The easiest way to explain the cashier job description is that cashiers provide goods and services in exchange for currency. In this article, we are going to look at the responsibilities and duties most often held by the profession. We’ll also look at the educational and experience requirements needed for the profession.
Like most customer service jobs out there, the job description of a cashier varies depending on each workplace. We are also going to look at the career outlook for the profession, as well as at their work hours.
Job Overview: What Does a Cashier Professional Do?
A cashier is usually responsible for taking care of the checkout areas. This includes a wide array of tasks, although they do have a primary responsibility. That primary responsibility is to offer services, products, and admissions in exchange for cash, credit, checks, or other forms of payment.
Alongside the primary responsibility, the job description for cashiers often includes other assorted tasks. These are different from one workplace to another, and they depend on how much money an employer wants to save. The tasks can be something like washing floors, watering plants, dusting, and other such trivial affairs.
Cashier Job Duties
As we’ve mentioned before, the cashier job description can get pretty stressful. This is because of the duties and responsibilities held by the position. Most cashiers reported the following tasks as the most frequent:
- Selling items, services, or admissions to customers.
- Receiving payments in the form of cash, credit, checks, vouchers, or debits.
- Issuing refunds, receipts, and credits according to store policy.
- Opening and closing the establishment and the cash register.
- Counting the money in cash drawers at the beginning and ending of shifts.
- Making sure that the cash registers have enough money to provide change, and giving change to customers.
- Keeping the checkout areas clean and orderly.
- Using calculators, optical price scanners, and cash registers to tabulate bills.
- Issuing trade stamps, redeeming food stamps and coupons.
- Providing information on store policies and procedures.
- Answering customer queries and resolving all customer complaints.
- Weighing items sold by weight.
- Calculating the total amount of money received in certain time periods.
- Checking that the money in the register amounts to the total sales.
- Recording and computing transaction totals.
- Keeping balance sheets of transaction numbers and amounts.
- Bagging, boxing, wrapping, or gift-wrapping merchandise.
- Preparing packages for appropriate shipments, and handling merchandise exchanges and returns.
- Paying company bill and requesting necessary information from higher-ups.
- Stocking shelves and labeling different products with price tags, and setting up display cases.
- Helping customers carry bags to their cars.
- Training other staff members to be cashiers.
Cashier Job Essential Skills
Customer service skills. The cashier professional must have a customer-oriented personality and the ability to establish a rapport with customers since they will be working directly with customer all the time.
Field knowledge. This job requires the person practicing it to be well-versed in collecting payments and to have a high command of basic math. Also, it is important to be able to use a cash a register and to know how to collect money and give change.
Time management skills. It is mandatory to be very time-efficient in order to fulfill the duties in a timely fashionable manner.
Communication skills. Having excellent verbal and written communication skills are mandatory for this job. Also, vital for this profession is to have a sense of morality and strong ethics. It is important for this professional to be able to interact with even the most difficult customers and be exceptionally patient in handling any kind of situation.
Becoming a Cashier Professional
Fairly stressful and tiring, the cashier job description isn’t suited for everybody. However, it is still one of the most sought-after functions in customer service. This is thanks to the practically nonexistent educational and experience standards held by the profession. Moreover, with enough ambition and some college courses, management positions are always open.
Qualifications and Training
Fortunately for aspiring cashiers, most employees receive training as soon as they are hired. The training most often includes rules on how to use the cash register and POS terminal. Other than that, older employees usually show newer ones around the company.
The median cashier salary in the United States in 2016 was at $20,180 per year, meaning $9.70 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Work Experience
Of course, there aren’t any educational prerequisites for the cashier job description. It is an entry-level job, and it is why so many people go for the position. But while experience isn’t mandatory to get the job, it does account for a higher salary.
According to payscale.com, the median cashier starting wage is around $19,000. Over the course of a career longer than twenty years, the cashier pay can go up by about $2,000. That is without taking into account any bonuses or promotion opportunities. So, it’s no wonder that very few people spend more than five years in the position.
Working Hours
Yet another very attractive thing about the occupation is the possibility of working part-time. However, whether working full-time or part-time, cashiers have to be there to either open or close the store. This means that they have to start at 6am or finish at 12pm. However, this can vary wildly depending on the place of employment.
Most cashiers often have to spend extra hours at their workplace for various reasons. They often have to work nights, weekends, and holidays. However, overtimes are paid anything between $4 and $18 an hour. As for the average cashier work week, it can last from 30 hours (part-time) to as much as 60 hours.
Job Outlook & Advancement Opportunities
The cashier rate of employment will go up two percent by 2024 as reported by bls.gov. That is much lower than the average for all occupations in the United States. It is owed to several factors, both intrinsically and extrinsically tied to the profession.
One of the biggest factors is the increasing advent of technology. Cashiers are slowly but steadily being replaced by online platforms. In addition to that, the job competition is one of the highest out there. Being an entry-level job, many choose to gain experience by practicing the occupation.
Conclusion
The cashier job description is extremely popular among American working-class citizens. It provides an environment where one can work and gain enough experience to be able to move on. While the salary is lower than the minimum wage, promotion opportunities pop up quite often.
Leave a Reply