Archived New Target team member in need of advice for cashiering.

[lazyartist]

Hello everyone. I recently got a job at the Super Target near my house; it's been there for about five years now. I was hired as a Starbucks barista, but I also received training for cashiering. I've been working as a cashier for the last four days or so. The first two were rough because I was still getting acquainted with the computer and it's button functionality. The biggest problem I faced at the beginning--and still do to some extent--was handling the change. For example, on my first day, one guest gave me a hundred-dollar bill for his transaction, which was about $20. I input the amount and pressed K1 for cash payment. But then he decided to give me an additional 37 cents, which screwed up my math. I stood there nervously with sweat rolling down the side of my face as I attempted to do the numbers in my head. The fact that I'm Asian exacerbated the situation; I couldn't even do simple math! And in the end, his change was actually 20 cents or so short. The guest, however, was nice enough to forget my mistake. In the last few days, I've gotten better with the change, but I'm still having difficulty with counting the coins, especially when there's a certain "pace" that I have to maintain for every transaction; I don't want to stand behind the register and take my sweet time to count how many quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies I need for .96 cents. But I guess I should be more cautious for the sake of sustaining my employment. Does Target fire you if you consistently hand back a few cents extra to the guests? I'm a bit confident that I haven't done so, but I am curious.

I also have a question regarding the scanning of coupons. When you scan--say a coupon that offers $1.50 off for Downy laundry detergent--and the computer screen says "If item is in the purchase....blah blah blah...press K1 to accept coupon anyway or press K2 to not accept," are you supposed to press K1? While I was training a week ago, I noticed how my superior would press K1 to accept certain coupons, regardless if the guests bought the items or not. I'm a bit worried because today I had a guest who saved $150. She's a mother of two, and she came in with a an envelope full of coupons. There were about ten or so coupons (maybe more) in which I pressed K1; the rest scanned without issues. Will I get in trouble for this? She seemed like an honest guest, and all of her coupons corresponded to the baby needs and and kitchen supplies that she purchased.

Since I'm still new to the company, I'm not familiar with how the employee performance review works. Can someone share their insights into this matter? I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Jill of All Trades]

Once the drawer is open and I'm counting change, I will usually ignore the guest if they try to offer me more change- I'll just look at the drawer intently and count out loud. I count out their proper change and then if they want to, they can give me four quarters for a dollar or whatever they were trying to achieve by giving me the extra change. I'm not bad at math but it's too easy to get confused, and oftentimes guests are wrong about what their change is going to add up to. Also, there are some guests who will do what's called "change racing" where they will intentionally confuse you into giving them extra money. My personal rule of thumb is that if the cash drawer is open it has my full and undivided attention. Obviously if someone's purchase rings up to $2.01 and they give me a $5 bill and then say "oh wait I've got a penny" I'll take the penny and give them three bucks. But if it's more complicated than that, they get their change and THEN they can trade it for a bill if they want to.

As far as coupons go, you're going to have to get a feel for what your particular store accepts and doesn't accept. I find that when I have a coupon that doesn't scan, if I take a second to read the coupon I can usually figure out why- either it was for a very specific product and the guest bought a similar-but-not-the-same item, or the coupon requires the purchase of multiple items. Generally when you explain to the guest, "Oh, I'm sorry but you have to buy five yogurts to use this coupon," the worst-case scenario is that they give you back their four yogurts and you have to void them out.


Hope this helps!

 

[whippingboy]

There are quick-change scammers out there who will try to shove dollars at you while demanding change. Sometimes they get more money back then they give you. Jill has a good method of ignoring any change until she completely counts out the initial change due. The scammers will sense if you don't have confidence and will mess you up. Just relax and take your time, and do one transaction at a time. If you suspect you've been "quick changed" TPS will have surveillance on it; just let your GSTL know.

As you cashier more, you'll get a general idea of what you've bagged. If they hand you a coupon for something they don't have most of the time you'll know. But sometimes I find myself digging through their bags for the item to verify the coupon. Some stores have the cashier accept the coupon no matter what. Other stores don't. A lot of the time I find myself having to read the fine print the guest has missed.

 

[lazyartist]

Thank you so much for the advice! I feel a lot more confident now!

 

[redeye58]

Don't worry about speed just yet; accuracy first.
Repetition helps build confidence, which builds speed gradually.
If you feel like you're getting overwhelmed with coupons, flag down your GSA/GSTL for help.
A good one will turn it into a teaching moment.

