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The differences between cashiers and servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a server has an average salary of $29,901, which is higher than the $28,144 average annual salary of a cashier.
The top three skills for a cashier include front end, cash handling and basic math. The most important skills for a server are wine, customer service, and guest satisfaction.
| Cashier | Server | |
| Yearly salary | $28,144 | $29,901 |
| Hourly rate | $13.53 | $14.38 |
| Growth rate | -10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 456,110 | 162,734 |
| Job satisfaction | 4.2 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 34 | 28 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A cashier is one of the most visible positions in the retail industry. Cashiers are the last direct point of contact with customers and play a key role in service, retail, and wholesale establishments. They leave a long-lasting impression, which helps encourage the customers to go back. The most common tasks for cashiers are to scan items, conduct price checks, and collect payments. They may deal with a great amount of money on a daily basis, so this position requires them to be honest, reliable, and trustworthy employees. They also need to have great skills in customer service as they may handle customer complaints from time to time, assist in answering questions, and process refunds or exchanges.
A server is a restaurant employee assigned to the main dining area of the restaurant to primarily attend to the customer's needs. Servers assist guests to their tables, wait for the guests to be ready with their orders, and take the guests' orders. They should be knowledgeable about the restaurant's offerings since they should be able to answer any questions asked by the guests regarding the menu. They communicate the guests' orders to the kitchen crew and serve the orders once they are ready. Once the guests are finished eating, servers provide their bills upon their request and clean up the table when they leave. Servers should have excellent customer service skills and hospitality management skills.
Cashiers and servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Cashier | Server | |
| Average salary | $28,144 | $29,901 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $36,000 | Between $21,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | New York |
| Best paying company | Deloitte | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a cashier and a server in terms of educational background:
| Cashier | Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between cashiers' and servers' demographics:
| Cashier | Server | |
| Average age | 34 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 27.1% Female, 72.9% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 20.7% Asian, 7.5% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.4% Asian, 8.2% White, 54.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 6% |