Dim Box Shops - Scenario C (combined threads)

I posted this question deep in another thread and it got lost. I really would like a show of hands - still on the fence about them.

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I am debating right now if I want to continue to pursue the Scenario C shops due to the high cash outlay AND the difficulty in finding the right boxes. I went to 5 stores on my way to do an out of state route and NONE of them had the sizes listed - had to cancel my shops that day.

I followed the forum advice that they could be found at Walmart - wrong again. They weren't out of stock - they just didn't carry ANY of the listed sizes.

I recently found one of the sizes from a product supplier that I use - really cheap, like 70c (but I will have to pay shipping which I don't think will be refunded due to the nature of the purchase).

Now I just can't decide if I should continue to consider doing the C scenarios and go ahead and order them.

Let's hear a vote - Yeah or Nay on doing Scenario C's (assuming you have/can get the boxes). Are they worth it - or are they worth it only when bonused?

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I look at the cost/benefit:

1) I donate to my local food bank so shipping off 1# of stuff to some food bank in another community is nonsense. I can drop off 20# or 30# at my local food bank of excess from grocery shops at my convenience without finding a box to ship anything anywhere.
2) I am laying out a fair amount <of cash> at the risk of having something go wrong with the shop and there is absolutely no benefit to me from that reimbursement.
3) The fee is enough to step into the <location>, but as the only benefit of this shop it is not worth the hassle of finding a box, packing a box, shipping the box and writing a report and then waiting to be reimbursed.

Just my opinion. YMMV

Mod note: Tsk, tsk. The client was right up there in your post! And the MSC is in the thread title. It is pretty difficult to discuss this topic without letting it slip, even when you've been around here as long as you have.

Thanks Flash (I can't believe I have never seen you post - with nearly 18,000 to your credit ... wow!).

I am leaning that direction too. You are spot on when you weigh the "value" of the reimbursement and there really is none.

Right now I am looking at locations with an increased fee. I feel it is well worth it for the time involved (I find the report to be quite quick to fill out - and time on location is about 5 minutes in some cases) - but then balancing the long wait to be reimbursed for a considerable outlay of cash definitely drags down the time spent vs. pay benefit.

I will be anxious to see if anyone can weight the scales in the other direction.

I like the notion of sending "care packages" to my kids and the A and B scenarios work great for that. I find some just outrageous bargains on things like IZOD shirts for $2-3 or socks or just something kookie and collect them up to make my 1#+ box, then look for a shop to surprise them with something unexpected. I currently have a small pile of shirts to be sent sometime in the near future, and that is where I find the real value to be of these shops.

Nay on Scenario C. I have done 40-50 of these shops and love them. However, I think the <client> is wasting their money because nothing ever changes based on the shops. I have been pointing out damaged mini blinds at one station for 2 years now and they never get fixed. I have reported a half torn off shipping label on the door of the manager's office and it never gets removed. Simply amazing.

Mod note: Please don't name the client in your post, since the MSC is in the thread title. With all the talk of the various scenarios, it's just redundant anyway -- people who do the scenarios already know the client.

Yea on Scenario C. I buy the boxes by the dozen so I won't get stuck driving around looking for one on the day a shop is due. If I turned these down, I'd lose nearly one quarter of my income with this MSC - local competition doesn't like the C's, but they sure do snatch up the A's and B's.

No way. I've had two <client> shops where the company said I had been identified (when clearly I had not) and I wasn't paid. I would not want to be out the dollars on this one in case it happened again. It seems a ridiculous shop to me anyway and I would need to be paid more to even consider it.

Mod note: Please refrain from naming the client in your post, since the MSC is in the thread title. Those who do these shops already know, anyway, from the reference to the "Scenarios".

Nay.

Not for me. Way too much financial exposure. I can pick up a cheap station and do much, much better. If I lose the station shop, I can at least use the gas and the inside purchase. If I lose the C shop, I'm out big bucks cash plus the shop fee and I have nothing I can use. But someone likes these, so we'll all happy.

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

There are a lot of C shops in my area. I've thought about them but wasn't sure how picky they are on the box size. Sounds like it has to be exact. How much does it typically cost to mail the C shops?

NAY NAY NAY on the c shops. If it is excluded you eat the cost totally. $40 is a lot to absorb.
On the chance it will be denied. And some shops are denied for an employee error, not your error.

Count my vote as another NAY. I do the others but will not pick up a C shop as I feel like it's gambling with my money.

It's a nay from me as well. I like the A and B ones though.

"All we want are the facts." Sgt. Joe Friday

Another interesting place to get boxes and shipping tape: "BIG LOTS!"