 

[spoilers]

About the change: you can ask "out of $__?" to make sure they're done, take a moment to see if they're digging through their wallet or pocket for change as well. If they decide to pull it out last second when your drawer is open, there's nothing wrong (in my opinion) with telling a little white lie and saying that you aren't allowed to change the payment amount once the drawer is open, or something to that effect.

 

[mrknownothing]

This link may help you: http://www.thebreakroom.org/index.php?threads/cashier.72/

 

[eleuthreophile]

If someone tries to give me coins after I've entered the amount and I am confident I can do the math (ie their total was $10.51, they gave me $20 but then gave me a penny), I just accept it. If it's too complicated, I put on a panicked look and tell them I'm awful at math. No complaints so far.

 

[awbuckit]

About the change: you can ask "out of $__?" to make sure they're done, take a moment to see if they're digging through their wallet or pocket for change as well. If they decide to pull it out last second when your drawer is open, there's nothing wrong (in my opinion) with telling a little white lie and saying that you aren't allowed to change the payment amount once the drawer is open, or something to that effect.

I do this also. If their total is 16.48 and they hand me a 20, I say "OK, out of 20?" Then I carry on. If their total is like 16.15, I say "Oh, did you have the 15 cents?" Usually, they appreciate the extra time to search for 15 cents and it's easier for me to give back paper money rather than a bunch of coins.
It's YOUR register, you own it for x amount of hours. Don't let the guests bully you or intimidate you.
Also, I can't tell you how many times I've let people slide on the .01 or .02 of their totals. Plus, if their change is .14, I make it .15. Goes quicker. No one EVER counts the coins in the cash drawers (cash office for 8 yrs now) so I am not at all worried about this.

 

[Jill of All Trades]

Also, I can't tell you how many times I've let people slide on the .01 or .02 of their totals. Plus, if their change is .14, I make it .15. Goes quicker. No one EVER counts the coins in the cash drawers (cash office for 8 yrs now) so I am not at all worried about this.

I disagree with this practice. Yes, it's true that you aren't going to get in trouble for it. But guests don't (and shouldn't) expect to get extra change back so it doesn't really enhance the guest experience when they get extra change- if they even notice. If anything it makes target look sloppy and unprofessional. The only reason for doing it is convenience for the cashier, which in my opinion isn't worth cutting into earnings.

 

[awbuckit]

Also, I can't tell you how many times I've let people slide on the .01 or .02 of their totals. Plus, if their change is .14, I make it .15. Goes quicker. No one EVER counts the coins in the cash drawers (cash office for 8 yrs now) so I am not at all worried about this.

I disagree with this practice. Yes, it's true that you aren't going to get in trouble for it. But guests don't (and shouldn't) expect to get extra change back so it doesn't really enhance the guest experience when they get extra change- if they even notice. If anything it makes target look sloppy and unprofessional. The only reason for doing it is convenience for the cashier, which in my opinion isn't worth cutting into earnings.

I can guarantee I don't look sloppy or unprofessional at my job. I am a hard-core believer in great guest service. Yeah, I let people slide on a penny or two once in a while. Guests could stand there ALL DAY LONG looking for that one penny. They are appreciative, is what they are, when I say oh that's ok. With cashiers being able to adjust prices by huge amounts just on a guest's word, you think a penny or two is going to cut into Target's earnings? LOL

 

[Burlseveryday]

Also, I can't tell you how many times I've let people slide on the .01 or .02 of their totals. Plus, if their change is .14, I make it .15. Goes quicker. No one EVER counts the coins in the cash drawers (cash office for 8 yrs now) so I am not at all worried about this.

I disagree with this practice. Yes, it's true that you aren't going to get in trouble for it. But guests don't (and shouldn't) expect to get extra change back so it doesn't really enhance the guest experience when they get extra change- if they even notice. If anything it makes target look sloppy and unprofessional. The only reason for doing it is convenience for the cashier, which in my opinion isn't worth cutting into earnings.

Let's say the average cashier makes $10/hr. That's about $0.17/minutes which is about 1 cent every four seconds... So if you are able to save 4 seconds by providing 1 cent of extra change, you've negated that earnings cut by saving payroll (yes, I know payroll doesn't quite work that way, just having fun with numbers) I've also had people notice and thank me for giving them a quarter instead of 2 dimes and 4 pennies (nobody wants that shit)

 

[mrknownothing]

Also, I can't tell you how many times I've let people slide on the .01 or .02 of their totals. Plus, if their change is .14, I make it .15. Goes quicker. No one EVER counts the coins in the cash drawers (cash office for 8 yrs now) so I am not at all worried about this.

