Cashier job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

12

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 1-2 of 5

very little to some preparation

Typical entry education

No formal educational credential

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$32,880

BLS May 2025

1. Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits. importance 4.8 of 5
2. Greet customers entering establishments. importance 4.7 of 5
3. Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers. importance 4.7 of 5
4. Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints. importance 4.5 of 5
5. Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately. importance 4.5 of 5
6. Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners. importance 4.4 of 5
7. Answer incoming phone calls. importance 4.4 of 5
8. Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies. importance 4.4 of 5
9. Request information or assistance, using paging systems. importance 4.3 of 5
10. Help customers find the location of products. importance 4.3 of 5
11. Process merchandise returns and exchanges. importance 4.0 of 5
12. Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas, and complete other general cleaning duties, such as mopping floors and emptying trash cans. importance 4.0 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Getting Information, Performing for or Working Directly with the Public, Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships, Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates and Communicating with People Outside the Organization.

Also part of the job

Supplemental tasks O*NET lists for this occupation: less central than the core duties above, and not done in every job.

• Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales.
• Count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change.
• Issue trading stamps, and redeem food stamps and coupons.
• Post charges against guests' or patients' accounts.
• Compute and record totals of transactions.
• Weigh items sold by weight to determine prices.

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, English Language and Sales and Marketing.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Windows, Mozilla Firefox. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists no formal educational credential as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists short-term on-the-job training as typical once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 1-2 of 5 (very little to some preparation). Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become a cashier.

The most common answer among cashiers surveyed by O*NET is a high school diploma or equivalent (44%).

Job title: Cashier
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring a Cashier to receive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
- Greet customers entering establishments.
- Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.
- Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints.
- Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately.
- Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners.
- Answer incoming phone calls.
- Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists no formal educational credential as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in service orientation, social perceptiveness and active listening
- Working knowledge of Customer and Personal Service and English Language
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Apple Safari or Microsoft Edge]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $32,880 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $15.81. BLS estimates about 3,089,410 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of cashiers to decline 6.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 521,300 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full cashier salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real cashier posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only cashier work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (service orientation and social perceptiveness); cashier interview questions turns them into practice questions.