lWill cashiers be quickly replaced by machines? They are the sea serpent of mass distribution, since the arrival of e-commerce and the first self-checkouts in France. Twenty years later, this profession still exists, although its workforce has been slightly reduced: according to the Horizons Commerce platform, 135,992 people were in the “cash desk” role in the third quarter of 2023, or 20% of mass distribution employees. They are still 90% women, often part-time.
“Historically, there were 150,000 full-time equivalents at the cash register.specifies Renaud Giroudet, director of social affairs, employment and training of the Federation of Trade and Distribution. This is a slower erosion than could have been imagined ten years ago. To this figure we must add several tens of thousands of ATMs outside the food retail sector.
However, analysing the figures is not so simple, because the profession is slowly moving towards “multi-activity”. The cashier sitting behind his desk full-time is no longer the norm. While the number of cashiers decreased by 14.4% between 2016 and 2020, according to INSEE, the overall workforce in the “sales, cash register and reception” category increased by 7%. “In supermarkets and convenience stores, the store clerk does the checkout, stocks the shelves, bakes the bread, cleans… There are checkout hours, but you no longer have the title “checkout” in your job description.”explains Giroudet.
Common machine errors
It is also in small shops that we find more customers using automatic checkouts… which an employee must monitor closely. While their numbers have certainly skyrocketed in businesses, they have not offered massive productivity gains, particularly because customers are slow and machine errors are frequent. “Businessmen want to reduce payroll, they have done so a littlecomments Sylvain Macé, national secretary of CFDT-Services. But technology has shown its limits and is also causing many thefts. Hence the need to put a human in charge, who sometimes controls up to ten cash registers simultaneously.
While employers believe that multiple tasks improve the employability of their employees, unions are concerned about the deterioration of working conditions. “There are more and more multi-skilled employees, especially in Aldi, Action and Lidl stores.says Elhadji Niang, federal secretary of the CGT-Commerce. However, those who manage the cash register and the departments tell us that they get more tired when they do both and, above all, without salary progression!
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