Russian retailers lost 2.5 billion rubles ($42.6 million) due to a mass failure of cash register equipment on December 20, according to the Association of Internet Trade Companies.
The outage affected nine percent of the country’s retail market, causing the most problems in Siberia and Russia’s Far East. In Moscow, the Magnolia grocery store chain was also hit. One of the affected cash register manufacturers told Meduza that the malfunction was due to a mistake in the calendar date entered into the system.
During the outrage, Russia’s Federal Tax Service permitted businesses to make sales without the use of cash registers.