Many baggers start out by working in supermarkets providing a courtesy for customers, which can save customers the time and effort required to bag their own groceries at the end of their transaction. However, for many baggers their job is just a temporary job until they find a more lucrative position that fits in more conveniently around their personal commitments and schedule. If you are a bagger and wish to become a cashier, how can you put the skills you learned as a bagger to good use in your new position?

Customer Service Skills

Cashiers who have never had any customer service work experience can find their new job very daunting as they venture into unknown territory. But cashiers who have previously worked as baggers will not find this a difficult transition, as they will already have much experience of how to greet customers, strike up a conversation and provide them with personal assistance. Some customers are lonely and just want someone to talk to when they go shopping. Many baggers provide a sympathetic ear to customers. Cashiers can too if they take the time to recall the times they talked to the widow who regularly visited them each Monday to shop and stop by for a chat or the young single father in need of some support.

Although baggers and cashiers are not counsellors or social workers, many customers come to know those who provide a regular service for them when they go shopping and to look out for those they feel most comfortable with. Developing the art of good customer service skills is a very useful skill to learn as a bagger that can then be transferred over to working as a cashier.

Bagging Requirements

Cashiers with prior bagging experience might at times be called upon by their supervisors or management to bag their customers' groceries, especially when there is a shortage of baggers and there is no one present to bag groceries for the customers. Bagging groceries will be accomplished much more quickly if it is done by cashiers who have a few years' experience as baggers behind them that they can put to use.

Of course, cashiers will need additional training to be able to work the till, deal with customers' queries and complaints and to get the job done efficiently. But the skills learned as a bagger will help to lay the foundation for the new job as cashiers.