HOLIDAY SEASON SURPRISE: Trade Network Crash Leads to Grinding Stop of Business Transactions Throughout Russia
More than two and a half billion rubles of damage. And this is just the preliminary data on the losses suffered by trade networks across the country. It happened due to a malfunction in cash register equipment, the work of thousands of stores, pharmacies, and gas stations was paralyzed. At one point, they stopped to conduct cash operations and issue receipts to their customers. What is the reason for such a large-scale malfunction and what is the situation like as of now?
Olga Solovyova’s report is about this.
One of the biggest grocery chains hasn’t been working since morning. It's almost two hundred stores. Through the glass, you can see that the store is empty. The monitor on which the price of the goods is displayed went out. It shows an error message. In the cash register itself, there’s a half-printed receipt. At the entrance, there are such notes. "The store is temporarily closed due to technical problems."
The reason was the failure of cash equipment. The problems were found in the morning. They promised to fix them by noon, and they failed.
A customer: I buy groceries close to home.
- And where will you go now?
- It’s such a pity. I'm not sure. I'll look for something.
Other stores dealt with the situation. They’re selling goods, but instead of the usual receipt made of thin, white paper, they issue a sheet of an A4 format.
A customer: "Oranges and yogurt. Everything is exactly the same. The prices are the same".
In stores which suffered from the failure, they only accept cash. And that’s how it is all around Russia. In Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Ulyanovsk, buyers have to stand in two lines after work. One is at the ATM, and the other is at the cash register.
A customer: "We’re used to using cards. Of course, withdrawing money is inconvenient".
In Kemerovo, at gas station entrances, there are lines of cars. On top of ordinary drivers wasting their time, ambulances might have arrived late.
Ambulance driver: "I need to refuel fast. There are many calls. And there are so many people here".
The malfunction occurred because of outdated cash registers. The tax service required businesses to install them. The thing is that the buyer pays for the goods, and the information instantly reaches the tax authorities. If there’s no equipment, there’s a fine. Every night, the online register is updated via the Internet. Today, the process stopped.
Tatyana Bulavina, marketing director for a cash register equipment manufacturer: "The malfunction occurred only on the equipment the owners of which switched off the automatic update mode, having changed it to manual".
Stores can temporarily issue so-called soft receipts. Such are given by sole proprietors, for example, those operating a shoe repair shop. But not everyone can do it.
Vladislav Zub, food chain director: "Now, we can’t do it. We can only apply the old grandfather’s method and use a calculator and a notebook in which we can write down the goods".
As stated by the tax office, they won’t punish traders for such measures.
Artyom Kiryanov, public council member of the Federal Tax Service of Russia: "The tax service has promptly issued a letter explaining that business owners are not at fault and that there won't be any penalties for the fact that they worked in this mode today".
To solve the problem as soon as possible, twenty thousand engineers are working all over the country. They promise that stores will be operating as usual by tomorrow morning.
Olga Solovyova, Anton Sitnikov, Igor Beregov, Yegor Bushuyev, and Laura Palavandova, Vesti.