Self-service kiosks: what they cost, and when they pay for themselves

A self-service kiosk does a job that today needs someone at a desk: selling a ticket, taking a payment, handing over a receipt or a code. The customer chooses, pays and gets what they paid for, and your staff are free for work that needs a person.

Whether that’s worth it depends on two things: what the kiosk costs to buy and run, and how much desk time and how many sales it gives back.

• The hardwareA screen or tablet, a stand or enclosure, and whatever the kiosk needs to take payment and hand something back: a card terminal, a note and coin acceptor or a cash recycler, a printer, a scanner. This usually comes through a hardware supplier you choose. The software and the machine should be tested together before launch.
• The softwareThe screens the customer sees, the connection to each payment method, receipts and tickets, and the admin side where you follow sales and change settings. Cash brings work of its own: giving change, recording refills and collections, and deciding what happens when the machine runs low.
• Payment feesCard and QR payment providers charge fees under your contract with them. Cash has no provider fee, but someone has to refill, empty and count the machine.
• Connection and hostingCard and QR payments need a connection to the payment provider. Sales and settings live on a server that has to be hosted, backed up and monitored.
• UpkeepSoftware updates, changes on the payment provider’s side, paper and other consumables, and someone to call when a machine stops.

Each payment method changes what you need.

• CashNeeds an acceptor, or a recycler if the kiosk gives change, plus staff time for refills and collections. Its advantage is that it can keep selling without internet, if the software records each sale on the machine and sends it on later.
• CardNeeds a certified terminal, or tap-to-pay through the provider’s own app. Card details stay with the payment provider, and every payment needs a connection.
• QR payment appsSuch as Payconiq in Belgium, let customers scan a code on the screen and pay on their phone. They need a connection too, and no extra payment hardware.

Many kiosks take more than one. Each location can decide which methods it accepts.

There’s no single figure that answers this, but these questions get you close:

• Staff timeHow many hours a week does someone spend selling, taking payment and handing out tickets? If a kiosk takes over most of that, those hours go to work that needs a person.
• Opening hoursCould you sell when nobody’s at the desk: early, late, or while staff are busy with something else?
• QueuesDo customers give up when the line is long? A second way to pay can keep them.
• Cash handlingCounting, giving change, trips to the bank, and the mistakes that come with them. Every payment that moves to card or QR removes a little of that.
• RecordsA kiosk records every sale automatically. If your end-of-day count often doesn’t match, that’s worth something too.

Then put the two sides next to each other. If the hours a kiosk frees are hours you’d otherwise pay for, or the sales it takes are sales you’d otherwise lose, it can pay for itself. If your desk is quiet most of the day, a kiosk may not be the first thing to change.

You don’t have to fit out every location at once. Start with one kiosk, run it in test mode end to end before it takes real money, and set its payment methods on their own. Once it’s proven, add the next.

We’ve built two generations of kiosks for a business in Belgium that sells admission tickets. The first, from 2024, took over from a staffed cash desk: the front desk prints a payment slip with a barcode, and customers pay it at the kiosk with notes and coins, change included. It keeps selling when the connection drops and sends its sales on later.

The second generation runs on Android. Customers pay by Payconiq QR or by card, and get a QR ticket on screen that the kiosk can print or email. Staff check tickets at the entrance with a web app on their phone, and the office sees every transaction and ticket in one dashboard.

Read the kiosk story

• Ask your payment providerWhat it supports on an unattended kiosk.
• Check the hardwareHas an API or SDK the software can talk to.
• Decide what happens when something goes wrongA card declined, the printer out of paper, the machine short of change.

Our Digital Audit checks all three before anything is built, and gives you a rough cost for each step.

Book a Digital AuditBook a 30-minute call