Self-checkout lanes impact Black and brown workers

Automation in grocery and big-box stores contribute to theft but also affects Black and brown labor. Walmart closures raise questions about self-checkout.

The Walmart Supercenter in Chatham at 8431 S Stewart Ave, Sunday, April 16, 2023
The Walmart Supercenter in Chatham at 8431 S Stewart Ave. was one of four stores the company closed last month. Workers at other locations say self-checkout lanes contributed to theft. Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times
The Walmart Supercenter in Chatham at 8431 S Stewart Ave, Sunday, April 16, 2023
The Walmart Supercenter in Chatham at 8431 S Stewart Ave. was one of four stores the company closed last month. Workers at other locations say self-checkout lanes contributed to theft. Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times

Self-checkout lanes impact Black and brown workers

Automation in grocery and big-box stores contribute to theft but also affects Black and brown labor. Walmart closures raise questions about self-checkout.

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Self-checkout lanes are now as ubiquitous as shopping carts in grocery and big-box stores. Despite their contribution to thefts and layoffs, that retail automation technology is here to stay and will affect Black and brown workers the most.

Walmart’s closure of four Chicago stores last month is raising questions about automation and theft. The retail giant said its stores had not been profitable since the first one opened in the city 17 years ago.

Lupe Garcia, who worked at the Kenwood neighborhood market, said theft was definitely an issue at that location — but one of Walmart’s own making.

“In our location, we only [had] two registers where we have people,” Garcia said. She added that if the store had more checkout lanes run by people, “it would definitely decrease the theft” at its stores.

Garcia said her job was to monitor the self-checkout lanes, but it was often difficult confronting people who were suspected of not scanning all their items.

“We sometimes don’t approach the situations when those people are being aggressive towards us,” she said.

Walmart would not answer WBEZ’s questions about the percentage of self-checkout lanes and how much theft contributed to the stores’ reduced profits. But in an email statement, a spokesperson said, “The number of self-checkout locations in stores is determined by several factors, including square footage, available space and configuration.”

The company also said that theft was “not a leading cause for this decision.”

Meanwhile, retail analysts say reliance on automation is a trend that will increase over time.

Morningstar analyst Zain Akbari said automation could introduce theft, but technology — through “digital surveillance and monitoring can also prevent theft over the long term.”

He added that, for retailers like Walmart, the choice often comes down to accepting thefts “in higher-crime areas as a cost of doing business and passing on the cost to customers via higher prices… or closing stores in areas where the math doesn’t make sense.”

Akbari also said, in general, big-box retailers like Walmart struggle in some urban areas. For example, more reliance on public transportation by residents in cities “means that customers may not be able to conveniently take advantage of the large pack sizes and aggressively priced big-ticket items that discount general merchandisers like Walmart offer, simply because the items are more difficult for such shoppers to take home.”

Ultimately, experts say when it comes to retail and automation, Black and brown workers are more likely to lose – and that the trend was accelerated by the pandemic.

“We do know that Black and Hispanic workers are overrepresented in jobs with high automation risk,” said Kristen Broady, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

who studies automation’s effect on labor. For example, her research found that Black workers were over one-and-a-half times more likely to be cashiers than white workers.

During the pandemic, employers sought to save on labor costs due to illness and worker shortages. They also responded to customers’ desire for contactless transactions, deploying robots and machines to clean floors, stock shelves and check out groceries, according to Broady’s research.

She added that as companies consider the costs of labor versus the costs of automation technology, they should also think of questions affecting the workforce.

“What jobs are going to be necessary to program the new technology? Are the people that are going to be displaced qualified to do something else? If not, who can we partner with to get them ready?” Broady said.

She said some corporations like Toyota and Boeing have created partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities to train students for new careers.

“There are some really good examples out there, but we need more of it,” she said.

Esther Yoon-Ji Kang is a reporter on WBEZ’s Race, Class and Communities desk. Follow her on Twitter @estheryjkang.