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Why I have pretty much left mystery shopping

January 30, 2015 03:21PM
1) Schedulers are getting extremely hard to work with
2) Pay is getting ridiculously low
3) The amount of time invested to actually make a nice living is become more and more scarce
4) The winter season has come, and with a lot of driving involved in a route, it is becoming harder and harder to get everywhere.

I pretty much only do shops I want to do. Hotels, bars, and maybe some high value purchase shops.

What are the gripes you might have?
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January 30, 2015 03:32PM
Sorry to hear this isn't working out for you. Schedulers are only reflecting the business decisions of the people they work for, so if they're getting stricter that means the MSCs are getting stricter. If they're tightening up on what they demand (not that I've noticed) it means they have plenty of shoppers and they can expect more and get it.

I haven't done the high dollar shops you're talking about so I can't relate to how things are in your part of the world. Maybe the high dollar shops are getting more difficult to land and the MSCs are getting more difficult to please and this is being reflected in the demands being made by schedulers. Everything runs downhill and we're at the bottom.

I do entry level stuff and lots of it, and I haven't noticed any changes in what goes on here. They want exactly what they want and they want it on time. No difference in the program at my level. I can make this work for me for now.

Everybody burns out sooner or later at any job. I hope this gets better for you and you feel differently and better in a few days.

You asked about gripes and I digressed. I'm going to gripe that I want twice as much money for half as much work. Yes, I'd like that.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
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January 30, 2015 04:05PM
I haven't stopped shopping, but I have cut back a lot. I used to do 30-40 shops a month. This month I only did 15.

Most of it is due to burn-out and boredom. I'm tired of cell phone stores, Arches, Five Guys, grocery stores, etc. I work 30 hours a week at an office job and after work I'm schlepping the kids to piano and swimming practices.
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January 30, 2015 05:13PM
I sort of felt that way back in November, when I was doing about 100 shops per month. My solution was:

1. Sign up for a LOT more companies so that I could increase the variety of shops I did in a week.
2. Attend the IMSC conference where I learned a TON from presenters as well as other experienced shoppers.
3. Became Video certified and purchased video equipment, which allowed me to
4. Stop accepting so many low paying shops.

This month I did far fewer shops than I did in November but made more money. I'm learning to work smarter. Yes, I still occasionally accept the odd low-paying Five Guys or gas station shop because it benefits me to do so but no more reimbursement only shops for lousy food or Grocery store shops for me!
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January 30, 2015 08:50PM
Just got an offer of a very fancy diamond store reveal for a whole $10. No thanks.
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January 30, 2015 09:10PM
@CANADAMOMMY wrote:

Just got an offer of a very fancy diamond store reveal for a whole $10. No thanks.



hahahah.....I'm with you......but it's probably "fun" ........
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January 30, 2015 09:28PM
....and most likely it's also "easy!"
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January 30, 2015 10:02PM
It is neither:/ I actually took one of those at $13 plus a $5 bonus only because of a quick, like 15 minutes, $30 revealed audit in the same mall. My thought was I'm there anyway, why not? The shop portion wasn't even fun and the reveal less so since the employee failed.

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.
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