Is $8.00 reasonable for an Auditing Asgnmt

I was called by a particular scheduler for a company and asked to do a covert audit of 50-60 products in a local drug store. I have done these before and it took me 2 hours and I vowed I would never do it again. So this time I attempted to negotiate a fee of $16.00 and went in with a plan (carry my coupon book and pretend to be comparing prices,e tc). Well, when I checked the paperwork...it said $8.00 and he called back and had assigned me five (5) of these projects. Needless to say I told him to cancell all of them because in reality it was only $8.00 per project but he tried to make it seem like I was getting $16.00. I felt like I was being conned.

Is $8.00 reasonable for this type assignment and what are some tips for doing it quickly and going undetected?

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'Reasonable' will alway be defined by each individual shopper. If you feel it is unreasonable, it is unreasonable--at least for you. If it took you too much time both in store and in the report and felt awkward for $8 then it is not a shop you should do. If you were able to breeze through because the report and onsite visit were so well designed, it could be reasonable.

Personally I would not do a shop at a local drug store that required me to go there, check ONE item, talk to ONE employee other than the cashier and make a small purchase for proof of visit for $8. Gas, travel time, visit time and report time would make it unprofitable. I might do it if I could line up 5 in a total route of under 20 miles.

My personal opinion is that covertly pricing 50-60 items is utter nonsense, though obviously some folks make it work. I will covertly price 3 to 5, but beyond that it needs to be an announced audit. Obviously they can't do an announced audit on a competitor. I would let the jobs rot on the board.

I've done these and to me, 8.00 is not enough. You're there at least 35-45 min, and not only that but you're in either one or two isles-suspicious!

Add to that having to come home and input the items. It takes alot of time.

The last time I did one, staff kept walking by me, asking to help me or passing the isle peeking at me. Gosh! Wouldn't anybody? You're standing in the snack isle for 20 min, for goodness sakes!

You did right by canceling. If the CPI wasn't updated to reflect your bonus, you probably would have had a tough time getting it.

No. Enuff said.

That's one of those assignments that teaches newbies a hard lesson.

Never again my friend. Fool me once, but twice? Nope!

Sincerely,
H.A.R.D. at work

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2012 08:19PM by HaveARayDay.

Gwind - this is exactly like knowing when you need to wash your hair. If you think you might need to wash your hair, you definitely do. If you think $8.00 is short pay for this job, it's short. Listen to your little bitty voices.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

I've done a few of these and learned quickly after the first one to accept them only with a very hefty bonus and only when they fit into my route for the day.

For me, the hard part is distinguishing the individual items which are all so similar in order to capture the right information. I never would have imagined there were so many varieties of eye drops!

A scenario I use when the staff tries to offer assistance (and they always do) is to say, if they're really nosy, that I'm a volunteer at an assisted living complex gathering prices and availability information for seniors who can't do it for themselves. After that, they leave me alone.

Certified sent an e-mail offering huge bonus on some bar audits. Normally $8 and their up to $15. They are all about something for St. Patrick's day.

I know this isn't an issue everywhere, but here St. Patrick's Day is wild even when the weather is on the cool side and it falls on a weekday. Put it on Saturday with not one, but two parades, and a high of 81 degrees, those people are going to have to be tough to get into those bars, LOL!

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Yeah I saw those St Paddy's Day assignments and thought "No way!"

That is horrible. You should not do an audit for less than $15.00. The fact is the gas station audits can get down right dangerous if the do not like what you are writing about them. I have had some of them get hostile.

Several companies offer phone shops that pay this much or more that you can do from home. A covert audit of 50-60 items doesn't sound like my kind of thing and could only become tempting at several times the money they are offering.

First of all, when the scheduler from MFI calls you with a bonus amount or you get an email from them or a message board saying the fee is now X amount, that is what they will pay you in the end. The paperwork is never updated with the fee you are offered from them because it is the same form they prepare before posting the shops. So if the scheduler said $16, then that is what you would have received.
As for the St. Patty's assignment - I did 9 of them. Four at the original $8, one for $10 and four others for $15 each. Total time from when I left my house and got back home then enter the reports was about five hours. Yeah, I'm smiling

I don't know where you are, but here you could not have done that many in less than twice the time. Even clustered together it would have taken a couple of hours just fighting traffic and you would have had to hike another couple of miles after finding parking. I've gone to one of our parades when it was snowing and people were still 30 deep along the parade route. Afterwards it was taking almost an hour just to get through the front doors of all the bars! What can I say, around here we like good excuse for parades and parties

jettoparty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First of all, when the scheduler from MFI calls
> you with a bonus amount or you get an email from
> them or a message board saying the fee is now X
> amount, that is what they will pay you in the end.
> The paperwork is never updated with the fee you
> are offered from them because it is the same form
> they prepare before posting the shops. So if the
> scheduler said $16, then that is what you would
> have received.
> As for the St. Patty's assignment - I did 9 of
> them. Four at the original $8, one for $10 and
> four others for $15 each. Total time from when I
> left my house and got back home then enter the
> reports was about five hours. Yeah, I'm smiling

Good for you with the St Patty's jobs. The ones here were located in a part of town I would dare not visit, ESPECIALLY on a Saturday night. Even my "wild child" does not visit that part of town on the weekend. As far as the fees, I've been called by other schedulers from that compny and if they offer a different rate, it shows up on my CPI - immediatelly. Anyway I think he was trying to con me cause he led me to believe one thing and when I qwuestioned him he said soething different.....oh well, lesson learned.

I was scheduled for three of those St. Patty's jobs; at the first one I had to wait an hour to get in to the place. When I finally got in,some rowdy drunk spilled beer on me from shirt to shoes, right in front of the manager. For 8 bucks I lost sneakers, pants and a shirt and had to drive home to change and when I got home called them and said I wanted hazard pay.

And not for nothing...when Purple Portal calls 99% of the time I can't understand a word they are saying. The calls come from Virginia in a call center.

gwind1920, i think I know the audit you are talking about and they always do that adding the fee and the reimbursement so make sure to say NO. It should be at a minimum $15 plus reimbursement. The audit is time consuming and it is worth it only if you do it repeatedly, every month, as you know how the product looks like and where it is located. Ohterwise 50 items can take over an hour. They check the same items again and again every month because the audit is for a competitor supermarket.

Thanks Kate..thats helpful. But I've never seen it advertised for 15...nothing more than 8.

In my area they send emails stating how it is now bonused and pays $16, or whatever and they mean fee+reimbursement +$2-$3 bonus. I got snoockered once and took the shop without paying attention that they included the reimbursement but never again. It is not just time consuming, it makes me tired to have to look at all the different packages and make sure that it is the correct one. If you do it regularly it is much easier because you know the exact shelf that the item is located and how it looks like. Some are very exotic organic products or hormonals that I had never heard off. I just do only one of the different competitors that this client checks so it is easier. Last month I was at the store and another shopper was doing a list for that company, for the first time. I had double the items and the person was still there when I left.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2012 01:30AM by KateH.

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Is $8.00 reasonable for an Auditing Asgnmt

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