Rewarding cashiers for reviews: what is allowed
5 October 2026 · 4 min read
A little friendly competition gets cashiers asking at the register far more reliably than a memo does. The line to watch is simple: you can reward staff for asking, but nothing can depend on what the review says, and no one inside the business writes one.
What is fine
- Thanking or rewarding staff when a customer mentions them by name in a review
- A team goal for the number of reviews this month, with a shared lunch at the end
- Recognizing the cashier who asks most consistently, whatever the reviews say
What crosses the line
Rewarding staff only for five-star reviews pushes them to steer customers, and that pressure shows. Asking staff, friends or family to post reviews themselves breaks Google's policy on conflicts of interest outright.
In the US, the FTC's rule on consumer reviews, in effect since October 2024, also makes it unlawful to offer an incentive that depends on a review being positive, and restricts reviews by a business's own staff.
Keeping customers out of it
The reward is for your team, never the customer. No discount, free coffee or entry into a prize draw in exchange for reviewing. A sign by the register does the asking, and the cashier's job is just to point at it.
Questions, answered
- Can staff leave a review for their own workplace?
- No. Google removes reviews from employees and owners, and the FTC treats undisclosed insider reviews as deceptive.
- How do I know which cashier collected a review?
- Often you will not. Reward the team on totals, and count names when customers mention them.
