The Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) is planning to submit a proposal to amend the law in order to protect the jobs of cashiers, and also with the interests of retired customers in mind.
The goal is to have traditional cash registers in stores in the future, and to keep the possibility of paying in cash. Csaba Bubenko, president of Egyenlő.hu, the modern trade union, also agrees with all of this.
interview last week that several pensioners' organizations had contacted him about the automatic cash registers in the stores of various chain stores.
It is known that the operators of these cash registers are actually the customers themselves, and it also happens that the customers do not even meet a real person when paying for the goods, only the voice of the machine instructs them. István Simicskó also spoke about the fact that although shops must maintain the option of electronic payment, and they do so, it also happens that those who want to pay in cash run into difficulties.
We want to ensure that customers have a choice, and that shops are obliged to maintain cash registers operated by natural persons, and that it is possible to pay in cash
- said the Christian Democrat politician, according to whom the possibility of mistakes is greater with automatic cash registers than with normal cash registers.
István Simicskó also added that for elderly people who are not used to automatic equipment, at the end of their bulk shopping, using the self-service cash register is no faster than using traditional cash registers.
Csaba Bubenko recalled that when automatic cash registers were popularized, attention was drawn to the expected problems. He pointed out that, based on their previous calculations, "a cash register practically replaces the work of four employees".
“There are a lot of people who don't like it; younger people like it more, older people less," Csaba Bubenko said about self-service checkouts, according to
it is absurd that quality customer service means that they can serve themselves for their own money, which they spend in the store.
According to the union leader, all this makes shopping impersonal. He believes that the conquest of automatic cash registers
"it's not about anything else, just how to save money, but what's sad is that the money saved in this area is not used by the store chains to pay the remaining employees even more, but to increase profits".
Csaba Bubenko's words also made it clear that he is basically in favor of using cash, that is, he agrees with the proposal of the Christian Democratic People's Party to maintain the option of paying in cash, just like traditional cash registers.
According to his experience, using cash is safer than paying by card. He said that he is skeptical of the latter because he himself has been the victim of bank card fraud.
Csaba Bubenko also pointed out - a little distanced, but still in line with the previous topic - that artificial intelligence itself contains the danger of depersonalization.
The trade union leader expressed that among the members of the older age group there are certainly many people who are not comfortable with the constant, possibly mandatory use of the latest technical achievements, in their protection the possibility of paying in cash and traditional cash registers must be maintained in the future, in which real people help you shop.
Featured image: Gábor Tóth/vasarnap.hu
