Lelou, it's obviously different depending on where you are. I don't regularly get high shop fees either and I'm very close to downtown Fort Worth/Dallas, lots of shops and lots of shoppers. No pick and choose here unless you don't really need money. Posts about holding out for those high bonuses are just laughable here. It happens some, but all the time, no way. Highly bonused work is rare, not common, and most jobs are picked up at the original fee. On the upside of holding out - lots of free time.

Lelou, I was told about a year ago by a friendly scheduler that a way to check how good a scheduler is is to go to the Chicago shops. There are more shoppers there than there are shops by far so they will be taken immediately at opening rate. If the Chicago shops sit, either the scheduler isn't good at recruiting or there is something about the shop that makes no one want it.

The other location that is like Chicago (but not quite as much) is Houston, Texas.

My experience in Los Angeles leads me to believe it is likely that in most large cities there are more shoppers than shops. I read with my mouth open about average shops paying $20-35. The average shops I see pay $3-5. The good shops tend to pay $10-12 and the great paying shops pay $15-35 for a purchase/return of a high end product. That is why I do mostly reimbursement. I do have another source of income so I can afford to do that. I toted up my income the other day and found that I earned $82 in bonuses this year. I do work very part time but this is on an income of $4-5,000 including reimbursements. Most of the bonuses are from one MSC who calls and convinces me to do their pizza shops once in a while. The other companies offer "help me out" emails, or they raise the fee from $3 to $4 at the end of the month and eventually they disappear. There is one shop I keep hearing about with a $3 bonus. But it is a couple of gallons of gas away and a good chunk of my time driving. That shop is always around and month after month the bonus stays the same even on the 26th of the month.
I actually saw a bonus of over $20 the other day...I was over excited. The job is in Angels Camp, high in the mountains on the way to Yosemite. I guess if I lived 500 miles away in Stockton I could take a leisurely drive over there to do this job. And unless the goverment has hired mystery shop companies to shop the gift shop in Yosemite I doubt anyone could make a route. So I think the low paying jobs around here must be snapped up by the shopper who lives just down the block and can walk over and earn $3.

I once made a route that passed through Angel's Camp. It was not financially lucrative, but it sure was beautiful. All I did were gas stations. I did it in two days. I found a free campground for the overnight. I think if it were timed right, one could make decent money on that route with bonuses. It would take some work to put together, though.

I don't concern myself with what fees others are willing to accept because I don't know their circumstances and it's not my business. What one shopper might consider a cheap fee might be the going rate in another area. We all have to deal with the levels of shops and shoppers nearby and what goes on elsewhere does not apply to us. A statement that some shoppers are desperate and ruining the business by taking lower paying shops does not take into account the differences in opportunity levels. I'll take shops of my choice as long as it makes sense to me. It doesn't have to make sense to someone else somewhere else.

Same here. When you start, even $7 shop sounds like a good deal when you have no other job. I started with MF and had no clue that other companies pay more. Some people learn as they go and become top mystery shoppers, others give up on mystery shopping.

I wouldn't bother for $5-$10 shop unless it's within 1 mile from my house or on the way to another shop. At the same time I would go 50 miles for $10 fee for a restaurant that reimburses $100-$150 just because I am a foodie and love trying new places.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The one element is that the "newbies" are taking
> shops left and right, regardless of their pay.
>
> I was once a newbie.
>
> For me, it took a little bit to figure out that
> some of these jobs were too time consuming, with
> numerous pages of narratives, gas use, printer
> use, costs, all for a small fee.
>
> It takes "experience" to learn how to walk away
> (or not accept) an assignment, that is going to
> cause you grief.

I saw the Angel's Camp shop too and wondered about it. Unless it changed considerably in the past few years, other than a couple of fast food joints, the only chains were gas stations. I couldn't imagine a high end jewelry store that was not independent. I'd take that shop in a heartbeat if I had time just so I could go do some photography up there this time of year.

Since I work part time, I will occasionally pick up a "cheaper" shop on the way to/from work. Helps pay for the gas and the mileage works for IRS purposes. No, I don't deduct all the mileage but I figure some is fair game.

I respectfully disagree,

I had several shops in NY City for a while. Shoppers would call me and email me asking for work. I barely had to lift a finger to fill bank shops.

However, the entertainment and restaurant shops were not so easy to fill. People had to take cabs, busses, or subways to get to those shops and those were hard to fill.

