Snack melts: vending business started to wind down in Moscow
Large—scale dismantling of vending machines has begun in Moscow - the first thousand will close in April. They will disappear from the subway, schools, clinics and other organizations. Within six months, the owners are ready to close up to half of the functioning devices, that is, at least 10 thousand, Izvestia learned. Entrepreneurs faced a sharp increase in costs: in 2025, they had their sales fee indexed by almost half. Therefore, they appealed to the Ministry of Economic Development with a request to cancel the tax increase this year.
Why did vending machines start to be cleaned?
The capital's vending machine owners have begun dismantling them — by the end of April, about 1,000 facilities will stop operating, the chairman of the Board of the Union of Vending Machine Operators (SOTA) told Izvestia Ivan Popov. Most of them have already notified the Federal Tax Service that they should be de-registered.
These facilities are mostly located in the metro and at social facilities such as schools and clinics, and are also included in the tourist infrastructure. They sell snacks, tea, coffee and soft drinks, the expert said. According to him, up to 10 thousand devices in total may stop working in the capital within six months.
The thing is that the metropolitan authorities indexed the trade fee rate for this business to the amount of inflation, which led to its almost doubling, explains Ivan Popov. He recalled that the trade fee in Moscow appeared in 2015, it is paid by retail operators regardless of business turnover and is charged per unit of the facility once a quarter. In 2021, the authorities extended the collection to vending machines. And since 2025, for the first time, they decided to index it by the amount of inflation, applying a deflator to it.
— In practice, for the entire retail industry, inflation increased by almost 98% from 2015 to 2025, but for our facilities from 2021 to 2025 - by 48%. We were sure that the trade fee would be increased by the latter amount, but in reality, the coefficient was applied to us starting in 2015, as a result, we have to pay virtually doubled tax of almost 10 thousand rubles. This is destroying the entire economy of our microbusiness," said SOTA, Chairman of the Board. — We compared the sales fee paid by the average store near a house per 1 square meter, which turns out to be slightly more than 440 rubles. Our figure is 23 times higher, but the authorities cannot answer the question of why they started charging us such amounts this year.
In February, SOTA had already described this problem to the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the metropolitan government. The entrepreneurs asked to reduce such a serious fee. The answer so far has come from the Moscow Department of Economic Policy and Development. They reported that they are considering this issue. Izvestia has sent a request to all recipients.
Ivan Popov added that there are a little more than 10 thousand vending machines officially registered with the Federal Tax Service in the capital, and about the same number are working in earnest and do not pay a trade fee. They are the ones who can stay afloat and continue working, the rest will not be able to cope with the new burden and will close by the end of 2025, he is sure. The expert says that now small businesses are deprived of any government support, and all preferential programs for this year have been curtailed.
Vending machines in the metro are in demand, they offer a variety of goods, and they work around the clock, the Moscow metro told Izvestia. This allows you to buy products at any time. Every day, passengers use vending machines more than 40 thousand times, they added.
How fair are the requirements of the business
There is no logic in the situation that has arisen, Leonid Nesterenko, vice president of the Small Format Trade Association, told Izvestia. The fact is that the deflator measures annual inflation. And why it should be applied immediately in 10 years is completely unclear, he noted.
— The average revenue of a vending machine is up to 35 thousand rubles per month, but there are also objects that bring only 6 thousand rubles. With the new trade fee, their work becomes unprofitable, given that the profitability rate of this business is about 10%," he noted. — The situation is also aggravated by the fact that, for example, stationary stores, which have disproportionately large turnover, pay a lower sales fee per square meter. So far, the business hopes to resolve this issue with the help of federal and local authorities, but in the future, entrepreneurs are considering the possibility of contacting the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the court.
Indeed, since this year, the size of the sales fee for entrepreneurs engaged in trading activities, including using vending machines, has increased in Moscow, the SME Corporation told Izvestia.
— We have already received a number of appeals on this issue from entrepreneurs who have small (up to 50 square meters) shopping pavilions. In the near future, we plan to meet with relevant colleagues from the Moscow government and entrepreneurs to discuss this topic and find optimal solutions for everyone," they stressed.
In the case of a multiple increase in the burden of paying the trade fee, it is necessary to understand the details. If it is really recalculated over 10 years at one time, then this approach raises questions, added Alexey Koitov, Chairman of the Consumer Union of the Russian Federation.
According to him, "there is no reasonable economic or legal justification for this approach."
"If the regulations defining the procedure for collecting this fee and the permits for this type of business provided that a review could be carried out in a few years in the future, then this is already a problem for entrepreneurs, because they did not study the regulatory framework in a timely manner," he told Izvestia. — In any case, the current situation is a reason for responsible persons to carefully consider the calculations of industry representatives, double—check them, and possibly get advice from the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
The expert stressed that this agency has sufficient experience in assessing the financial data of companies: if the arguments of the business turn out to be justified, then the authorities should reconsider their decision, especially in the context of assessing the amount of lost fees and taxes in the event of such a significant number of facilities leaving the market, the public figure emphasized.
Vending machines have occupied a certain niche in the consumer market, but reducing their number is unlikely to have serious negative consequences, although it may cause some inconvenience, Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative, told Izvestia. Where product margins are high, such as airport lounges and other areas with limited access, this business remains highly profitable, the expert added.
"Partial replacement in this niche is possible due to express delivery services that allow us to quickly meet any demand, providing a much wider range," he believes. — Meanwhile, the closure of some vending machines can also be a positive factor, for example, it will help reduce food poisoning.
He noted that not all facilities can ensure proper storage and sale of products that require special conditions. These include, for example, ready meals.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
