A retail cashier is an employee who scans products and processes cash payments between the retail store and its customers. Retail cashiers must provide excellent customer service that can include greeting customers, directing customer inquiries to the appropriate party, and informing customers about the services available. They often train new cashiers or retail workers and assist in the maintenance of storefront and retail displays. Retail cashiers also assist in counting money and perform audits of cash intake or cash drawers.

Retail Cashier Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real retail cashier resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Manage jewelry stock and inventory balances accurately.
  • Display knowledge concerning cash, checks, EBT, WIC, debit and credit card transactions.
  • Assist customers in getting groceries to cars and everyday transactions, such as cashiering and maintenance.
  • Follow procedures handling cash, checks, coupons, gift certificates, food stamps and WIC vouchers.
  • Install sound systems, steering systems, port-holes, hatches, swim decks, ladders, and windshields.
  • Perform POS transactions as a front-end operations cashier, as well as credit card and extend product services enrollment.
  • Maintain appearance of store and complete all POS opening and closing procedures, including counting contents of the cash register.
  • Cashier and help customers with groceries
  • Maintain cleanliness in decorating and serving food in compliance with hygienic regulations/standards.
  • Commend for exceeding food safety guidelines and ensuring the highest quality product through meticulous store cleanliness.
  • Strengthen the Walmart brand by interacting positively and professionally with a highly diverse customer base.

Retail Cashier Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 21% of Retail Cashiers are proficient in Customer Service, Cleanliness, and Front End. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Dexterity, and Near vision.

We break down the percentage of Retail Cashiers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Customer Service, 21%

    Provide excellent customer service by greeting customers, addressing concerns and providing in-store personal shopping services.

  • Cleanliness, 19%

    Provided customer service Checked inventory Unloaded and stocked trucks, Maintained overall organization and cleanliness of store.

  • Front End, 11%

    Maintained housekeeping duties around front end of registers, restocked shelves when required as well as merchandise put backs and returns.

  • Math, 8%

    Performed basic math computations, such as addition subtraction, and division.

  • Basic Math, 6%

    Applied basic mathematical skills, operated cash registers, processed credit/gift card transactions.

  • Retail Sales, 5%

    Retail sales representative for adult novelties

"customer service," "cleanliness," and "front end" aren't the only skills we found retail cashiers list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of retail cashier responsibilities that we found, including:

  • Arguably the most important personality trait for a retail cashier to have happens to be communication skills. An example from a resume said this about the skill, "cashiers must pay attention to customers’ questions and explain pricing." Additionally, other resumes have pointed out that retail cashiers can use communication skills to "applied advanced communication skills to solve customer complaints and create a positive service experience. "
  • Another trait important for fulfilling retail cashier duties is dexterity. According to a retail cashier resume, "cashiers use their hands to operate registers and scan purchases." Here's an example of how retail cashiers are able to utilize dexterity: "cash handling product knowledge heavy lifting customer service maintaining store sales helping with hardware/software on their computers. "
  • Near vision is also an important skill for retail cashiers to have. This example of how retail cashiers use this skill comes from a retail cashier resume, "cashiers need to see well enough to scan items and process transactions accurately." Read this excerpt from a resume to understand how vital it is to their everyday roles and responsibilities, "stocked and organized products near cash registers. "
  • A retail cashier responsibilities sometimes require "patience." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "cashiers must be able to remain calm when interacting with customers." This resume example shows how this skill is used by retail cashiers: "handled all customer complaints with understanding and patience. "
  • Another common skill for a retail cashier to be able to utilize is "physical stamina." Cashiers stand for long periods. A retail cashier demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "performed retail sales audits and reconciled transactions to the physical inventory to confirm shrinkage rates resulting in improved loss controls. "
  • Another skill commonly found on retail cashier resumes is "customer-service skills." This description of the skill was found on several retail cashier resumes: "cashiers must be courteous and friendly when helping customers." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill could fit into the day-to-day retail cashier responsibilities: "keep clientele informed by notifying them of preferred customer sales and future merchandise of potential interest. "
  • See the full list of retail cashier skills.