Many people want no purchase shops.




lbw1000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lelou, I was told about a year ago by a friendly
> scheduler that a way to check how good a scheduler
> is is to go to the Chicago shops. There are more
> shoppers there than there are shops by far so they
> will be taken immediately at opening rate. If the
> Chicago shops sit, either the scheduler isn't good
> at recruiting or there is something about the shop
> that makes no one want it.
>
> The other location that is like Chicago (but not
> quite as much) is Houston, Texas.

SallyGFK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Many people want no purchase shops.

It all depends on your shopper base and types of shops you have.

As sandyf mentioned, bonuses are not that common in larger urban areas, but you stand a better change of getting an employed 'lifestyle' shopper that will be happy to put out some $$ in return for a good meal. There's no way they will want to drive or take public transit across town for FF, but they will for a high-end $200 meal. I scheduled almost strictly upscale dining in metropolitan areas and the job was more about weeding out the qualified candidates, rather than finding people willing to take the shops. When I had an occasional shop to fill in a more rural area, I had to switch modes....

With the expense of my lifestyle living in a large urban area, a $5, $10 or $25 shop isn't going to really improve the bottom line of my lifestyle. It costs $10 just to park in my neighborhood so driving shops are out of the question unless parking expenses are covered. Once you get me in the car in L.A. traffic, they better be a pretty good payoff at the end of the shop as well.

Since parking is a problem at many locations, why don't more MSCs reimburse for this? I did a shop last week where they reimbursed 3.00 towards parking. Now, that wouldn't cover parking there so I took the train. It cost me 4.50 round trip but I was in the area for other shops and it was a shop I was interested in checking out. On the survey it asked for my parking reciept, I attached my train fare reciept. I figured it might maybe work. Sure enough the editor lets me know they don't cover train fare. I said ok but that's much cheaper then the parking at this location since it was in downtown. She was cool about it and said okay they will try to get it reimbursed but moving forward to let them know that when I accept the shop. Since they are willing to try to reimburse my train fare I will try to do more of those hard shops for them. The clients know what parking fees are like and so do the MSCs we shouldn't be paying for that.

Now that I think about it, I agree that it's totally ass-backards (pardon my French) to not cover public transit fare when it's less than what parking and/or tolls would have been.

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't concern myself with what fees others are
> willing to accept because I don't know their
> circumstances and it's not my business. What one
> shopper might consider a cheap fee might be the
> going rate in another area. We all have to deal
> with the levels of shops and shoppers nearby and
> what goes on elsewhere does not apply to us. A
> statement that some shoppers are desperate and
> ruining the business by taking lower paying shops
> does not take into account the differences in
> opportunity levels. I'll take shops of my choice
> as long as it makes sense to me. It doesn't have
> to make sense to someone else somewhere else.

I'll take the $3 DQ shop if it's on my way home from work or if I'm in the area. I don't feel insulted, either. I love ice cream and I'm being paid to eat it. Win-win for me. My busiest weekend to date included 8 shops (4 grocery, 2 FF and 2 retail) all within 10 miles of my house. I felt pretty good about mixing a full-time W-2 job and part-time mystery shopping. I certainly don't feel desperate when I self-assign at the base rate.

If you work at a brick and mortar building in a large city and they don't provide parking, you might have to pay for that yourself. Your employer many not. It's a cost of living expense.

Since you are an IC you pay all expenses of to pocket and write them off on your taxes.

Lelou Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Since parking is a problem at many locations, why
> don't more MSCs reimburse for this? I did a shop
> last week where they reimbursed 3.00 towards
> parking. Now, that wouldn't cover parking there so
> I took the train. It cost me 4.50 round trip but I
> was in the area for other shops and it was a shop
> I was interested in checking out. On the survey it
> asked for my parking reciept, I attached my train
> fare reciept. I figured it might maybe work. Sure
> enough the editor lets me know they don't cover
> train fare. I said ok but that's much cheaper then
> the parking at this location since it was in
> downtown. She was cool about it and said okay they
> will try to get it reimbursed but moving forward
> to let them know that when I accept the shop.
> Since they are willing to try to reimburse my
> train fare I will try to do more of those hard
> shops for them. The clients know what parking fees
> are like and so do the MSCs we shouldn't be paying
> for that.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2014 07:16PM by SallyGFK.

DrSquash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now that I think about it, I agree that it's
> totally ass-backards (pardon my French) to not
> cover public transit fare when it's less than what
> parking and/or tolls would have been.

Well, let me ask you this. When you had a job, did your employer pay you to get there?

As a matter of fact, my employer always provided free parking or paid for off street parking. It is certainly not unreasonable. If I can do a job 15 miles away with free parking or 10 miles away and get soaked $3 for parking or need to circle the block many times looking for a parking meter there is absolutely no question in MY mind which job I take.

