Hello,
I'm new here and was wondering if joining MSPA is worth it. What are the benefits and disadvantages? Thanks so much!

It's worked for me.
I'm a newbie, so I can't give the holy canollies.

I have not joined and after doing MSing for 6 years, I see no reason to do so.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum! There is lots of information to be had be searching it out and reading.

As for your question, MSPA paid membership is a fairly new thing and I found little information on the forum from shoppers who are MSPA members. I am not one of those and look forward to hearing more from those who are.

The MSPA offers other things that should not be confused with membership. Certification is one of those. Silver and Gold certification involve paying a fee and passing a test. That certification can make you stand out from a crowd with companies. Another thing they offer shoppers is to be put on their database of shoppers. Companies then can access that database when they need more shoppers in a particular area. They can send shoppers emails informing them of shops and invite them to apply. It is free and I have been introduced to new shops and companies in this manner many times.

One thing to remember about the MSPA, it is a trade organization formed by and for the benefit of the companies. It does not look out for shoppers but it can be a benefit.

You can get job offer's without joining MSPA, I get them all the time from referrals, one company may need a shopper in your area, and will ask another company....no need to pay for this service. Most old time shoppers on this forum have never paid for this service. MSPA does not look out for shoppers.

I haven't spent any money yet.

Haven't noticed a bit of difference since I got certified.

My MSPA membership was free for a year so I did not pay anything. I got quite a few new leads from being in their database. But I have also attended the IMSC conferences and networked with other shoppers which is worth the conference fee.

I've been in MS'ing for 21 years and have never given my money to MSPA, never will either. For me that goes for "certification" too.

.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2014 06:59PM by dcrector.

Doug, who are you? A shopper? A scheduler? An editor? A MSC owner? Not too many people would post their phone number here so I am guessing a MSC owner. But it would be nice to let us know if you represent a particular company. Thanks.

Doug is Doug Rector, President of Northwest Loss Prevention Consultants. He is also on the MSPA Board of Directors. I agree that it would be nice if Doug added a signature line identifying himself and his company as a courtesy to forum members. Although I have very pleasantly shopped with NWLPC, not all forum members have and many do not recognize his name and know who he is.

Thanks, AustinMom. I have worked for NWLPC a few times without any issues.

dcrector Wrote:
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> There are a few
> shoppers on this forum that are mislead so I won't
> post publically.

Doug, are you saying that some forum members have been misled, or that they mislead others?

If there are concrete benefits to being a MSPA shopper member, why should they not be publicly posted?

Each shopper has to decide if the attending events or paying for memberships is worth their time and/or money, but if specific concrete benefits exist, then I think those benefits would be exempt from any debate.

His post is missing, perhaps he toggled himself.

Thank you all for sharing your input about this. I appreciate it.

If I recall correctly, Doug Rector is also the MSPA board member with a new title that is something like IC (Independent Contractor) Relations Specialist (Manager???). So, it would make a lot of sense for him to pop in here to offer to provide info on the advantages of the MSPA's new inititive to reach out to shoppers.

What I do not understand is why he would start that out by denigrating some posters here, and then remove his contact information and the derogatory comment once asked to identify his position/role.

So drector is on the Board of Directors of MSPA, touting the benefits of joining and contributing to the organization. I would call that conflict of interest, wouldn't you say?

It seems several posters on this forum have other agenda when I read what they posted. They recommend, praise or denigrate certain things to push the discussion in a certain way and to benefit their own company. I have seen it again and again. New shoppers do not see that. They take what they read at face value, and that is unfortunate. These posters know that. If they can convince a few new shoppers, why not.

The moderator of this forum should prohibit and edit such outright promotional posts and question others that are not so evident. There are also cases where staffs of MSC's hover over the forum and punish unsuspecting shoppers for posting incidents that happen to them. The MSC knew full well that the shopper was talking about their company.

For this forum to be useful to shoppers, the above should not be allowed to take place. Shoppers should be able to freely share and discuss MSC's as well as the businesses they shopped.

I don't see how it would be a conflict of interest for Doug to promote the MSPA to shoppers. That's a core component of his position as far as I can tell.

As much as I would like to see the benefits spelled out, it's probably smarter for him to remove his posts then to get into an public debate about the benefits of becoming an MSPA member or take each question one at a time by phone. After all, he's presenting this very information at the upcoming shopperfest, so why give it away here for free?

