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Cashier

Real Estate & Sales

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.

You can enter this career straight after SPM. A degree is optional, not required.

Business

What you'd do all day

The tasks that matter most in this job, most important first.

  1. 1Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
  2. 2Greet customers entering establishments.
  3. 3Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales.
  4. 4Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.
  5. 5Count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change.
  6. 6Issue trading stamps, and redeem food stamps and coupons.
  7. 7Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints.
  8. 8Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately.
  9. 9Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners.
  10. 10Post charges against guests' or patients' accounts.
  11. 11Weigh items sold by weight to determine prices.
  12. 12Compute and record totals of transactions.
  13. 13Answer incoming phone calls.
  14. 14Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.
  15. 15Sort, count, and wrap currency and coins.
  16. 16Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions.
  17. 17Request information or assistance, using paging systems.
  18. 18Help customers find the location of products.
  19. 19Compile and maintain non-monetary reports and records.
  20. 20Supervise others and provide on-the-job training.
  21. 21Assist with duties in other areas of the store, such as monitoring fitting rooms or bagging and carrying out customers' items.
  22. 22Sell tickets and other items to customers.
  23. 23Stock shelves, sort and reshelve returned items, and mark prices on items and shelves.
  24. 24Bag, box, wrap, or gift-wrap merchandise, and prepare packages for shipment.
  25. 25Cash checks for customers.
  26. 26Process merchandise returns and exchanges.
  27. 27Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas, and complete other general cleaning duties, such as mopping floors and emptying trash cans.
  28. 28Offer customers carry-out service at the completion of transactions.

Also known as

What this job is called on JobStreet, LinkedIn and in job ads. Search these too.

  • Teller
  • Cashier
  • Checker
  • Cashiers
  • Collector
  • Cash Person
  • Day Cashier
  • Sales Clerk
  • Store Clerk
  • Tube Teller

How far is this from you?

Roughly how much preparation this job usually takes. In Malaysia your UPU route and the programme's syarat still decide entry, so treat this as a guide, not a gate.

  1. 1

    Entry straight after SPM

  2. Typical entry

    SPM + sijil / short TVET course

  3. 3

    Diploma / TVET (sijil–diploma)

  4. 4

    Degree (ijazah sarjana muda)

  5. 5

    Postgrad (sarjana / PhD) or professional route

Typical educationHigh school diploma

Subjects that matter here

The SPM subjects worth your effort for this career, with the reason for each.

EnglishDraws directly on English Language — a top knowledge area for this role (O*NET).
BusinessDraws directly on Sales and Marketing — a top knowledge area for this role (O*NET).
EconomicsDraws directly on Sales and Marketing — a top knowledge area for this role (O*NET).
Additional MathematicsDraws directly on Mathematics — a top knowledge area for this role (O*NET).
MathematicsDraws directly on Mathematics — a top knowledge area for this role (O*NET).

What you'd need to know

The subject areas this job leans on most, and the SPM subjects that build them.

  • Customer and Personal Service81%
  • English Language67%

    English

  • Sales and Marketing61%

    BusinessEconomics

  • Administration and Management57%

    BusinessEconomics

  • Mathematics57%

    Additional MathematicsMathematics

  • Administrative57%

    Business

Tools you'd use

Software and equipment that show up in this job, worth learning early.

Where to learn these, free

Scholarships & funding

What the work feels like

Day-to-day working conditions, so you can tell whether the job suits how you like to work.

  • Face-to-face discussionsEvery day
  • Contact with other peopleConstant contact
  • Dealing with customers or the publicVery high
  • Handling conflict situationsAlmost never
  • Indoors, air-conditionedEvery day
  • Outdoors, in all weatherAlmost never
  • Noisy environmentAlmost never
  • Time spent sittingAlmost none

AI and demand for this job

A few real, dated data points — not a single score. AI making some tasks faster usually means a job changes, not that it disappears.

23%

Share of everyday tasks today's AI can already help with (2023)

This estimate is from 2023 — already out of date, since AI moves fast. Treat it as a rough, aging starting point, not the current picture.

1.00%

Of Malaysian Claude conversations, about this kind of work

Measures how much people use Claude for this work, not how many Malaysians do this job — and more AI use can mean people relying on it, not that it's replacing them.

Growing role in the US

US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, not Malaysian. Shown because it's the only forward-looking demand estimate we have for this job.

Pay in Malaysia

We don't have a sourced Malaysian salary range for this job yet, and we'd rather show nothing than a number we can't stand behind.

Where to check:

  • JobStreet and Hiredly job ads for this title
  • DOSM Salaries & Wages Survey
  • SSPA scheme tables, if you're aiming for a government post
See pay for a related career: Insurance Agent / Financial Planner

Check what you may qualify for

Enter your SPM grades and see which routes and programmes you may qualify for. An estimate to plan with, not an offer.

Check my eligibility Not sure yet? Take the quiz

How to get here

Post-SPM pathways with programmes in this career's fields. Tap one to see real programmes and entry requirements.

Asasi / Foundation

One-year runway into a specific university: public via UPU or private direct entry.

12 months

Related careers

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About this information

This describes what the job involves. Pay, demand and entry routes differ in Malaysia, so check the Pathways and Programmes pages for local requirements.

O*NET occupation: Cashiers

Job responsibilities, knowledge areas and work context from O*NET 30.3, US Department of Labor, used under CC BY 4.0. onetcenter.org