My cousin paid for her parking on Boston.

I did an entertainment shop in Boston and I was sent a parking pass. I had to stay a minimum of 5 hours.

The parking pass was marked Employee Parking. $36 for the day.


Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a matter of fact, my employer always provided
> free parking or paid for off street parking. It
> is certainly not unreasonable. If I can do a job
> 15 miles away with free parking or 10 miles away
> and get soaked $3 for parking or need to circle
> the block many times looking for a parking meter
> there is absolutely no question in MY mind which
> job I take.

My daughter work's in Chicago's (loop), and parking is 28.00 a day....her company does not pay, so, she doesn't drive,
instead hops a train, bus, ride with co-worker, but her rewards are far greater than ours, Ins. 401, sick days, vacation. The $$ we make (or don't make) adds up to not worth it, the fees are already so low, with hardy a bonus (worth speaking of) in large cities, it's a wonder anyone takes these jobs. The suburbs fare better with Msing in my eyes. Having a nice dinner out is the exception. Hotels work and the perks give me personally a better lifestyle.

My current employer gives me a stipend for travel, mobile phone and computer rental. It's a perk like anything else they give you to take a job. Actually, the computer rental is a requirement of my union, but the amount is negotiable.

When I was a freelance scheduler, the MSC I worked for also gave me an additional fee to cover health insurance and office rental, since I worked from home.

If your employer values you, they will find ways to make the job worth your while....freelance or employee. Same goes for MSing.

I had a hotel evaluation last year that offered to fully cover my travel. After I submitted the receipts from the flight with the shop, the MSC wrote back and asked about my airport parking costs. They were sincere about covering 100% of my expenses, which I really appreciated. Another hotel company I worked for only paid for 100% of travel once you got to the airport, so I hadn't considered submitting those receipts. You don't have to just give in to the concept that freelance workers don't get perks, or accept poor reimbursement with the attitude of, "That's just how MSing works." If you put the time in and do good work, you will find that there are generous MSCs out there. That goes for shoppers, editors and schedulers...

SallyGFK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DrSquash Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Now that I think about it, I agree that it's
> > totally ass-backards (pardon my French) to not
> > cover public transit fare when it's less than
> what
> > parking and/or tolls would have been.
>
> Well, let me ask you this. When you had a job, did
> your employer pay you to get there?

Apples and oranges. Being an employee is not nearly the same situation as being an independent contractor. Not even close.

Do you ever think that they don't cover things like parking because shoppers don't ask for it? Maybe if more shoppers said hey there's a parking fee at this location they would not be so shocked when we ask for it.

Over the years I only had one employer not include my parking as a perk and that company was a not-for-profit. Regardless, it is not relevant to Lelou's situation with the MSC.

The MSC acknowledged parking was an issue for the shop by offering the reimbursement. The question then becomes should the MSC also be willing to pay that modest fee toward the public transportation since it was a more cost-effective solution than parking. Since they were not offering a full reimbursement of either the parking or the train fare, the $3 seems a small price to pay to get a shop completed in that area.

I would not expect an MSC to know about the parking situations in every city in the country. I have found a few shops that automatically included a specific reimbursement for parking, but even when they don't the IC has other options. We can either ask to be reimbursed or charge a higher fee to cover the expense.

Sally, you couldn't be digging yourself deeper into a hole here. When an employer hires an employee in a major city where travel and parking are a concern, that employer pays a higher salary. It's common knowledge. The same job pays less in the suburbs than it does in the city. Simple as that.

Yah..and where I live, I get higher fees etc. because of the distance involved. I ask for it because that is what I need to complete the shop.

I told myself that I was not going to post anymore, because some of the people on this forum seem to be looking for a reason to get their panties in a wad, but I do have to say that a w-2 job and an IC job are two different animals.
On the W-2 job the employer is required by law to pay a certain rate, and there are other expenses they are required to pay as the cost of doing business.
As an IC, it is VERY easy to pay yourself less than minimum wage plus you do not get the benefit or protection of things like work comp. Gas and overhead aside, if a phone job is picked up for $5.00 (being generous here) and the report takes 1/2 hour after 15 minutes on the phone, the time is now 45 minutes. This roughly works out to $7.00 an hour. We are under minimum wage, and an employer has not provided the paper or ink, or paid for the phone line. There is no accountant to figure the taxes, because we have to pay state and federal at the minimum on that $7.00. We have also invested time searching for the $5.00 job, because we are sifting through 100+ MSCs on the chance that we will find a nugget.
This is not a complaint, because there is a trade off. We can choose not to do the $5.00 job. There are certain jobs that I will do for less than minimum wage, but a girl has got to eat too! It is funny that there is usually eating involved I am lucky to have a DH who works to keep us above the line.
In a nutshell, there can be no real comparison between the two types of employment, because they are not the same thing.

