“Customers may forget what you said but they'll never forget how you made them feel.”
After learning this chapter, you will be able to understand:
- ·
the importance of the
cashier in the shop
- ·
what tasks the cashier
has
10.8.1 The Importance of the Cash Desk
Cashiers are the frontline staff of retail businesses. They need to be polite and courteous to customers at all times and make sure they are always smartly greeted politely when leaving. Most cashiers are trained to greet customers as they enter the store and to be on hand to offer advice on products and services. So cashiers need to be knowledgeable about the business they work for and what it sells. They also need to be diplomatic and have good problem-solving skills, as they often must deal with complaints from angry customers.
When the customer approaches you at the cash desk, he has already decided to make the purchase. As a cashier, you have to greet the customer, take the payment and see him off. Since you are the last contact person for the customer, it is your job to make sure that he leaves the store with positive feelings. A happy customer will come back.
10.8.1.1 What Is a Cash Desk?
The cash desk is the place where shopping comes to an end and where the payment is received. While you are working at the cash desk, you are going to need some tools and equipment.
Examples for tools: cash register, barcode reader, cash register with computer, security label remover, calculator, stamps, counterfeit detectors, stapler, phone, foreign currency exchange rates, printer.
Examples for equipment: bill, sticky tape, slip, invoice, note of expenses (in case of return), pen, scissors, paper, rubber band, nylon bag, wrapping paper, cleaning materials, pin and paperclip, cash register and POS machine rolls.
10.8.1.2 Who Is the Cashier?
The cashier is the person who handles all the cash register procedures: the openings and closings of the cash desk by himself, in a certain amount of time. In some companies, salespersons are also required to work at the cash desk. In many cases, cashiers also work as sales persons. You are the frontline staff of the retail business. You need to be polite to customers at all times. You also need to be diplomatic and have good problem-solving skills, as you may have to deal with challenging customers.
There are some basic skills for a cashier. The first is active listening. Active listening means that a cashier is giving full attention to what the customers are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. Another skill is polite speaking. It means talking to others to convey information effectively. A cashier also needs to use mathematics to solve problems. He also needs social perceptiveness, which means that a cashier is aware of others' reactions and understands why they react as they do. An important skill is customer orientation, a cashier is actively looking for ways to serve and help people. Finally, there is a skill called attention to detail: a cashier has knowledge about products, prices, promotions and regulations.
10.8.1.3 A Good Cashier
A good cashier can be trusted by every customer. He always makes eye contact with the customer, smiles and greets him, and notices the customer. He likes people, appreciates everyone’s opinion, listens to you, and guides you. He is talkative, competent, skilful, and flexible.
A good cashier is also quick, patient, painstaking, careful, friendly and never showing a customer that this might cause slower cahier’s services. He also masters a basic knowledge of the products and the shop. He encourages customers to ask questions, finds the answers for them, and understands that he cannot know everything. A cashier’s job also includes giving information, advising, and guiding.
Tips: A good cashier’s checklist
A good cashier:
· remembers that a purchase is finalized at the cash desk
· checks his appearance in the mirror
· remembers that also the gestures and whole appearance convey messages
· is aware that also posture and facial expressions are non-verbal communication
· remembers to smile, offers help actively
· is interested in the customer
· learns to feel sympathetic with the customer
· greets the customer
· completes the service of the customer
· always talks to the customer in a polite way
· says that the customer is welcome again
· says goodbye to the customer as agreed in his shop
10.8.2 Working at the Cash Desk
Working at the cash desk has a certain order of tasks. Generally, during the shift, it consists of three steps: preparation at the beginning of the shift, tasks during the shift, and preparing for closing the day at the end of the shift.
10.8.2.2 Starting the Shift
A cashier has to do many preparations at the start of the shift. Money in the cash drawer must be counted before the shift starts. The cash desk should be opened with the right password. Cashiers are also responsible for keeping the desk area tidy and clean.
