Cashiers
Receive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions. May use electronic scanners, cash registers, or related equipment. May process credit or debit card transactions and validate checks.
Most important skills
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Mathematics
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
- Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.
- Greet customers entering establishments.
- Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners.
- Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.
- Process merchandise returns and exchanges.
- Request information or assistance, using paging systems.
- Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (44.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (41.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (45.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Cashiers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 96% of occupations compared | 96% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 62% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 70% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Limited freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 92% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 77% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 95% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 93% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 3.69%
- Constant contact with others: 96.31%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 10.08%
- Fairly important: 16.96%
- Important: 15.56%
- Very important: 5.54%
- Extremely important: 51.86%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.08%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 29.12%
- Very important: 30.98%
- Extremely important: 37.81%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.03%
- Very little freedom: 5.54%
- Limited freedom: 49.8%
- Some freedom: 31.09%
- A lot of freedom: 11.54%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 16.03%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 12.12%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.59%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.45%
- Every day: 12.81%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: 32.02%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.02%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.76%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.53%
- Every day: 2.66%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.51%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 58.32%
- Every day: 26.17%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 50.69%
- Fairly serious: 14.43%
- Serious: 27.83%
- Very serious: 5.69%
- Extremely serious: 1.37%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 41-2011.00 · SOC 41-2011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8