The cashier is no longer needed: the Russians voted en masse to pay for purchases by machines

The share of self-service cashiers in grocery retail is growing from year to year, and data from a study conducted in September 2026 among 1,600 Russians over 18 years old confirm that a change in consumer behavior has already occurred. Back in 2024, half of the respondents preferred to pay a live cashier. A year later, opinions were evenly divided. And now, for the first time, the machine overtook the person – it was chosen by 55% of respondents. About this trend "MK" asked the Director of the Center for Social Economics Research, Doctor of Economic Sciences Alexei Zubets.

What are the risks to the labor market of CSR scaling in the coming years? Will cashiers have to leave this market or will employers retrain them?

Self-service cash registers are more actively distributed in grocery retail. A cashier is a low-paying and hard work. The displacement of people by machines is aimed at increasing labor productivity and, in the future, at increasing wages for those employees who serve these machines. When reducing the number of personnel, this reflects general economic patterns. It’s like artificial intelligence: more jobs are created in related industries than lost in others. Given the low unemployment in the country (2-3%) and the reluctance of people to work for little money, the introduction of such technologies can be considered to some extent a boon.

- Personal experience shows that using self-service cash desks is not easy, and you still have to keep employees nearby to help customers and correct errors. Does this not negate the economic impact of the introduction of machines?

- Yes, the need to keep staff close significantly reduces the effectiveness of self-service cash desks. For example, if there are several barcodes on the product (normal and QR-code), the buyer may make a mistake, and then the help of an employee is required. This reduces the expected savings. To make the technology more efficient, the next step is needed – for example, the introduction of electronic tags that are read automatically when leaving the store area. Now we see an intermediate stage of development, moving in the right direction, but with continuing technological shortcomings.

- Often there is an argument that self-service cashiers are introduced for the convenience of the buyer, but in fact it is just saving on salaries, vacation and sick leave. To what extent is this true?

- This is really beneficial to the employer, but not only because of the savings on the payroll. The main difficulty is to find staff in low-paid positions: the cashier’s work is not only low-paid, but also nervous due to the constant flow of customers, including conflict. Reducing direct sales-buyer contacts makes the job easier. At the same time, cash register staff is only a small part of the general staff of the store: two people can work in the supermarket at the checkout, and in the hall, on loading, in accounting and other units - another ten. Therefore, even the complete disappearance of cashiers will have little impact on the total number of employees in the network.

- Under what conditions can the share of traditional cashiers and cashiers grow again?

- The share of traditional cashiers will remain in luxury retail, where the quality of service is a key factor of choice, and personal interaction with staff is actually part of the service and is reflected in the cost of purchases. In mass grocery retail, cashiers will gradually leave the market. In non-food retail cashiers will remain: the purchase of technically complex goods (household, electronic) falls poorly on the format of self-service.

- What risks may arise in the future for consumers and for retail?

- The main risks lie with retail. The machine is easier to “cheat” than the cashier: the buyer may not scan some goods or choose a cheaper category instead of expensive (for example, specify seasonal tomatoes instead of expensive imported ones). The retailer will have to introduce additional controls – for example, staff who monitor the correctness of purchases. An example is the experience of one English store: formally it was “uninhabited”, but customers were watched in real time by operators from another country (for example, from Bangladesh or India) through cameras, so the network saved on local staff. Thus, “uninhabited” formats do not mean the complete disappearance of human control, but only transfer it to another plane.