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.  

Fresh & Easy, New Biz @ The Coffee Stop: Agenda Items For TONIGHT!

We all walk that fine line between community involvement and attention to our own lives. Community involvement can be demanding, so can our own lives. Community involvement can be rewarding... it can also be demoralizing. The reason so many people stop participating in their community after an initial rousing interest is because equally enthusiastic people with opposing views take it too far and turn their opposition into something personal. Now that would be a good bill to support: The Keep It Clean In Town (KIC-IT) bill to prevent: personal attacks, Facebook insults, snide remarks on Forums and rages on hate sites…

Anyway, in case you’re game, a couple of important meetings are scheduled for this week. First is the Sunland Tujunga Neighborhood Council Land Use Committee (STNC LUC) meeting tonight at 7747 Foothill Boulevard in Tujunga at 7pm. A number of items are on the agenda including a report on the new business going in at the former Coffee Stop drive-thru.

This business was originally embraced by the STNC LUC and the STA but now the Sunland Tujunga Alliance (STA) has turned against it: reporting the business owners’ failure to pull permits. The STA previously reported the business was allowed to “clean up the site” without permits; the owners also met with STNC LUC Chair Tomi Lyn Bowling after an LUC meeting had adjourned, and were encouraged to proceed but return to 'meet the community' at a meeting beforehand. Their expressed desire to fence in the entire site to prevent theft of tables and chairs left outside and the plan to eliminate the drive-thru went unchallenged. They never returned and began work in the evenings… this has tongues wagging.

Another item of interest on the agenda is the report on the progress and hearings about the request of Fresh & Easy for a conditional use permit for liquor sales at their proposed new site in Tujunga. This is a site permit only, based on prior sales allowed at the previous store: a Ralphs Grocery with full service checkouts.

A good deal of strategy goes into this request as F&E has policy they will not consider a site without it. This argument is further made into a hot topic because AB183 (the Fresh & Easy Bill) is before the Governor to prevent liquor sales at Fresh & Easy Stores due to self serve check-out stations.

Finally, a very important hearing is scheduled for the public at 10 am tomorrow September 20, at Marvin Braude Center 6262 Van Nuys Boulevard Room 1B in Van Nuys 91401 to express their concerns to the City of LA on the Fresh & Easy controversy. Here is the link for that meeting

http://cityplanning.lacity.org/meetingsNhearings/dsp_viewFileDetail.cfm?filename=39390

I urge you to get involved… but be prepared, the opposition is out to win at any cost. Participate whenever you can, hear what all sides have to say and form your opinion. If you are an activist at heart that’s great but you may have to have thick skin…it is well to note that a movement initiated by the activists on 'this' side practices anti-hate, even dare-I-say-it? Peace. Give it a chance...

 http://brockbajer.blogspot.com/2011/08/questions-for-fresh-easy.html

Continued progress of AB183, The Fresh & Easy Bill

More from Scott Lay and his website Around The Capitol...

Yesterday's Actions (progress of AB 183)

In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. (End location: Assembly Desk)

Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (End location: Assembly Engrossing and Enrolling)

It's the final stretch, with the legislative session scheduled to end Friday  Lots of people are asking about the bill process in this final stretch. As a reminder, bills that have been amended in the second house (i.e. AB 123 has been amended in the Senate) must be sent back to the house of origin for a "concurrence" vote in the second house's amendments. Only upon approval of the house of origin will the bill be sent to the governor. This is usually a formality, but it's an important step in the process.

When a bill status update says something like "To enrollment. (End location: Assembly Engrossing and Enrolling)," the bill has passed and is on the way to the governor. Before the governor gets it, the bill is proofread and all previous actions are formally confirmed by the legislative clerks. With so many bills at the end of the year, it will likely be several weeks before the governor takes action on most legislative bills passed in the final two weeks. For bills passed in the final 12 days of session, he will have until October 10 to act.

Following the progress of AB 183; the Fresh & Easy Bill

According to Scott Lay whose excellent website aroundthecapitol.com follows all the Senate Bills and Assembly Bills progress and reports to your email on them...

