Eighth Ward Council Member Devon Reid told fellow commissioners on Evanston’s Equity and Empowerment Commission Aug. 17 that he will put forward a proposal to annually tax retailers who use self-checkout kiosks instead of actual cashiers.
Reid envisions a tax of about $5,000 per kiosk each year, he said at the commission’s monthly meeting, with the money going toward training and placement programs for Evanston teens.
“Prices have not gone down” at grocery stores, even as more self-checkout kiosks are being implemented, he noted.
Commissioner Molly Malone warned that teens sometimes might not be hired for particular jobs at retailers because of federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules. But Reid answered that placing teenagers in jobs at large groceries and big-box retailers was not necessarily his intention.
“The goal is to take that revenue and get teens jobs at small businesses,” he explained. He added that the situation for human cashiers is getting worse, noting that Amazon Go stores have no checkout process at all.
“At some point, those jobs will be eliminated completely, and the money goes right into [Amazon founder and executive chairman] Jeff Bezos’ pocket,” Reid said.
Among Reid’s other proposals have been retail hazard pay for cashiers at large retailers, a requirement that retailers accept cash and the bag tax that went into effect at the beginning of this month.
The commission was also presented with a plan developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago that would guide city employees in determining appropriate levels of public engagement needed for certain issues and policies, and discussed participatory budgeting.
Activist and property owner Tina Paden also spoke at the Aug. 17 meeting, maintaining that the city has not been supportive in her efforts to offer affordable housing to her tenants.
The commission, ordinarily consisting of nine members, is seeking three additional people in addition to the current six, and members discussed possible recruitment strategies to fill current vacancies.
It seems to me that taxing self check out kiosks, if it doesn’t make businesses leave Evanston, will probably force them to recoup the money by raising prices, which will affect the families of the very teens that Mr. Reid wants to help. A good proposal is one that provides a benefit without immediately taking it back.
Go back to your very important topless beach proposal, Reid.
I’m with you Jean. I try to go out walking to the store for whatever I need each day and just a few items. Either I bring a bag or if the items are small, I just hold them as I walk home. Self checkout is fast and easy. The only time it isn’t fast is when someone brings a cart full of items there.
This new tax is crazy. Its a mean spirited attack on Evanston small businesses and only push people to shop elsewhere as business will eventually push this tax onto its customers. Many of Evanston’s big retail business don’t refund you the 5 cents for bringing your own bag. They are quick to tax and slow to help. We don’t need another tax.
Why not focus on stuff that actually matters? Who cares if a business uses self checkout??? What the heck
This is so ridiculous for so many reasons.
1st, none of the taxes or penalties that Reid ever comes up with ever seem to affect or target Amazon which has a huge presence here in Evanston. Why is that? Why only regressive taxes on people and companies that choose to set up stores in Evanston. Does the bag tax touch amazon deliveries? No. Does Amazon create way more waste and packaging than buying local? Yes.
Second of all – does Reid really believe that the salary of the checkout worker lost to the would actually make a dent in the price and cost of goods sold in a grocery?
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=58354
I so very much enjoy it when Evanston’s alderman so easily reveal their inner political animal. Devon Reid is nothing more than an anti-business democratic-socialist who is intent on using Evanston as his political plaything even if he destroys Evanston in the process.
During a time when Evanston is awash with retail vacancies, addicts, crime and vandalism, taxes and fees, the correct action is to do the EXACT opposite of what he is proposing.
Keep in mind that Evanston is in competition with other cities for private investment. Simple logic tells us that if you make it more expensive to do business here and if you increase the administrative burden on businesses, then you will have less investment in Evanston.
Further, a city council (and its plethora of commissions) that habitually tables anti-business proposals instead of voting NO and stopping them dead in their tracks, sends a message to businesses thinking of moving here that Evanston is an unreliable partner. Businesses thrive on consistency, reliability, predictability, and partnership. Evanston provides none of these. As a result, Evanston isn’t just neutral on business, it is anti-business.
Lately, Evanston has passed or tried to pass stricter employee scheduling requirements, minimum staffing rules, higher wages, requirements to do business in cash, packaging requirements, higher parking fees, higher licensing costs, and stifling zoning rules. Despite overwhelming pleas from its citizens and businesses, the city council approved a low barrier homeless shelter right in the central business district that has increased the number of addicts, grifters, criminals, and the mentally ill that stalk Evanston shoppers. One more, and its a whopper, Evanston has a decades long adversarial relationship with its biggest economic engine – Northwestern University. NU wants to rebuild Ryan Field and all Evanston does is reflexively say NO. Why not be a partner to NU? As a city we seem to be proud that we bite that hand that feeds us.
It is truly a wonder that any businesses remain here.
Yes, some of our city’s current problems stem from the pandemic. But other cities were affected too, and this creates a great treasure chest of opportunity for Evanston. Let’s be smarter than Chicago, Skokie, Wilmette and Des Plaines. Let’s make Evanston a beacon for businesses all over the North Shore.
