The Complete Guide to Becoming A Cashier

Chapter 1: What Does a Cashier Actually Do?

Let's start with what you picture when you hear the word "cashier." You're standing at a counter. A customer approaches. You scan items, they pay, you hand them a receipt. That's the basic loop, and if you think that's the whole job, you're missing most of the picture. Day to day, being a cashier is a job about three things: processing transactions accurately and fast, managing a constant flow of people, and keeping your cool when things go wrong. Everything else you do during a shift - the cleaning, the stocking, the small talk - supports those three core tasks.

Let's get concrete about the transactions. You'll have a point-of-sale system, usually called a POS (you'll hear "register" or "till" too - they mean the same thing). This is the computer screen and scanner setup in front of you. A modern POS is a touchscreen with a barcode scanner, a cash drawer, and a receipt printer. In some stores, especially smaller ones, it might be a tablet mounted on a stand. The work horse of the job is the scanner. You'll scan items and the system rings them up. But that's only half the job. You'll also be responsible for handling cash, which means counting your drawer at the start of your shift to make sure it has the base amount of money, usually around $100 to $200 in small bills and coins. You will count it again at the end of