Economic Development & Opportunity

Self-Service Checkout Staffing Requirements Ordinance 

On August 12, 2025, the Long Beach City Council approved an ordinance establishing certain staffing requirements for self-service checkout stations at grocery and drug stores to advance public safety and prevent retail theft. The ordinance, which goes into effect on September 11, 2025, can be found online.

Section 5.93.040 (C) of the ordinance requires that impacted drug retail establishments and grocery stores notify the public of this policy by prominently posting signage linking to a City website with more information about the public’s rights under this ordinance and enforcement options. This website serves the purpose of providing information on the policy. Below is a summary of the Ordinance. See Chapter 5.93 of the Long Beach Municipal Code for the full text.

Applicability
This policy applies to drug retail establishments and food retail establishments as defined:

• “Drug Retail Establishment” means a retail store that sells a variety of prescription and nonprescription medicines and miscellaneous items, including drugs, pharmaceuticals, sundries, fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, deli products, dairy products, canned foods, dry foods, beverages, prepared foods, and other merchandise.
• “Food Retail Establishment” means a retail store that is either: (1) over fifteen thousand (15,000) square feet in size and sells primarily household foodstuff for offsite including fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, deli products, dairy products, canned foods, dry foods, beverages, baked foods and/or prepared foods (other household supplies or products are secondary to the primary purpose of food sales); or (2) over eighty-five thousand (85,000) square feet and with ten percent (10%) of their sales floor area dedicated to the sale of non-taxable merchandise including the sale of fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, deli products, dairy products, canned foods, dry foods, beverages, baked foods and/or prepared foods.
  

Self-Service Checkout Requirements
Drug Retail Establishments and Food Retail Establishments that provide Self-Service Checkout options shall provide at least one Non-Self-Service Checkout station staffed by an Employee that is available during the times that a Self-Service Checkout option is available to customers, and Drug Retail Establishments and Food Retail Establishments shall establish, implement, and advertise limits to Self-Service Checkout to purchases of no more than fifteen (15) items.

Drug Retail Establishments and Food Retail Establishments shall have an established workforce policy that prohibits customers from using a Self-Service Checkout station to purchase either of the following:

1. Items that require customers to provide a form of identification, including, but not limited to, alcohol and tobacco products.
2. Items subject to special theft-deterrent measures that are affixed to the item, including, but not limited to, electronic article surveillance, ink, or other tags, or items placed in locked cabinets, that require the intervention of an Employee to remove them before purchase.

Public Notice Requirement
Drug Retail Establishments and Food Retail Establishments shall notify the public of this Ordinance by prominently posting signage in a location accessible to customers, which includes either a link or QR code to the City of Long Beach website regarding this Ordinance, a summary of the public’s rights under this Ordinance, and enforcement options available to the public.

Self-Service Checkout stations shall be located to enable observation and surveillance from both employees of Drug Retail Establishments and Food Retail Establishments and local law enforcement.

• Self-Service Checkout Staffing Requirement Business Signage Template

Self-Service Checkout Staffing Requirements
Drug Retail Establishments and Food Retail Establishments that provide Self-Service Checkout options shall assign at least one (1) Employee to supervise the Self-Service Checkout operation at all times that Self-Service Checkout is in operation during business hours. The assigned Employee shall have no other work responsibilities that would interfere with their ability to maintain direct visual inspection and surveillance of the Self-Service Checkout operations.

In the event a Drug Retail Establishment or Food Retail Establishment operates two (2) or more Self-Service Checkout stations, the Drug Retail Establishment or Food Retail Establishment shall maintain a staffing ratio of at least one (1) Employee for every three (3) Self-Service Checkout Stations (1:3 ratio). The manner in which this standard is implemented may take into account operational and logistical feasibility.

Enforcement
Any customer or employee of a Drug Retail Establishment or Food Retail Establishment may bring a private right of action in the Superior Court of the State of California against a Drug Retail Establishment or Food Retail Establishment for violating this Chapter and, upon prevailing, may be awarded:

1. A civil penalty for each violation of this Chapter of one hundred dollars ($100) for each employee of the Drug Retail Establishment or Food Retail Establishment. Each day the violation is not cured, the penalty shall increase an additional one hundred dollars ($100) per employee per day up to a limit of one thousand dollars ($1,000) per employee per day for each day in which the violation remains uncured.
2. Attorneys’ fees and costs.

Additional rules and regulations apply. See Chapter 5.93 of the Long Beach Municipal Code for the full text.