Devil's advocate: some people might be okay with taking a 5 dollar job every day on the way home from work, since five bucks is more than they would make doing nothing when watching TV. Five, five-dollar shops is twenty five bucks a week. Seems like a lot of wasted time, but what if they were going to be screwing around on facebook instead?

SallyGFK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you work at a brick and mortar building in a
> large city and they don't provide parking, you
> might have to pay for that yourself. Your employer
> many not. It's a cost of living expense.
>
> Since you are an IC you pay all expenses of to
> pocket and write them off on your taxes.
>
>
Sally, I do pay for parking in my brick and mortar building for my W2 job but I earn a heck of a lot more per day and the daily parking I pay is extremely minimal compared to my daily salary. However, if I do one mystery shop where I am paying over half the fee in parking that is not reimbursed that I can write it off does not matter at all for me. If my fee is cut in half it is too little of an already small fee to make the job worth while. Steve So Cal hit the nail on the head for me in Los Angeles. If I could have "liked" his comments twice or three times I would have. Just getting into your car in LA to deal with the traffic whether you have to pay to park or not (and it is often $5 an hour to park) is such a traumatic situation it just is not worth it to earn a few bucks on a small job. I usually find free parking but I will only take small jobs if I can walk from another job or I am going that way anyway.

Mcreader9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MDavisnowell Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I don't concern myself with what fees others
> are
> > willing to accept because I don't know their
> > circumstances and it's not my business. What
> one
> > shopper might consider a cheap fee might be the
> > going rate in another area. We all have to
> deal
> > with the levels of shops and shoppers nearby
> and
> > what goes on elsewhere does not apply to us. A
> > statement that some shoppers are desperate and
> > ruining the business by taking lower paying
> shops
> > does not take into account the differences in
> > opportunity levels. I'll take shops of my
> choice
> > as long as it makes sense to me. It doesn't
> have
> > to make sense to someone else somewhere else.
>
> I'll take the $3 DQ shop if it's on my way home
> from work or if I'm in the area. I don't feel
> insulted, either. I love ice cream and I'm being
> paid to eat it. Win-win for me. My busiest weekend
> to date included 8 shops (4 grocery, 2 FF and 2
> retail) all within 10 miles of my house. I felt
> pretty good about mixing a full-time W-2 job and
> part-time mystery shopping. I certainly don't feel
> desperate when I self-assign at the base rate.


Truth. I have a DQ shop about two minutes of driving away from me. $4.40 is fine for that as i could literally hop out the door at 1:55pm and get it done. The cool thing about the rest of them is that I can bundle three close to each other and have extra grub one day and the other five on the other side of the city limits sign can go for another day.

I understand that some folks have to make more of a living than others off of this for whatever reason. I don't. I'm just grinding this year as a grad student and this covers my financial aid gaps. Usually, it's just been a covered meal or something to do on my off time in between projects for the six years I've been doing this. The tax kiosk audits were basically my first ventures away from FF shops.

I even got two folks on to MF's site last week. There was a thread that said this hurts my cause. No, it doesn't. I'm not going to do every single shop on my list. Hence, I am out nothing.

There are times I will take a hit in regards to being on the red side of the ledger. So, I fix that by bundling a shop or two with it. Made a run to Galveston the other day after a "free" car wash in Houston and a store price audit in between for $30. I could actually sweat and work for a living. The security guard who is going back to school who I referred last week was actually dumbfounded that I got paid to take pics at a cell phone store while he's trying to get out of wearing a bulletproof vest for once.

Thankfully, most of the shops I do are bonused. But, I earned that.

I find that some MSCs will say one thing about the expectations, once the shop is accepted, they reveal details you wouldn't otherwise know that make the shop not worth the time.

I actually had that happen and cancelled it straight out. It was billed as a purchase/return but then it turned out it was also an "audit" that was going to take even more time. I let the MSC know that I did not appreciate it.

cherubino3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I find that some MSCs will say one thing about the
> expectations, once the shop is accepted, they
> reveal details you wouldn't otherwise know that
> make the shop not worth the time.

Had this happen with a Papa John's shop. Instead of being the usual pictures of the pizza and receipt form, it was something more complicated that left you with a mangled cheese pizza when done (no toppings allowed). The MSC was offering reschedule dates into May so I figured it could not hurt my rating that badly to cancel now.