Costa Mesa Self-Checkout Regulation Ordinance Advances Despite Grocery Industry Opposition
Costa Mesa, CA – On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, the Costa Mesa City Council passed the “Safe Stores are Staffed Stores” ordinance to address staffing and operational standards for the use of self-checkout in grocery retail stores and retail drug establishments in the city of Costa Mesa. Workers and community members testified at the City Council meeting in support of the ordinance that proactively addresses retail theft and advances public safety despite their own store managers sitting across the aisle watching them.
“The ordinance will have a real positive change for customers and workers in Costa Mesa. The community can go into CVS and see a real human being at checkout,” said Matt Bell, president, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324. “Costa Mesa has a proud history of championing pro-worker and public safety initiatives, and by passing this ordinance, Costa Mesa can provide thousands of workers – union and non-union – with extra support and better service for customers. This action is another step toward ensuring quality jobs and safe, positive shopping experiences for everyone in the city.”
The grocery industry fought back against the measure in an effort to continue to be able to reduce labor costs by using self-checkout systems. Because of the industry’s increasing reliance on self-checkout, workers have heavier workloads, customer conflicts rise, and there’s been an increase in in-store petty theft. All of these factors have had a significant impact on both employees and public safety.
Costa Mesa’s “Safe Stores are Staffed Stores” ordinance will set a new benchmark for worker protection for the city by improving citywide public safety, safeguarding employees, and lowering retail theft. It requires all drug retail establishments with self-checkout stations and grocery stores larger than 15,000 square feet to have one dedicated employee oversee no more than three self-checkout machines, and a manned checkout line is required to be open before any self-checkout stations are used.
“Not one worker is speaking in opposition to this ordinance, but all workers I’ve spoken to cannot express one good thing about working in self-checkout,” said Matt Walters, a 20+ year resident of Costa Mesa and worker at Vons. “This ordinance is good for the city. We can see that from how Long Beach’s self-checkout ordinance is working. Over the weekend I visited five stores in Long Beach and all stores were in compliance with the law. I’m glad the Costa Mesa City Council stood with all of the workers in their city.”
The ordinance now heads to a second reading, which is expected to be on February 3, 2026.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2026
Contact: Jenna Thompson, 949.246.1620, jthompson@ufcw324.org
