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The differences between customer service representatives and cashiers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a customer service representative has an average salary of $32,260, which is higher than the $28,144 average annual salary of a cashier.
The top three skills for a customer service representative include cleanliness, POS and data entry. The most important skills for a cashier are front end, cash handling, and basic math.
| Customer Service Representative | Cashier | |
| Yearly salary | $32,260 | $28,144 |
| Hourly rate | $15.51 | $13.53 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -10% |
| Number of jobs | 209,515 | 456,110 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 4.2 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | High School Diploma, 45% |
| Average age | 40 | 34 |
| Years of experience | 12 | - |
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
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.
Customer service representatives and cashiers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Representative | Cashier | |
| Average salary | $32,260 | $28,144 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $41,000 | Between $21,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | Des Moines, WA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Oracle | Deloitte |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Retail |
There are a few differences between a customer service representative and a cashier in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Representative | Cashier | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | High School Diploma, 45% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer service representatives' and cashiers' demographics:
| Customer Service Representative | Cashier | |
| Average age | 40 | 34 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% | Male, 27.1% Female, 72.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 5% |