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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Cashiers?
Task-level automation exposure for Cashiers: 28 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
54%
weighted task index
28 of 28 tasks scored
Median Salary
$32,880 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Very High
3,089,410 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-6.5%
employment change
521,300 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 54 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$21,610 – $38,880
Highest medians
District of Columbia $38,880
Washington $38,720
California $37,100
Colorado $36,870
Hawaii $36,780
Lowest medians
Guam $21,610
Puerto Rico $22,140
West Virginia $26,370
Mississippi $26,390
Louisiana $26,750
State figures come from the 41-2011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 54%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 9%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 27%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 34%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 1/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
28 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 44%
12 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 37%
10 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 20%
6 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#2400 · Core · 55% automatable
Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
data analysis — Transaction processing software-driven; human handles exceptions
Process sales or other transactions.
#2403 · Core · 15% automatable
Greet customers entering establishments.
interpersonal — Physical presence greeting customers
Greet customers, patrons, or visitors.
#2401 · Core · 40% automatable
Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.
physical manipulation — Issuing money or vouchers often physical and accountable
Issue money, credit, or vouchers.
#18765 · Core · 62% automatable
Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints.
information retrieval — Product questions answered from knowledge base
Explain technical product or service information to customers. Answer customer questions about goods or services.
#2422 · Core · 68% automatable
Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately.
data analysis — Sales metrics monitored by AI; human interprets and acts
Monitor sales activities.
#2405 · Core · 82% automatable
Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners.
data analysis — Cost calculation from structured inputs
Calculate costs of goods or services.
#21073 · Core · 72% automatable
Answer incoming phone calls.
interpersonal — Call routing automatable; nuanced calls need human
Answer telephones to direct calls or provide information.
#2408 · Core · 62% automatable
Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.
information retrieval — Product questions answered from knowledge base
Explain technical product or service information to customers. Answer customer questions about goods or services.
#2419 · Core · 55% automatable
Request information or assistance, using paging systems.
interpersonal — Coordination needs live negotiation and context
Communicate with other workers to coordinate activities.
#21072 · Core · 55% automatable
Help customers find the location of products.
information retrieval — General info answers assisted; live service human
Provide customers with general information or assistance.
#2417 · Core · 55% automatable
Process merchandise returns and exchanges.
data analysis — Transaction processing software-driven; human handles exceptions
Process sales or other transactions.
#18766 · Core · 5% automatable
Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas, and complete other general cleaning duties, such as mopping floors and emptying trash cans.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of work areas
Clean work areas.
#2411 · Supplemental · 84% automatable
Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales.
data analysis — Reconciling transaction records is rule-based matching
Reconcile records of sales or other financial transactions. Calculate costs of goods or services.
#2402 · Supplemental · 85% automatable
Count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change.
data analysis — Reconciling transaction records is rule-based matching
Reconcile records of sales or other financial transactions.
#2406 · Supplemental · 48% automatable
Issue trading stamps, and redeem food stamps and coupons.
data analysis — Transaction processing software-driven; human handles exceptions
Issue money, credit, or vouchers. Process sales or other transactions.
#2423 · Supplemental · 88% automatable
Post charges against guests' or patients' accounts.
data analysis — Structured transaction data entry and recording
Record sales or transactions data.
#2412 · Supplemental · 84% automatable
Compute and record totals of transactions.
data analysis — Maintain structured sales records via tools
Calculate costs of goods or services. Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
#2410 · Supplemental · 70% automatable
Weigh items sold by weight to determine prices.
data analysis — Weight/volume calculations from given data
Calculate weights, volumes or other characteristics of materials.
#2416 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Sort, count, and wrap currency and coins.
physical manipulation — Preparing physical cash for deposit is hands-on
Prepare cash for deposit or disbursement.
#2414 · Supplemental · 85% automatable
Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions.
data analysis — Maintain structured sales records via tools
Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
#2421 · Supplemental · 85% automatable
Compile and maintain non-monetary reports and records.
data analysis — Maintain structured sales records via tools
Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
#18768 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Supervise others and provide on-the-job training.
interpersonal — Sales coaching blends persuasion and live practice
Train sales personnel. Supervise sales or support personnel.
#18767 · Supplemental · 42% automatable
Assist with duties in other areas of the store, such as monitoring fitting rooms or bagging and carrying out customers' items.
data analysis — Sales metrics monitored by AI; human interprets and acts
Monitor sales activities. Assist customers to ensure comfort or safety.
#2413 · Supplemental · 32% automatable
Sell tickets and other items to customers.
interpersonal — Closing sales requires persuasion and accountability
Sell products or services.
#21074 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Stock shelves, sort and reshelve returned items, and mark prices on items and shelves.
physical manipulation — Physically moving and shelving stock items
Stock products or parts.
#2415 · Supplemental · 13% automatable
Bag, box, wrap, or gift-wrap merchandise, and prepare packages for shipment.
physical manipulation — Packing and labeling shipments is manual work
Package objects for shipping. Prepare outgoing shipments.
#2409 · Supplemental · 40% automatable
Cash checks for customers.
physical manipulation — Issuing money or vouchers often physical and accountable
Issue money, credit, or vouchers.
#2424 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Offer customers carry-out service at the completion of transactions.
information retrieval — General info answers assisted; live service human
Provide customers with general information or assistance.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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