Except for buying everything online, talking to cashiers is part of life and, in many cases, happens daily.
When you talk to a cashier, do you ever think about what it is like to be one? Or whether or not they like what they do. Or is it hard to be a cashier?
Well, the truth is, being a cashier is not hard, as long as you can count money and pays maximum attention to the amount given to you by the customer.
However, being a cashier can be physically and mentally challenging. It is physically challenging because you will spend long hours standing next to a cash register, and mentally challenging if grumpy customers outweigh the relatively friendly ones.
In this article, I will explore what cashiers do, their core roles, responsibilities, and every other relevant detail about the profession.
What is a cashier?
A cashier is a retail staff member who uses a scanner to check pricing and stock levels, provides information and assistance to customers, and processes refunds and exchanges.
As a cashier, you are constantly interacting with the public. Therefore, you must have exceptional customer service skills and know the products your company or organization sells.
What makes a good cashier?
A good cashier must be attentive, customer-oriented, and well-versed in the company’s sales. They must be professional when dealing with angry or unsatisfied customers.
Furthermore, a good cashier employs both hard and soft skills. These hard skills are those you need to do the job, while your personality is the main factor in developing your soft skills.
Some of these soft and hard skills include:
Soft skills:
- A positive and friendly attitude
- Excellent customer service relationship
- Excellent communication skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Organizational skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Paying attention to detail
- Active listening skills
- Time management skills
- Teamwork
- Conflict resolution and management
- Patience
- Decision making
- Flexibility
- Ability to multi-task
Hard skills
- Basic computer knowledge
- Strong mathematical skills
- Loss prevention measures
- Speed and accuracy
- In-depth knowledge of every product
- Good with electronic equipment, like cash registers and POS (Point of Sale) systems
What are the core responsibilities of a cashier?
The following are the responsibilities of every cashier, depending on the industry they work in and the staff strength of the organization:
- Accept cash, checks, credit cards, vouchers, and direct debits payments
- Give out receipts, change, refunds, or tickets
- Use cash registers to keep track of every transaction
- Scan products and make sure the prices are correct
- Redeem stamps and coupons
- Cross-sell existing products and introduce new ones
- Help customers with possible problems
- Greet incoming and outgoing customers
- Keep check-out areas clean and organized.
- Keep track of balance sheet transactions and report any unusual change
- Pack, box, or wrap gifts
- Handle returns and exchanges of goods
Mistakes you should not make as a cashier
Cashiers often need to be quick with money and ensure that every recorded transaction is correct. This makes their job harder since mistakes in every business can cause great damage.
Hence, as a well-trained cashier, here are mistakes you should never make:
1. Altering cash registers during shifts
Cashiers often make the mistake of switching from one cash register to another. While this is necessarily not a bad thing to do, it could make it harder to keep track of cash flow and increase the risk of theft.
2. Not checking for fake currency
Cashiers may sometimes overlook customers’ attempts to slip in fake money during sales. Because of this, many businesses could get ripped off if they accidentally accept the fake currency.
3. Recording the incorrect total
When cashiers are engaged or overworked by many customers, they may enter an inaccurate total. So, as a cashier, you must be able to perform quick math to provide the correct change to customers.
4. Giving customers the wrong change
Cashiers are responsible for providing correct change and avoiding mistakes in customer transactions. So, cashiers must give consumers the exact amount of change.
Other mistakes include: recording the wrong method of payment in the cash register, failing to handle refund and return transactions correctly, using outdated cash methods, and so on
Where do cashiers work?
You can often find cashiers in any retail sector to manage sales and consumer purchases, such as grocery stores, shopping malls, retail outlets, boutiques, hotels, etc.
How much do cashiers earn?
The average hourly wage for a cashier in the US is $11.54. However, your experience level and education may affect your pay rate.
Do you need a degree to get a cashier job?
No, cashiers do not need any kind of formal education, but some employers fancy a high school diploma or GED. However, you must be very good at math and customer service skills.
Is experience required to be a cashier?
No, it is not.
Entry-level cashiers can blend in without ever having held the position before, and learn on the job. However, a year or more of prior work experience in a customer service role may be required in high-traffic stores.
FAQs
What are other names for cashier jobs?
It depends on who is hiring, cashier jobs are also called front-end associates or checkers. However, duties may differ depending on the allocation of responsibilities.
What are the expectations of a cashier?
Receiving payments, issuing receipts, wrapping gifts, and keeping track of all cash and card transactions.
Who do cashiers report to?
Cashiers often report directly to the store manager or assistant store manager, while some work under a Head Cashier who leads a team of cashiers.
Is being a cashier boring?
Yes, working as a cashier may be extremely boring and monotonous. However, this also depends on the working environment.
Conclusion
Working as a cashier can be challenging, and your duties and general day-to-day tasks could vary depending on your industry. However, it is an interesting profession.
You get to converse with different people, multitask, record sales, and do other tasks assigned to you.
I hope you found this article. Read more informational articles on LMS Hero.
Thank you for reading.