<-------clip from the MSPA shopperfest site-------->
[9:00 am – 9:30 am The New MSPA and Your Benefits
Rich Bradley, Todd Persons Communications, MSPA-NA President
Doug Rector, Northwest Loss Prevention Consultants, IC Relations Chair

Based on a polling of the primary MSPA membership last year in San Antonio, MSPA-NA has embarked on its most substantial re-envisioning and restricting this past year since the association’s inception 16 years ago. Adding an Independent Contractor level of membership was just the beginning. Join MSPA President Rich Bradley on an insightful journey as he reveals the future of MSPA and how that impacts you. Afterwards, Independent Contractor Relations Committee Chair Doug Rector walks you through a brief overview of all the benefits that you are entitled to if you are an MSPA member – make sure you don’t miss out!]
<-------end clip from the MSPA shopperfest site-------->

Here's a link to the entire program for those who have not seen it: [mysteryshop.org]

I guess we'll just have to wait for those who attend the shopperfest to report back.

I took Doug up on a similar offer he made to discuss this a few years back and called him. We had a candid conversation about some of the challenges that the MSPA faced and their desire to re-integrate shoppers into the conferences. Though I would like to see shoppers and MSC staff have a platform to work together, I have to say I continue to be dissapointed in the options presented. All of the various conventions that take place cost a considerable amount of money to attend, and I think it's well accepted that shoppers are generally not remunerated well for their time. Much of the value that I hear about from past conventions revolves around the social aspect of getting together and learning through that, so why not host a complimentary reception where all are invited to attend?

Realistically, what would the additional cost be to offer a meeting space one evening with a no-host bar where all who desired could attend for free? The MSPA could give a speech about the benefits they intend to offer for shoppers and not leave shoppers with the impression that they are just trying to make another buck off of us. Myself, I have no desire to pay for the opportunity sit through a seminar on how improve my fine dining write-ups. I don't need it at this point in MS career. The agenda seems clearly skewed toward attracting newer/untrained shoppers and drawing them into the MSPA training platform, rather than extending an olive branch help mend issues between shoppers and the MSPA. If the main focus of the MSPA in regard to shoppers is to make sure they are better prepared, wouldn't it make sense for them to create an environment where experienced shoppers would have an interest in being present and could mentor the new shoppers?

(edited because my HTML tags did not work)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2014 04:37PM by SteveSoCal.

Steve,
You make several good points. And, for what it is worth, I posted the entire conference schedule here several days ago.

Well, the IMSC conference provided free drinks tickets and a bar location for shoppers and the many MSC attendees to get together, and it worked like a charm. I was able to have several enlightening conversations with MSC owners and managers, as well as with forum members and other shoppers.

All the MSPA needs to do is to copy the winning formula developed by IMSC for such interactions. Since Doug has attended at least one (and I think more than one) IMSC conference, he is not unaware of the way that this can work.

BTW, at the Chicago IMSC conference (2+ years ago, I think), MSPA reps and the new executive director were there to tell us, in glowing terms, how they were turning over a brand new leaf, as of that date, when it came to shopper training and shopper relations. If memory serves, it was Doug who accompanied the then new exec director. We never saw much from that "grand initiative," and many of us would prefer to be optimistic, but don't have evidence to support optimism so far.

I'm curious why you are always comparing the IMSC and the MSPA when they are two entirely different organizations with an entirely different agenda. Honestly I sometimes get the impression the MSPA took a @#$%& on your grandmother's face and you hold a huge grudge about it.

The MSPA originally chose to exclude shoppers from conferences. The IMSC was created and has staged many successful conferences for shoppers to fill in the gap created when the MSPA bowed out. After seeing how successful they have been, it is the MSPA that has now decided to duplicate what the IMSC has been doing for these last six years or so. Why wouldn't that beg a comparison on the two?

Maybe the bigger question is why the MSPA is returning to including shoppers and what their agenda might be. Of course the IMSC and the MSPA are two different animals. One created and governed by the companies, the other created and governed by shoppers. There is an overlap in shopper education benefiting the industry as a whole. IMO, it seems everyone might be better served by cooperation between the two entities rather than competing for shopper attendance.

-30-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2014 05:21AM by Shop2LiveinFL.