I disagree with this practice. Yes, it's true that you aren't going to get in trouble for it. But guests don't (and shouldn't) expect to get extra change back so it doesn't really enhance the guest experience when they get extra change- if they even notice. If anything it makes target look sloppy and unprofessional. The only reason for doing it is convenience for the cashier, which in my opinion isn't worth cutting into earnings.

When I cashed, I would only do this if I had spare change to compensate for it. Every now and then, there's that guest who doesn't want their pennies, so I'd save them for the guest who was a couple cents short (i.e. total is $40.02 and they only have 20s).

 

[awbuckit]

I figure they trust us with the 20 dollar rule so what's two cents??? C'mon people.

 

[awbuckit]

Sometimes when I forget to scan the barcode to deduct the .05 for the guest bringing in their own bag...I k5, k1...and *GASP* give them a nickel.
Oh the horror!!!

 

[commiecorvus]

Sometimes when I forget to scan the barcode to deduct the .05 for the guest bringing in their own bag...I k5, k1...and *GASP* give them a nickel.
Oh the horror!!!

At the food co-op my folks shop at you can get the nickel or they put a bean in a jar and at the end of the year they give that to homeless shelters.
It came out to over two hundred grand last year.

 

[cooljoey]

hey im new to cashiering and was wondering is there some trick to get a sticker handle separated from the others?

 

[mrknownothing]

hey im new to cashiering and was wondering is there some trick to get a sticker handle separated from the others?

Pull it from the middle where it's not sticky.

 

[lazyartist]

I had a peculiar incident today with a guest, who I believed tried to trick me into giving her discounts. She bought a whole bunch of feminine supplies along with two large bottles of Tide detergent, which she had two $12.99 coupons for. After the transaction, she asked me to void the detergents because she no longer wanted them. When I did so, the guest, with $25 in her hands, demanded that I close the transaction immediately. But I realized that the two Tide coupons were still on, so I voided them as well. She was quite upset when I did so and requested that I void everything I had bagged for her. I told my TL about the incident, and she said "don't worry about her."

 

[thetargetman]

Hello everyone. I recently got a job at the Super Target near my house; it's been there for about five years now. I was hired as a Starbucks barista, but I also received training for cashiering. I've been working as a cashier for the last four days or so. The first two were rough because I was still getting acquainted with the computer and it's button functionality. The biggest problem I faced at the beginning--and still do to some extent--was handling the change. For example, on my first day, one guest gave me a hundred-dollar bill for his transaction, which was about $20. I input the amount and pressed K1 for cash payment. But then he decided to give me an additional 37 cents, which screwed up my math. I stood there nervously with sweat rolling down the side of my face as I attempted to do the numbers in my head. The fact that I'm Asian exacerbated the situation; I couldn't even do simple math! And in the end, his change was actually 20 cents or so short. The guest, however, was nice enough to forget my mistake. In the last few days, I've gotten better with the change, but I'm still having difficulty with counting the coins, especially when there's a certain "pace" that I have to maintain for every transaction; I don't want to stand behind the register and take my sweet time to count how many quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies I need for .96 cents. But I guess I should be more cautious for the sake of sustaining my employment. Does Target fire you if you consistently hand back a few cents extra to the guests? I'm a bit confident that I haven't done so, but I am curious.

I also have a question regarding the scanning of coupons. When you scan--say a coupon that offers $1.50 off for Downy laundry detergent--and the computer screen says "If item is in the purchase....blah blah blah...press K1 to accept coupon anyway or press K2 to not accept," are you supposed to press K1? While I was training a week ago, I noticed how my superior would press K1 to accept certain coupons, regardless if the guests bought the items or not. I'm a bit worried because today I had a guest who saved $150. She's a mother of two, and she came in with a an envelope full of coupons. There were about ten or so coupons (maybe more) in which I pressed K1; the rest scanned without issues. Will I get in trouble for this? She seemed like an honest guest, and all of her coupons corresponded to the baby needs and and kitchen supplies that she purchased.

Since I'm still new to the company, I'm not familiar with how the employee performance review works. Can someone share their insights into this matter? I would greatly appreciate it.

You are NOT going to get in trouble. Target is so big on "being bold" and get the guests to come back to the store. as long as you are not giving them 50% off their order or giving them a discount they don't have or dipping your hand in the till you should not have a problem. Now if the guest is a "hardcore couponer" and getting the fast majority for free I would get a supervisor over just to make sure everything is going legit. when it is a lot of complicated coupons I always get a second set of eyes over just so I have some back up.