Nay! I do Scenario A & B in my area, but never Scenario C. I do not find Scenario C to be worth the pay. One of my friends lives in another state and mystery shops as well. We mail an object back & forth to one another using Scenario A & B. Most of the time we don't even bother opening the box! We just take off the labels, cover any markings on the box, & ship it again; unless different packaging is required.

Mod note: Please don't name the client in your post, since the MSC is in the thread title. Those who are here discussing it, are aware of the client, anyway. Thanks!

Oh hell no

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

Not until the fee is at least equal to the outlay for <the required> expenses, including the food.

Mod note: It really is difficult to not reveal the client, when the term for one of the expenses kind of gives it away.

I'm on the fence with this one. The shop itself is very easy to do, albeit you do have to take the time to pack the items. The thing that gets me about this scenario and this MSC is that there will be dozens of Scenario C's available in my area, but on any given day they disappear. Then they don't show up again until 2-3 months later. Also on more than one occasion I've applied for them only to have them mysteriously disappear from My Apps without explanation. It is a big layout of money, but I've done at least a dozen of these without issue.

PS - I also like the MSC's explanation for Scenario A (or B ). Up until last month I was getting an e-mail for one of these scenarios which still read, "the leaves are turning..." and this is in March or April.

I don't do C shops. $45+ outlay for $15? No thanks! I can take that $45 add a few bucks for a Priceline'd hotel do enough gas stations to pay for gas and end up with a 2 day route of shops.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Yes! I have family in Zone 5 and Bare lets me ship to them instead of the food bank.

Edited to be able to say:

Mod - This thread is awash with the colloquial expression of the client's name, and the MSC is named in the title and one post.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2014 04:13PM by elcarev68.

I do the Scenario C's. If I I wasn't reimbursed, I would just chalk it up to donation to charity. But I haven't had any trouble getting paid for these, as of this point.

Hmmm, wow. I haven't done a show of hands Yea / Nay but it looks like it is weighted to the resounding NO side.

I am still a bit on the fence on this issue, even though Cettie's "Hell No" was pretty convincing. Maybe if they started bonusing them it might break the tie.

I am wondering what the cost would be on the smallest box, lightest weight? IE: 12x 12x 12 and 2.5 lbs

If it was $20 or less I might take the risk on a few of these now and then when they really fit perfectly into my routes.

I suppose I could just check the website and put in that information ...

Yes, the website does allow you to determine the shipping cost by size and weight and distance. The distance might be a kicker if they are having you ship to a distant food bank of their choice.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2014 02:44AM by Flash.

Well now, this is turning into a horse of a different color.

The location I was given to ship to last time around is not that many states away and the in person cost to mail it Priority (as opposed to the online rate) is under 9.00

That is making me rethink Scenario C - assuming I could always ship to that closer food bank.

Comments ?

Yea. I've done more than 50 "c" shops. Staples carries 2 of the boxes listed, always. This is easier for me to donate to the food bank than taking it to the local food bank. The last time we donated to the Catholic Church food bank, my husband went by himself to drop off 45 cans. No one came to help him to carry it down to a building far from the parking lot. It was summer with high humidity.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~

You can get free boxes. I used recycled for ebay. I go to stores and get them before they dump them. People give them away free on craigslist. If your sending to a food bank your local one has empty boxes they don't need.

Life is a Giggle - Embrace every moment

Boutique Wrote:
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> The location I was given to ship to last time
> around is not that many states away and the in
> person cost to mail it Priority (as opposed to the
> online rate) is under 9.00
> That is making me rethink Scenario C - assuming I
> could always ship to that closer food bank.
> Comments ?

I would recommend that you check the address that you were given by the MSC against the specs that you'll find at the client's website. Plug in the zip code you're sending from and the one you're sending to, and that will tell you whether it's the 5 zone minimum or not.

I have NEVER been allowed to send close for "C"... it has always been the other side of the US.
I did it twice and never again. $40 to $45 is just too much of a chance. Last <location> did it incorrect and
Bare was essentially too bad.... my bad in thinking that the TRUE purpose of these shops was to actually
find and fix problems not to give glowing false reports....

Mod note: Please don't include the client name, since the MSC is part of the thread title. Those who are discussing this, already know who/what it is, anyway. Oops! Missed one... tsk tsk for having the client and MSC in the very same setence! (How did I miss *that* the first time?!)

How many times can the client name and the MSC name, which in in the thread title, appear in one thread?

Mod note: Whew! I guess there were a lot. It's kinda difficult to discuss this without letting some form of the client name slip now and then.

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Dim Box Shops - Scenario C (combined threads)

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