20-Year Prospect
Ah, yes, the job for high school students and retirees. Will it still be around in twenty years? We think so.
It isn't that technology hasn't made inroads into the cashier's domain—it has. We've all gone through the self-checkout line at the grocery store, chips and Coke in hand, and marveled at how it's possible to buy junk food without having to look across the conveyor belt at a cashier who's silently judging us and our Doritos. But even though self-checkouts can now be found in almost every grocery store in the country, there are still some things that only cashiers can do.
For example, have you ever been verbally assaulted by a Target cashier trying to get you to sign up for a REDcard? They're pushy because customers who activate their REDcards buy fifty percent more stuff. But, even when you don't appreciate the sales pitch, it's hard to be rude to a REDcard-proselytizing human who makes minimum wage and would probably rather be working anywhere else...except maybe Wal-mart. The self-checkout machine, though, you can just waltz away from.
Or how about how, in lovely California, you can't purchase certain items via self-checkout, like beer? In order to buy alcohol—and cigarettes and over-the-counter meds—you have to go through a cashier. Theoretically, this process keeps the vino out of the hands of kids and drunkards. Practically-speaking, law-abiding adults have to go hunt down the one guy working at Safeway so they can pay for a single bottle of sauvignon blanc.
The point is, in the retail industry, cashiers can still do some things that computers can't...which means they'll still be with us when we're trying to buy a candy bar at a convenience store on Mars.