Here's a question for you

[phartmoore1]

If a cashier is really good at their job they should be paid top dollar for that position. I believe in merit, sorry that most business owners don't.

[Sum Dum Gai]

If a cashier is really good at their job they should be paid top dollar for that position.

Top dollar for that position still isn't much more than minimum wage.  Scanning bar codes and making change aren't super complex skills.  A really really good cashier won't ring up sales all that much faster than your average 16 year old kid with a week of training/experience.

[phartmoore1]

I disagree. I've seen some who really excel, and deserve merit for that.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Really excel based on what?  Do they get customers through checkout faster?  How much faster?  Do they have fewer error when giving change?  How much fewer?  What objective and observable measurement are we using for this merit pay?

[phartmoore1]

all of the above, plus personality. Does that mean anything to you?

[Sum Dum Gai]

all of the above, plus personality. Does that mean anything to you?

Yeah it means something, that something is a few bucks more an hour than minimum wage.  I can get mediocre cashiers for $8 an hour and good ones for $10.  The service a cashier provides isn't worth any more than that because the skills involved are too easy to learn.

[formerroomate99]

Jul 19, 2013 19:19:06 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

If a cashier is really good at their job they should be paid top dollar for that position.

Top dollar for that position still isn't much more than minimum wage.  Scanning bar codes and making change aren't super complex skills.  A really really good cashier won't ring up sales all that much faster than your average 16 year old kid with a week of training/experience.

When I worked at an amusement park, they would send two people to relieve me when I went on break, and there would be an insanely long line and messy counter waiting for me when I got back.  I would have loved to have some kind of system where I got paid part of the sales I rang up, but alas, none of the unskilled jobs employers I had were interested in paying for performance.  I saw the same thing when I worked at a call center.  People who made some bare minimum were entered into a lottery for prizes, so the top performers were never really rewarded for their skills, at least not until they got a better job elsewhere.