Career profile for Cashier

What does a Cashier do?

Cashiers receive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions.

In addition, Cashiers

may use electronic scanners, cash registers, or related equipment,
may process credit or debit card transactions and validate checks.

What kind of tasks does a Cashier perform regularly?

Cashiers are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.
Help customers find the location of products.
Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.
Supervise others and provide on-the-job training.
Greet customers entering establishments.
Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners.
Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas, and complete other general cleaning duties, such as mopping floors and emptying trash cans.
Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints.
Answer incoming phone calls.
Bag, box, wrap, or gift-wrap merchandise, and prepare packages for shipment.
Assist with duties in other areas of the store, such as monitoring fitting rooms or bagging and carrying out customers' items.
Stock shelves, sort and reshelve returned items, and mark prices on items and shelves.
Offer customers carry-out service at the completion of transactions.

The above responsibilities are specific to Cashiers. More generally, Cashiers are involved in several broader types of activities:

Activities	Importance	Details
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public		Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events		Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Getting Information		Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates		Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships		Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Getting Information

Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

What is a Cashier salary?

The median salary for a Cashier is $25,020, and the average salary is $25,710. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Cashier salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Cashiers earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Cashiers earn less than $18,850 per year, 25% earn less than $21,310, 75% earn less than $28,840, and 90% earn less than $32,630.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Cashiers is expected to change by -10.0%, and there should be roughly 546,900 open positions for Cashiers every year.

Median annual salary: $25,020
Typical salary range: $18,850 - $32,630
Projected growth (2020 - 2030): -10.0%

What personality traits are common among Cashiers?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Cashier are usually higher in their Conventional and Enterprising interests.

Cashiers typically have very strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Also, Cashiers typically have moderate Enterprising interests. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Cashier tend to value Relationships, Support, and Achievement.

Most importantly, Cashiers moderately value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Cashiers moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Cashiers somewhat value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Cashiers must consistently demonstrate qualities such as cooperation, dependability, and integrity.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Cashiers, ranked by importance:

Demands	Importance	Details
Cooperation		Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Dependability		Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Integrity		Job requires being honest and ethical.
Self-Control		Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Stress Tolerance		Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.

Cooperation

Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

Dependability

Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

Integrity

Job requires being honest and ethical.

Self-Control

Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

Stress Tolerance

Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.

What education and training do Cashiers need?

Working as a Cashier usually requires a high school diploma.

Cashiers need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Cashiers

14.3% did not complete high school or secondary school
41.1% completed high school or secondary school
24.6% completed some college coursework
7.7% earned a Associate's degree
10.3% earned a Bachelor's degree
1.8% earned a Master's degree
0.3% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Cashiers

Cashiers may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as customer and personal service, administration and management, or mathematics knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Cashiers might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Knowledge areas	Importance	Details
Customer and Personal Service		Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Administration and Management		Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Mathematics		Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Administrative		Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Sales and Marketing		Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Customer and Personal Service

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Administration and Management

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Mathematics

Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Administrative

Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Sales and Marketing

Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Important Abilities needed by Cashiers

Cashiers must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Cashiers need abilities such as oral expression, oral comprehension, and near vision in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Cashiers, ranked by their relative importance.

Abilities	Importance	Details
Oral Expression		The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension		The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Near Vision		The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Written Comprehension		The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Speech Recognition		The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Oral Expression

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Oral Comprehension

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Near Vision

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Written Comprehension

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Speech Recognition

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Critical Skills needed by Cashiers

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Cashiers frequently use skills like service orientation, active listening, and speaking to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Cashiers, ranked by their relative importance.

Skills	Importance	Details
Service Orientation		Actively looking for ways to help people.
Active Listening		Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking		Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Mathematics		Using mathematics to solve problems.
Social Perceptiveness		Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Service Orientation

Actively looking for ways to help people.

Active Listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Speaking

Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Mathematics

Using mathematics to solve problems.

Social Perceptiveness

Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.

Career profile Cashier

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