A bank teller (often abbreviated to simply teller) is an employee of a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. Tellers also deal with routine

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

at a branch.

Responsibilities and duties of the bank teller

Being front-line staff they are most likely to detect and stop fraudulent transactions in order to prevent losses at a bank ( counterfeit currency and cheques,

identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was c ...

confidence trick A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...

s, etc.). The position also requires tellers to be friendly and interact with the customers, providing them with information about customers' accounts and bank services. Tellers typically work from a station, usually located on a teller line. Most stations have a

teller system A teller system is the integrated hardware and software used for retail or wholesale banking transactions, most systems communicate with a core banking system or mainframe computer, mainframe over a secured network. The hardware may include a comp ...

, which includes cash drawers, receipt validator/printers, proof work sorters, and paperwork used for completing bank transactions. These transactions include: *

Check Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...

cashing, depositing, transfers,

wire transfer Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...

s * Savings deposits, withdrawals * Issuing negotiable items (

cashier's check A cashier's check (or cashier's cheque, cashier's order) is a check guaranteed by a bank, drawn on the bank's own funds and signed by a cashier. Cashier's checks are treated as guaranteed funds because the bank, rather than the purchaser, is resp ...

s, traveler's cheques, money orders, federal draft issuances, etc.) * Payment collecting * Promotion of the financial institution's products (

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

, etc.) * Business referrals (

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

lending In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

, etc.) * Cash advances * Savings bond redemption. Paper savings bonds can no longer be purchased, only electronic bonds are available for purchase now, so banks can no longer issue bonds. * Resolving customer issues * Balancing the vault, cash drawers, ATMs, and

TAUs Taus may refer to: * Domažlice (German: Taus), a town of the Czech Republic * Taus, Wisconsin, United States, an unincorporated community * Melek Taus, "The Peacock Angel", the Yazidis' name for the central figure of their faith * Taus (instrumen ...

* Batching and Processing Proof Work (On-Us/Not-On-Us Checks, Payment Coupons, Counter Slips, etc.) * May include ordering products for the customer (cheques, deposit slips, etc.)

Prevalence and history

In the United States, tellers held approximately 608,000 jobs in 2006. Of these, 1 out of 4 worked part-time. Median annual earnings as of May 2006 were $22,140. The number of tellers in the United States increased from approximately 300,000 in 1970 to approximately 600,000 in 2010. Counterintuitively, a contributing factor may be the introduction of

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...

s. ATMs let a branch operate with fewer tellers, making it cheaper for banks to open more branches. This likely resulted in more tellers being hired to handle non-automated tasks, but further automation and

online banking Online banking, also known as internet banking, web banking or home banking, is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial ins ...

may reverse this increase. The increase in online banking has decreased the number of bank tellers.

Public figures who were former bank tellers

Many well-known personalities have worked as bank tellers including: *

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Ray Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'', for which he received an Emmy Award, and as t ...

Scott Adams Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the syndicated '' Dilbert'' comic strip, and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, and business. ''Dilbert'' gained natio ...

William Singe Liam Anthony "William" Singe (born 2 July 1992) is an Australian YouTuber, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is most notable for his online videos on YouTube and Facebook. Singe started his career as a member of The Collective, an Australian ...

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

* Kim Dong-yeon

References

{{Authority control Teller Office work

Responsibilities and duties of the bank teller

Prevalence and history

Public figures who were former bank tellers

See also

References