10.8.2.3 Tasks during the Shift
During the shift, there are many tasks a cashier has to take care of:
· Greeting the customer: the customer should be greeted with a smile and a salute like ”Good morning”. You should be gentle with the products your customer buys. Customers should not be kept waiting for long. If you are busy with another customer you should make an eye contact with the waiting one so that he will know he is noticed.
· Registering goods & scanning items: A common first step in the cashier process is scanning or entering products or services into a point-of-sale (POS) system.
· Processing payments: Cash. Customers usually use cash for the payment for smaller amounts. You should pay extra attention to the note the customer hands to you in order to avoid misunderstandings and confusion.
· Processing credit cards and debit cards are very similar. In most case, the customer enters a pin code and in some cases the customer's signature is needed to complete the payment. Customers can use vouchers, cheques, gift cards, etc., to make a payment. These procedures may vary from one company to another which will be part of your on-the-job training.
· Seeing off the Customer: You should always thank the customer after receiving the payment and handing over the receipts/ invoice. According to the product, the customer needs to be informed about the guarantee or the return policy. The safety label or sticker has to be removed before handing out the product to the customer. Please notice the instructions for gift purchasing and return processes of the company you will work for. Since the processes tend to vary from one retailer to another, be aware of your company’s instructions.
10.8.2.3 Tasks at the End of the Shift
The cash desk report must be filled in correctly and without lacking any information according to the company’s procedures. The cashier should handle the daily cash intake, put the coins and notes in order, check for errors and determine the amount of cash to start with the next day.
Case: Working at a cash desk
Read the following dialogue and reflect: What was good in it? What would you do differently and why?
Morales: Good morning, Lisa. Thanks for coming earlier today.
Lisa: Good morning, Morales. That's no problem.
Morales: Good, let's start then. Please take a seat directly in front of the cash desk. (Lisa takes a seat.) Now, here is your own cash box for the day. You have 50-euro notes, 20-euro notes, ten-euro notes and five-euro notes. And here are the coins. You have two-euro coins, one-euro coins, 50-cent coins, 20-cent coins, ten-cent coins, five-cent coins, two-cent coins and finally one-cent coins.
Lisa: Good. How much is that all together?
Morales: It's exactly €600.
Lisa: Wow, that's quite a bit of money. And, just in case, how do I get more change?
Morales: Underneath your cash box is some more change in reserve.
Lisa: Good.
Morales: Now, I brought some goods with me for practicing. Let's take those sausages. You have to scan the goods by moving the bar code over the scanner. In that way the price automatically appears on this display. If you have more goods, you scan the bar codes one by one and the prices are summed up automatically.
Lisa: And what about those goods without a bar code, for example the mangos?
Morales: Just in front of you, there is a list containing all those goods without a bar code. In that case, you have to type in the code by hand.
Lisa: Sounds manageable.
Morales: Well then, let's try it. Take those ten goods and scan their bar codes.
Lisa: OK. I'll do my best. (Lisa scans the barcodes.) And now?
Morales: Now, you tell the customer the amount payable. The customer gives you the money, you type in the amount given, you press enter and you get told how much change you have to hand over to the customer.
Lisa: Ah! Hopefully, it'll work.
Morales: Don't worry. I'll work with you together for the first couple of hours.
Lisa: That's good!
10.8.3 Stressful Situations at the Cash Desk
Think: What kind of stressful situations have you seen at a cash desk?
There are some stressful situations that may arise at the cash desk. For example, a customer doesn´t have enough money, a card might be rejected, long queues are formed, or there are problems with price tags or barcodes.
If the customer does not carry enough cash or his credit card has been rejected, you should find a solution without embarrassing him. You should remain calm and use your best organizing and communication skills. If there is a long queue in front of your cash desk, you should call your supervisor and let your customers understand that you are aware of the problem. The barcode is used to assign a price to a product using the scanner device at an electronic cash register. This makes it unnecessary to enter prices manually, which speeds up the payment process. Sometimes the barcode on a product maybe missing or not readable. In this case you should ask for help from your colleagues and keep your customers calm by apologizing properly. Customers may claim that the price of the product at the shelf is lower than it appears at the cash desk. If you can’t get assistance from your colleague, you have to check the price by yourself very quickly.
