How New Self Check-Out Rules Could Impact Shopping in Washington

What Washington State's New Self-Check-Out Rules Mean for You

Are you one of those who uses self-check-out at the grocery stores? It seems like only yesterday when the first self-check-out registers went into place and now even Costco has them.

There was a time in Washington State when you'd have to wait in line as the cashier rang you up but now self-check-out seems to have taken over all portions of our shopping.

Some will say it's great and some folks still like prefer the old-fashioned cashier at places like Walmart and Target - there has even been talk of self-check-out at gas service stations in Washington State.

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So a new bill could be changing how self-check-out is used in Washington State

The Game-Changing Impact of New Self-Check-Out Regulations in Washington

Say hello to HB 1739 which is currently being proposed in Olympia as outlined by fastdemocracy.com: 

The bill aims to regulate the use of self-service checkout stations in grocery establishments in Washington State.

It introduces new definitions, including "Department" referring to the Department of Labor and Industries, and outlines the conditions under which grocery establishments can offer self-service checkouts.

Specifically, it mandates that at least one manual checkout station must be available, limits the number of items a customer can purchase at a self-service station to 15, and requires that no more than two self-service stations be monitored by a single employee.

Additionally, grocery establishments must include self-service checkouts in their workplace hazard analyses.

On one hand, it looks like the bill provides more grocery employees to help with customer service but on the other hand, it does limit how many items you can take through a checkout line on your own.

How this will affect grocery stores, employees and shoppers remains to be seen but this might be a new law we'll have to deal with in Washington State if it passes.

You can read more about the bill here.