What does AB 183 mean for consumers and Fresh & Easy?

What does the passage of AB 183 mean to customers of Fresh & Easy, the British chain of supermarkets taking over California? Simply put? More service and more jobs! F&E will have to hire more employees to cashier at the legally required manned checkouts needed to purchase alcohol. Californians will have more service and more jobs and the potential for alcohol abuse will be reduced as well.

F&E has worked very hard to create the image in the consumers mind that self serve cash registers are somehow preferable. The one who benefits most from self serve anything is the business who forces the consumer to do for free what the business once had to pay an employee to do for them. Consumers don’t realize the price of goods includes the expense of selling them to the consumer. When the service disappears entirely but the goods only go down in price moderately, who profits? Not the consumer.

The one who benefits most from self serve anything is the business who forces the consumer to do for free what the business once had to pay an employee to do for them.

Studies show customers prefer to use manned checkout stands. Given a choice (which Fresh & Easy does not) the customer will go to the cashier and bagger, not the self serve register. (At Albertsons lines often stretch from manned registers while self serve registers are unused.) Fresh & Easy will need to provide more cashiers to serve those waiting in line and you can see F&E’s bottom dollar shrink in profits vs. overhead. No wonder they fought AB 183

Opponents have staged elaborate scenarios where they tried to purchase alcohol from a self serve register and photograph the act then when they were caught (as if their suspicious behavior weren’t a red flag) they report the system works. It does not. Intoxicated adults have used the self serve registers without effort and teen sites detail how to overwhelm the self serve register to their advantage. Nothing compares to a human being looking them in the eye and asking for ID.

Besides, after all the work it takes to make a cartful of purchases I want the few moments to catch my breath at the register while a cashiers expertise and a baggers skill rewards me as a consumer for choosing a full serve market.  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

Assembly Bill No. 183

CHAPTER 726

An act to add Section 23394.7 to the Business and Professions Code,

relating to alcoholic beverages.

[Approved by Governor October 9, 2011. Filed with

Secretary of State October 9, 2011.]

Legislative Counsel’s Digest

AB 183, Ma. Alcoholic beverage licenses: self-service checkouts.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, administered by the Department

of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the sale and distribution of

alcoholic beverages and the granting of licenses for the manufacture,

distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages within the state.

This bill would prohibit off-sale licensees from selling alcoholic beverages

using a customer-operated checkout stand located on the licensee’s physical

premises. This bill makes findings and declarations regarding the effects of

allowing alcoholic beverages to be sold using self-service checkouts.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that a violation of any of

its provisions for which another penalty or punishment is not specifically

provided is a misdemeanor. This bill would expand existing crimes by

imposing additional duties on a licensee under the act, thus, the bill would

impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies

and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory

provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for

a specified reason.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares that allowing customers

to purchase alcoholic beverages through self-service checkouts:

(a) Facilitates the purchase of alcoholic beverages by minors.

(b) Permits customers who are in an advanced state of intoxication to

purchase additional alcoholic beverages, in violation of state law.

(c) Allows for greater theft of alcoholic beverages, thereby depriving the

state of tax revenues.

SEC. 2. Section 23394.7 is added to the Business and Professions Code,

to read: 23394.7. No privileges under an off-sale license shall be exercised by

the licensee at any customer-operated checkout stand located on the

licensee’s physical premises.

SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6

of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that

may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because

this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction,

or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of

Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime

within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California

Constitution.

Questions For Fresh & Easy

We owe it to ourselves as a community (and by community I mean every one) to research thoroughly every advance we make toward improvement. I desire the same things as other stakeholders in Sunland Tujunga: including a purportedly wonderful food market with fresh new ideas and merchandise. However, according to the simple research I have done about Fresh & Easy, we all need to ask more questions of them. An article from the Sunday Times in the UK dated August 4, 2007 when they first decided to take California by storm is revealing both in its scope and personal experience from Fresh & Easy’s country of origin.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article2189609.ece

I’ve been advised that an STNC board member has taken my inquiry in a personal way; such is not my intent as I do hope Fresh & Easy will overcome obstacles and become our new neighbor. But I naturally want my new neighbor to abide by the rules of my neighborhood, not change the rules to their benefit and my detriment. According to the calls and e-mail I’ve received, Sunland Tujunga has issues with alcoholism, underage drinking and DUIs. It does not bode well that an Assembly Bill concerning liquor licensing has to be created for the sole purpose of dealing with an issue arising from a merchandiser from another country. 

I also feel empathy for the other markets in the same census tract that should be equally supported by our STNC and FBCSP. Smart and Final, Foothills Market, and Albertsons are stakeholders too; in fact Albertsons was a model of decency when they bought the whole rundown Luckys site, remodeled it to perfection, then rehired all of Luckys displaced employees to serve our community faithfully. To allow a foreign market to move in without due diligence at the expense of an established American one is just plain wrong.

Questions to ask Fresh & Easy:

*Why can’t you have one or two manned checkouts for customers making alcoholic purchases?

*What percentage of our community do you intend to hire for a store in our community?

*Why can’t they have more than 20 hours of work?

*Are benefits full? Partial? Paid for by Fresh & Easy? Paid for by the employee?

*What percentage of middle and upper management is American?

*What will you do if unions (which are protected by American civil rights) petition to organize in your stores?

*What support (Youth, Arts, Schools) do you intend to give back to our community who supports you with our purchasing dollar?

Here are some other links to Fresh & Easy information sources:

 http://www.licensesandpermits.com/how-to/get-local-zoning-permit-approval.aspx

http://ceres.ca.gov/planning/cup/condition

http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/Bills/AB_183

[EDIT: here are more telling and interesting links; the first is F&Es own blog as they go after Targets interests and marketing strategy: http://freshneasybuzz.blogspot.com/
And here is one detailing behind the scenes health issues http://ocvoice.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/tesco-invasion-critics-say-fresh-easy-same-as-wal-mart/ and comparison to Wal Mart practices http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/14/tesco-walmart-arizona-markets-equity-cx_vr_0114markets19.html ]