AB183 Alcoholic beverage licenses: self-service checkouts:
Sept 6 Actions:
*Read third time. Refused passage. (Ayes 17. Noes 16.) End location: Senate Desk.
*Motion to reconsider made by Senator Kehoe. End location: Senate Desk.
*Reconsideration granted. (Ayes 40. Noes 0.) End location: Senate Desk
The votes:
*Senate Floor: Assembly 3rd Reading AB183 Ma by Kehoe 17-16 (Fail)
*Senate Floor: Assembly 3rd Reading AB183 Ma by Kehoe Reconsider 40-0 (PASS)
(failed by 1; motion to reconsider passed unanimous, in the Senate for reconsideration...)

According to Scott "It's the final stretch, with the legislative session scheduled to end Friday. Lots of people are asking about the bill process in this final stretch." For more information and to sign up for Scott's reports on Bills you are watching, go to his website.

A Letter to Brock Ba'jer Readers: AB183 is before the Senate...

"If you are against the use of self checking, you will want to support the bill in the State Senate at this time which is AB183.  This is called the Fresh and Easy legislation, because Fresh and Easy only does self checkout, and we have a Fresh and Easy  slated to come to the Pet Smart building in Tujunga.  As to the issue of AB183, regarding the self checking sale of alcohol, I  believe as Mad Mothers does that this is a dangerous way to sell alcohol.  I only add this so that you will understand how and why I  feel as I do about this issue and why I am sending you this email.

"If you have an opinion about whether self-checking should be allowed in grocery stores which affects the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, you might want to call your State Senator and opine. Most of us in this area are represented by Senator Sharon Runner. Her number is (661) 729-6232. Some people in our area are represented by Senator Huff. In order to be sure who your senator is, you can go to:   senate.ca.gov   click on  Find My Senator  and insert your full address and zip code and they will tell you who your senator is and how to reach him/her.

"There are also the other issues of automation replacing jobs as well as Fresh and Easy being a non-union employer.  This, of course, has nothing to do with the self checkout, but I personally am in support of union jobs as I think it is the difference between losing or not losing the middle class.  Also, for your information, Fresh and Easy is a United Kingdom based company.

Thanks for taking an interest.  Please feel free to pass this on."
  Elaine Brown

http://brockbajer.blogspot.com/2011/08/editorial-fresh-cheeky.html
http://brockbajer.blogspot.com/2011/08/questions-for-fresh-easy.html

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 ]

Editorial: "Fresh & Cheeky"

Something haunts me about that comment from the Fresh & Easy spokesman “This is America!” which he quipped in reply to an audience member who inquired (at the STNC General Meeting) with concern for other markets in proximity to F&Es proposed location in Tujunga.

There was an uncomfortable silence while the speaker realized the reaction from his peers in the UK would be different from these Americans. Then again maybe he was safe as the audience didn’t quite get it… I certainly did not know Fresh & Easy was not an American company until that cheeky remark, and then I knew it in an instant.

The answer to the question is: he doesn’t care because this is America where free enterprise allows the total destruction of competition. This is especially true when your company reportedly idolizes Wal-Mart and patterns its future toward that American scheme, I mean dream. It turns out unions aren’t welcome at Fresh & Easy and locals, if hired, are only given 20 hours a week at $10 an hour. Period.

Four years ago Fresh & Easy promised to build in ‘food deserts’ where there was a shortage of good food markets for the starving public, yet they did not open in Watts (or Sunland)… they open where other stores exist and want to open in Tujunga with the likelihood they will close three other markets…that’s great marketing: ‘get one, loose three’.

Sure I love a good market and will shop there if and when Fresh & Easy opens but I think the sore spot left by loosing Trader Joes to nearby Montrose (a nod to John Drayman) made the STNC act without due diligence as to F&Es plans and expansionist ideas. (Also see the article on Assembly Bill 183 nick-named the Fresh & Easy Bill against underage liquor sales.) So what if there’s an Albertson’s, a Smart and Final, and Foothills Market all within the same census tract? That won’t last.

And about that cheeky retort “This is America!”?
That was the remark of one capitalizing on America, not celebrating it.