BetteL Wrote:
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.There are also > cases where staffs of MSC's hover over the forum
> and punish unsuspecting shoppers for posting
> incidents that happen to them. The MSC knew full
> well that the shopper was talking about their
> company.
>
> For this forum to be useful to shoppers, the above
> should not be allowed to take place. Shoppers
> should be able to freely share and discuss MSC's
> as well as the businesses they shopped.

I often write my two cents worth hoping that MSC's are looking at the posts. I freely share my observations even though an editor would have a problem with my narratives. I have given narratives that said "If this, that and the other thing” are acceptable and meets your standards then your employee, manager and/or location did an outstanding job."

The editors e-mail me because they believe what they read was negative. They are afraid to send the report to their client who may be sensitive. They can not say I was negative as I do not know what the client's standards might be. I did not give my opinion. I gave my observation and let them use their own yardstick to measure it with. If the "fly on the wall" saw “this that and the other thing” and it is not acceptable to the owner the owner can choose to correct it or ignore it.

I have often held the position that you get what you pay for. You can get a starving senior or college student that will take a $2 shop so they can buy Raman Noodles and Mac and Cheese. You can get a novice that will take a shop that requires the novice to take money out of their pocket for expenses. How many Swedish furniture shops were rejected because the client had ambiguous questions and hundreds of questions and did not give the shopper an opportunity to correct the alleged issues. How many mobile telephone shops and electronic store shops were disqualified because the shopper could not get a business card. How many pictures of pizza were sent and shops were rejected because the pictures were never good enough?

Shoppers write to their elected officials. The politicians write back, "Independent contractors are not employees. Independent contractors can "sell" their time an effort for any price and even take a loss. That is business.

But the politician can attempt to change the law to the detriment of the mystery shopping companies because a few mystery shopping companies take advantage of mystery shopping novices. That can hurt legitimate MSC's that do pay a fair value for a professional observation and report.

The Mystery Shoppers Forum gives shoppers a place to post experiences that give other shoppers “experience” without having to scrape the “experience” off their own shoes. I would much rather have someone else step it in and tell me about it. If I can return the favor after I step in it I am not happy that I stepped in it, I am happy I can make others aware to watch where they step.

IMSC is a for profit whereas MSPA is a non profit.

dcrector Wrote:
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> IMSC is a for profit whereas MSPA is a non profit.


I had no idea you were so funny, Doug.

Isn't the IMSC set up as a NPO?

I want to know why anyone finds it acceptable for shoppers to take on the financial burden of providing their own MSPA approved education, yet continue to work at the same rate when the majority benefit derived from that education is a cost savings to the MSCs utilizing those shoppers? I know a few MSCs that offers an increased pay rate for experienced shoppers, as it saves the MSC time and money to utilize those shoppers.

So a question for Doug; Will shoppers that take part in the MSPA approved training receive a higher rate of pay from MSPA member companies in exchange for their participation?

MSPA did not "exclude" shoppers from conferences. We did put conferences on a hiatus. After many, many requests from shoppers MSPA decided to continue with shopper conferences. Shoppers, not necessarily on this forum, has emailed me and MSPA asking that they would like to meet company owners and the Board of Directors and to have sessions given by MSP owners and representatives.

There are those on this forum who apparently are anti-MSPA yet the say in an article "MSPA offered a day long seminar for Gold Certification, just a mile from me. At that conference I met reps from a locally owned video shopping company and I have never looked back".

Pam works very hard and is passionate about IMSC. She puts on a class act conference that is a real benefit for those who choose to attend. I think shoppers will agree after Shopperfest that MSPA is just as passionate.

I am not going to post the benefits of being a member of MSPA on this forum. If you want information please go to www.mysteryshop.org.

I do want to address one other thing. The executive director of MSPA who was in Chicago is still the executive director. The president of MSPA has changed since it is a 2 year term.

I have been on the board of MSPA for 5 years and will be for one more year, ending Dec 31, 2015. During this time I hope to close the gap between MSPA and those who are still skeptical. I look forward to hopefully meeting you in Orlando or wherever Shopperfest 2015 will be held.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to email me at doug@nwlpc.com or set up a time to call.

.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2014 12:01AM by dcrector.

That is entirely up to each individual company. MSPA can not dictate what members pay shoppers.