Has anyone down the sign audit that must be done around sunset. If so, what was your experience with the shop?

Takes about 5 to 10 mins max. Super Easy.

I have, it was fine. Very easy unless lights are out. I waited until it was in the $20+ range though, because I am a day shopper and going out at night is an inconvenience for me.

I agree with SAMom, wait till they are $15-$20. The lower range is fine if there are no problems, but if there are, then a number of photos are required.
Super easy though. I notice now they give 7:30 as a time frame, and unless they have changed, the shop was to be done just after sunset. I checked Wunderground in my area for the (sunset) time then went 30 minutes later. For most of us the time change is coming, so that would mean they can be done earlier in the evening. I haven't accepted one, or seen the current shop requirements, so don't quote me on that.

I waited until I got 3 close to each other at $15 plus apiece. Out in the car half an hour, earned $50. Great!

Be careful, though. I did one tonight that had 14 outages. It took quite awhile to upload and categorize each photo.

I was asked (begged) to do one because it was overdue. This was in the midst of our recent storms in Colorado. I finally went out one evening when it was only drizzling. That was enough to hose the pictures. They were nice, though, and offered to let me re-shop. I did and things were fine. I agree with the others who have stated that it's a quick job unless there's a problem. Then, you'll have extra photos to upload and document.

Fourteen outages, wow! Did they have any lights left on .

Thanks for the feedback. Some of the shops are just sitting on the board. I now suspect people know these are the ones with outages, perhaps. The price is increasing though.

I like them, unless (as others have pointed out) there's outages. Then they're kind of a pain in the ass. Unless they're up in the $25 range.

I just asked about the discrepancy in the directions - but didn't get a satisfactory answer. The main directions say within 1 hour of sunset ( which is 6:13 here) and in RED it says go AFTER 7:30. The answer I got was go between dusk and dark ......but what about the special instructions in RED ! Once it is dark it isn't going to get any darker so you should be able to fit in more jobs in one evening if possible - but not if there is only a 1 hour or less time frame.

@Boutique

I saw that special instruction on one of my audits. But it disappeared the day of the audit. Not sure what is going on with that. I did it within the hour and was accepted. YMMV

Aha, finally I remember. This I think is the one where they specified the camera pixels required (or some fancy big words like that.) I suppose this is really an important requirement. My camerawork definitely needs improvement.

Darn, I fancied taking sunset photos, with the wind from the freeway tousling my hair and the geese overhead leaving their souvenirs scattered in the wind.

Boutique Wrote:
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> I just asked about the discrepancy in the
> directions - but didn't get a satisfactory answer.
> The main directions say within 1 hour of sunset (
> which is 6:13 here) and in RED it says go AFTER
> 7:30. The answer I got was go between dusk and
> dark ......but what about the special instructions
> in RED ! Once it is dark it isn't going to get any
> darker so you should be able to fit in more jobs
> in one evening if possible - but not if there is
> only a 1 hour or less time frame.

The training explains the ideal conditions, and it really is less than an hour that satisfies the standards that the training sets forth. Dark enough to ensure that the lights are all on and for the lights to show up in the photo, but still enough glow in the sky for a photo to show the outlines of the fixtures, the difference between deficiently dimmed portions and full on portions, and for the photos to not just show bright blobs in the complete darkness. I followed the red letters last night and started at 7:31 p.m., more than an hour after sunset, and the photos are pretty crappy. I called today to question the discrepancy and the rep was apologetic for the confusion and made it clear that just after sundown until just before total darkness. Just got back from doing two more within that window, and it makes a big difference in the quality of the photos.

But when you are in a shopping center with ambient light from the overhead parking lot fixtures I don't think it makes that big a difference, especially if the sunset is behind the building.

I saved a copy of the job information saying in big red letters to "Please Visit This Location After 7:30 PM" (capitalization theirs).

I followed those instructions, instead of the usual "Sunset or within an hour after".

Sunset here was at 6:26 PM.

They'd better accept it, as there were a lot of outages ~ and therefore a lot of photo processing... choosing the best one for each problem, turning/sizing them, renaming them (problem 1, 2, etc.) AND including adding a time stamp, since my camera only does date stamp).

I admit the renaming is only for my brain's organizational benefit.

I have a couple scheduled for today and asked my scheduler about the difference between actual sunset time in my area and the 'red instructions' time.

The reply I received: "When the sun is going down but before complete darkness. Please disregard the note if it is completely dark at 7:30 in your area."

I have one scheduled for tonight and was confused about the discrepancy in the guidelines. That's why I love this forum: I'm no longer confused; I'll go within one hour of the sunset.

In Indianapolis today sunset is at 7:03 making 7:30 within an hour. Considering how time zone and geographically challenged most MSCs can be, did we really expect them to realize the exact time of the sun setting varies across the country

So my shop is inside of a shopping mall. Do I take interior pictures only, or do you take an exterior picture of the mall itself?

The training does address that, but they don't show examples. You have 17 minutes to try to call them and ask, or assume that it's the equivalent photos of signage lights for that shop inside the mall. If their name is on the outdoor mall sign, I'd include that as well. Perhaps even the rear entrance lighting for that store.

Tlt14 Wrote:
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> So my shop is inside of a shopping mall. Do I take
> interior pictures only, or do you take an exterior
> picture of the mall itself?


The presentation says to take a picture at one of the entrances for mall locations. Framing the pic with a little bit of sky, ground and the wall on each side.

Eveb, I interpreted that as "take a picture of the mall exterior if the store you're shopping has an external door (like the department store they show in the picture in the training). I think you're right though. Thanks! Sun's setting, better be on my way

I really wanted to do some of these! They were sitting on the board at $25 (at least 5 of them), but in extremely shady parts of town. I was familiar with the areas but checked google maps and looked at the images to double check. At two of the locations, the stores surrounding the store that I was auditing had bars on the windows and one was boarded up. Even the store to be audited looked bad. My husband forbade me to do them...and I mostly agreed. He is not even the type to tell me what to do, but he looked at the locations and said, "hell no are you going to be out of your car with an expensive camera and your smartphone walking around a parking lot by yourself at dusk at those locations. I really wanted the money but it wasn't worth the risk. All the of locations that were in decent areas were snatched up at low rates