Case: Out of change
Alex has a small food store. He works there on his own. A customer is shopping at Alex´s food store. He has some vegetables, fruits and bread in his basket when he comes to the cash desk. A customer pays for his purchases in cash, but Alex finds out that is short of change. What are the different options he has? What can he do to avoid the situation in the future?
10.8.4 GLOSSARY FOR WORKING AT THE CASH DESK
Cash desk system/cash register type.
There are different ways of categorizing cash registers and their different functions: With mechanical cash registers (e.g. in weekly markets) and electronic cash registers (e.g. in small shops), it is only possible to enter data (e.g. prices, quantities) using the keypad.
Electronic cash registers have a limited ability to save information. This feature makes it possible to retrieve evaluations, such as the sales figures for individual product groups, by printing them out on the receipt printer.
With computer cash desks, the sales data is processed via the central data processing system. Computer cash desks use the price look up procedure (PLU), in which the item is scanned and the article number is transferred to a database, which then sends the price, the item description and any other item data back to the till. Scanners, card readers, RFID antennae and other input devices are connected to the till to make it possible to read in data from labels and credit or debit cards.
Card reader: An electronic reader is connected to a computer till, which makes it possible to read the data from credit cards, debit cards or other cards equipped with magnetic strips and electronic chips. Card readers are a prerequisite for payment without cash (electronic cash) in retail.
Bar Code: Also known as a barcode. A code that can be read optically or magnetically and is used for data processing. It is made up of bars of varying width and is used on documents, product packaging or for automatically controlling machines. The best known bar code is the EAN code. The bar code can be used to assign a price to a product, for example, by using the scanner device at an electronic cash register. This makes it unnecessary to enter prices manually, which speeds up the payment process.
This is known as the price look up procedure (PLU). Here, the article number is scanned in or entered and transferred to the database. In the database, the corresponding item description and price are assigned to the article number and transferred (back) to the cash register. The transferred data then appears on the customer display, the operating display and the receipt/till receipt. In this procedure, it is particularly important that sales personnel make sure that the price in the database is the same as the price shown on the product or on the shelf.
EAN code: Also known as a bar code. This is an internationally standardized 8, 12, 13 or 14 digits system of article numbers for products and services. These article numbers are unique all over the world, so they do not overlap with any other article numbers anywhere in the world. The EAN code forms the basis for using scanner technology and greatly simplifies electronic communication. In retail, the EAN code is particularly important for product logistics, stock level management and payment processes, because this makes it possible to identify an item along the entire process chain. The 14 digit EAN number is also known as a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and can be read by all scanner systems around the world. GS1 is responsible for issuing EAN numbers for manufacturers.
Scanner: This is an electro-optical device that can be used to read symbols, images or scripts to a computer. The main function of scanners in retail is to read bar codes without entering them manually. The device scans the code with a beam of light and converts it into electrical signals. The resource planning system connected to the scanner can then convert the numbers that the scanner reads from the bar code into information, such as the product name or price. In retail businesses, scanners simplify and speed up the payment process and the recording of products for resource planning.
Cash Reconciliation: Although most cashier roles involve point-of-sale machines, anybody interested in doing the job needs to be numerate. Cashiers need to be able to reconcile the cash and credit card receipts in their tills at the end of each day. Working at the till isn't a job for those who can't do basic math. Although technology such as bar code readers makes working as a cashier easier than it once used to be, cashiers need to be able to count out change accurately when customers pay in cash.
Age Check: Cashiers are required to check the age of the customers they serve. Selling products such as alcohol or tobacco to minors can result in large fines and even jail sentences in some countries. Cashiers who sell age-restricted products to minors can also get business owners in trouble; punishments vary by country to country. Cashiers can be dismissed by their employers if found serving underage customers.