which will win.
Eventually AI may solve this by having it monitor self-checkouts and flag troublesome customers with either a history of stealing or currently stealing.
“There will be a race between theft costs and the costs of employees.”
And that doesn’t even mention the cost of thieving employees.
“I wasn’t aware that self-checkout had become such a burden to consumers. I had always assumed most shoppers appreciated the convenience and the ability to get in and out of the store more quickly.”
Especially in big blue cities, where shoppers appreciate the convenience of being able to slide items around (but not over) the scanning window like a shell game operator.
Simple. Prices will go up ten percent so they can be discounted down ten percent.
I love the “shoppers should be compensated for doing their own checkout”. Ok, so you’re going to spend the same amount of time, whether you scan your own purchases or the cashier scans them. Why do you think you should get paid? For sliding your own purchases across the scanner? These people are so clueless it hurts.
I’m going to spend less time. Because I’m in there to buy one item, maybe as many as four on a big day. I don’t have to wait in line behind the old lady who has a purse full of enough coupons to negotiate cascading straddles on pork belly futures, can only pay by personal check, and doesn’t have a driver’s license.
If stores must compensate customers for labor, will that convert shopping into gig employment and create taxable events?
Ssh! They’re not going to spring that until 2028!
IMO this proposal will work to end self checkout. As many have correctly pointed out the rampant theft at self checkout is already taking a toll on thin profit margins. Slapping a 10% loss on top to every self checkout sale probably raises the level of pain too high to continue it. Especially given the general consumer loathing of the entire notion of self checkout.
You are underestimating the cost of paying human labor.
Also there are camera and AI systems that can heavily curb the activity
Not at all. Consider the cost of ‘human labor’ v cost of theft. If total payroll cost is $20 an hour for a cashier (I doubt its that high) then theft at a self checkout only gotta be one pack of rib eye streaks to exceed it in that hour. Lots of ‘beauty’ products would do the same.
Then there’s the general consumer dissatisfaction with entire idea of self checkout. Add the costs of payroll for more loss prevention staff. Costs of cameras. Costs of having LEO show up and staff time lost dealing with it. Costs of testifying in court when required. How about morale costs of employees watching all this go down instead of just hiring some more cashiers.
People are already paying themselves for their self-service labor — by STEALING 10% of their purchases
Utterly moronic even among leftist moronic ideas.
The very idea that a government can demand a ‘discount’ for anything is absurd. Stores will just raise prices by 10% so you’re paying the same price as before.
If my math is correct (possible, but maybe not) the stores would have to plus up prices 11.15% to recover from a 10% discount. A $100 item discounted 10% ends up at $90. For the store to regain their margin under that scenario, the price would be adjusted upward by 11.15% to get a sale price of $111.15. The 10% discount would then net the store $100.035, slightly higher than before all this foolishness started.
With profit margins less than 5%, a 10% discount for self-serve is a non-starter. I can’t see why an economics genius like AOC can’t stand up and call this bad for business….er…. oh…forget that.
How about a 10% discount on property taxes every year the homeowner doesn’t use the fire department? After all, it takes labor to sort and separate flammables and put out small fires here and there. Doesn’t work that way because the grocery store is expensive to make available to all to put out fires?
We subsidize the people that use it.
The poors abuse the medics who have to provide free care if the patient doesn’t take the ride. Fire calls are far less common so most of their work is medic
“labor”
LOL
Next thing these people will ask for wages to compensate the effort required to breathe.
The grocers will eventually close down and pack it in, to redeploy it limited capital and assets in another state with a sane government. Then the “food desert” whine starts. Pfft.
Does anyone remember all the arguments about self service gasoline?
Pepperidge Farm New Jersey still remembers.
If you just have a couple of items in your hands the self-checkout option may be fine, but when you’ve a full week’s shopping, or more, to deal with then you have a problem – self-checkouts are not designed to deal with more than a bagful or so. If you don’t put the scanned item in the bagging area you get repeatedly nagged until you do, and I believe if you remove bags from the area before paying for them the system also complains despite the fact it only has space for one, maybe two bags. If you have half a dozen or more … Then there’s the fact self-checks can’t deal with multiple items like staff can – a couple of taps on their screen, a swipe of the item, and you can have dozens of items processed in a single instant. The reality is staff can be faster and cheaper than self checks, but it depends on the customer.
“If you don’t put the scanned item in the bagging area you get repeatedly nagged until you do”
This is particularly entertaining at home stores, where the item you are self-checking may be 8′ long, or weigh 40 lbs. per piece. You can put other customers’ eyes out scanning those.
The stores I frequent have started putting item limits on self-checkout, mitigating that problem.
More staff are also definitely not cheaper, even if self-checkout isn’t faster. A few wasted minutes of customer time in the grocery store does not have the same negative effect as wasted time in a restaurant or a fast food drive-thru. It can have negative effects, but it’s usually minimal.
I think this is another of those things that start out as a Republican joke and then some people on our side don’t realize is a joke and actually fall for it, so the joke becomes on us. The idea that Mamdani ever promised or proposed free groceries is bullshit, just like the idea that Tararico was ever vegan or vegetarian, or ever claimed to be. People on our side made it up as a joke, to poke fun at the other side, but then other people think it’s real.
Self checkout has to be greater theft risk. One item in cart full of groceries is easily “over-looked” in the self check out process. The store might only have one person monitoring half dozen self check out terminals. I have accidentally done it.
In my experience, if the camera even thinks you put something with the scanned goods without having scanned it, it alerts and won’t let you proceed until someone comes and looks at the footage. It’s a huge annoyance.
The camera doesn’t “think.” The item wasn’t scanned, intentionally or unintentionally. Period.
Wrong. Often the item was scanned, but the camera is set to be super sensitive and alerts anyway.
Seriously flawed thinking, as usual. Did anyone do the math?
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