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    What Customer Service Associate/Cashiers Do

    A customer service associate/cashier is responsible for processing payments for the customers' orders. The customer service associate/cashier inspects the items, ensuring that the pricing and quantity from scanning are accurate. They also check for possible item defects and offer replacements, process payment refunds as needed, issue receipts to keep proof of payment, respond to customer's inquiries about a product, market promotional offers, and operate cash registers. A customer service associate/cashier must have excellent customer service skills and communication skills to boost customer satisfaction and increase sales goals.

    In this section, we take a look at the annual salaries of other professions. Take customer service associate/cashier for example. On average, the customer service associate/cashiers annual salary is $2,076 lower than what retail cashiers make on average every year.

    While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both retail cashiers and customer service associate/cashiers positions are skilled in customer service, front end, and math.

    These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A retail cashier responsibility is more likely to require skills like "cleanliness," "retail sales," "stock merchandise," and "excellent guest." Whereas a customer service associate/cashier requires skills like "service desk," "loss prevention," "bill payments," and "financial transactions." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

    Customer service associate/cashiers tend to reach similar levels of education than retail cashiers. In fact, customer service associate/cashiers are 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Cashier/Merchandiser?

    A cashier associate is responsible for greeting customers and processing their purchases, ensuring speed and accuracy. There are also instances when a cashier associate must offer special promotions or products, replace goods when there are defects, and obtain necessary codes when the product fails to register. Although a cashier associate handles the cash register and cash flow most of the time, they can also have tasks related to maintaining the sales floor's cleanliness. Furthermore, should there be any urgent issues, it is crucial to immediately reach out to a manager or supervisor.

    The next role we're going to look at is the cashier/merchandiser profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $759 higher salary than retail cashiers per year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Retail cashiers and cashiers/merchandiser both include similar skills like "customer service," "cleanliness," and "front end" on their resumes.

    In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, retail cashier responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "math," "basic math," "retail sales," and "cash handling." Meanwhile, a cashier/merchandiser might be skilled in areas such as "store shelves," "loss prevention," "planograms," and "pallet jack." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

    On the topic of education, cashiers/merchandiser earn similar levels of education than retail cashiers. In general, they're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Cashier Associate Compares

    A sales associate and cashier is an employee who takes on the dual role of helping customers with their product inquiries and facilitating the purchase of the customer. As a sales associate, the employee must be familiar with the different products offered by the company and should be able to direct customers to the product that best suits their needs. As a cashier, the employee must be familiar with the cash register and the system that the company uses to manage sales and facilitate payment. He/She or she must be able to work the equipment needed for a smooth checkout process.

    Let's now take a look at the cashier associate profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than retail cashiers with a $319 difference per year.

    While looking through the resumes of several retail cashiers and cashiers associate we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "customer service," "front end," and "customer inquiries," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

    As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from retail cashiers resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "cleanliness," "math," "basic math," and "retail sales." But a cashier associate might have skills like "safety hazards," "store management," "shipping receiving," and "ladders."

    When it comes to education, cashiers associate tend to earn similar education levels than retail cashiers. In fact, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Sales Associate And Cashier

    Now, we'll look at sales associate and cashiers, who generally average a lower pay when compared to retail cashiers annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $2,870 per year.

    According to resumes from both retail cashiers and sales associate and cashiers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "customer service," "front end," and "basic math. "

    Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a retail cashier might have more use for skills like "cleanliness," "math," "retail sales," and "cash handling." Meanwhile, some sales associate and cashiers might include skills like "sales associates," "mathematics," "loss prevention," and "groceries" on their resume.

    Sales associate and cashiers earn a higher salary in the retail industry with an average of $27,492. Whereas, retail cashiers earn the highest salary in the hospitality industry.

    In general, sales associate and cashiers reach similar levels of education when compared to retail cashiers resumes. Sales associate and cashiers are 0.1% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.