How do we do that? It’s simple — watch what Devon Reid does and then do the opposite.
They will just pay the 5,000 dollars as they save by not having to pay full time employees
I actually can support this approach. Is the tax exactly the right step? How could that be? Does _anything_ please everyone? Is _anything_ ever exactly right?
But I for one dont think ita going to be healthy when 90% of us depend on ans interact with robots. From a couch.
Biz people, I dont think Ive ever met one of you who didnt whine about costs continuously as a matter of policy. I can think only of a handful of polticians who could ever stand up and get their constituants a fair shake especially when negoriating with large powerful vested interests like corporations.
What do you believe in people? Do you want to get out and work? Your kids? If so, where do you get off encouraging our society, our economy, to automate everything? Or is leisure indolence our penultimate value?
Self checkout machines, especially the old style with no laser gun, are supremely convenient ans efficient. Well, thet _can_ be until you get behind a parent with child fumbling through 20 or more items. Who won the Viet Nam war? Not good ol’ super smart super mechanized USA.
People working real jobs is a good thing. Make work (I hear you say)? Not if you value human beings and their la and pay them appropriately.
Why is it that Council Member Reid is always proposing policies that ultimately pushes business and people out of Evanston? Now he wants to tax businesses who use self checkout areas. These areas that are available for the public allows the following to happen: 1) they allow quicker exit from the stores, 2) it cuts down on the time standing in line, 3) customers with less than a cart full of groceries can check themselves out, and 4) customers appreciate the convenience of self checkout services. Such a tax will in my opinion will cause some businesses to leave Evanston. Finally, why does the Council Members seem to go along with these insane ideas. Before you know it, maybe a tax on the air we breath or the streets we walk on will be next on his agenda.
At some point, Evanston has to think about operating as a city and not a charity. Driving to Wilmette to grocery shop is not a hardship for most people. They have no bag tax and allow single use plastic bags for produce, etc. isn’t Devon Reid the one who proposed topless beaches? Do his ridiculous ideas have no end? We keep trying to drive folks away from our town with penny ante costs. Here another counterproductive idea.
Taxing self-checkout stands is another dumb idea from Devon Reid. I wish the Mayor and City Council members would speak out more against his constant idiotic proposals. His ideas and behavior have been quite entertaining and at the same time harmful to the good order and well being of our community.
I highly prefer self check out when I have small number of items.
Tax the businesses ( which we’ve been loosing at a rapid pace) and use the revenue to place teens in jobs at small businesses. I can’t translate that. What would that entail? Hiring someone for x amount of dollars who would find jobs for teens because there are jobs there…..the teens just can’t find them?
The internet is killing jobs too! Let’s tax that!
So are the automobile and these new fangled airplanes! We must protect railway jobs! Harrumph!
And these electric lightbulbs! Let’s tax that and train the children to be candle makers.
I live in Ward 8. First the bag tax (I bring my own). Now he wants to tax kiosks which I use 99% of the time. I like bagging my own groceries so no one bag is too heavy for me. When will this end? The $5000/kiosk per year is ridiculous. I think Jewel on Howard has 8 kiosks; $40,000/year! And he says that grocery prices have not gone down because of the use of kiosks. Does he think that prices will remain the same when stores have to pay this outlandish cost? I think not.
Sounds like just another money grab from the city. Let me ask Devon if she wants to be a cashier at a grocery store or Home Depot and deal with rude nasty people all day. I wouldn’t want that job! Has Miss Reid ever been a cashier, does she know what it’s like to be a cashier? I would much rather use a self check out it’s easier it frees up the employees to do other things like stocking shelves and if you actually would visit an Amazon fresh store, you would see that there are more employees, stocking shelves, cleaning the facilities and taking care of customers than standing at the checkout lines twiddling their thumbs. Now let’s get into the 21st-century and stop nitpicking. The city Council has bigger issues to deal with than this! Let’s come to terms with the fact that technology is going to replace humans let’s find new jobs for humans, like fixing the self check out lines instead of punishing stores for trying to help their customers get out of the store faster. If a store has a self check out available, I will use that first before going to see a human cashier and let’s face it some of these humans cashiers or not very friendly because they typically don’t like those types of jobs. Maybe she should pick up a pitchfork and a torch and chase those stores that have self check out out of town and then see what kind of mess we’ll be in.
This man cannot tell business owners how to run their business. This alder is making a mockery of Evanston.
“Among Reid’s other proposals have been retail hazard pay for cashiers at large retailers, a requirement that retailers accept cash and the bag tax that went into effect at the beginning of this month.”
I believe before Evanston requires retailers to accept cash, the city must set the example. Parking on the streets in downtown and other areas of Evanston require a smartphone, an app and a payment method (credit/debit card). I am unaware of the payment method of the city owed parking garages as I try to avoid those.