I have noticed that the time to turn in a shop report seems to be declining (rapidly and wide spread) from a 24 hour reporting time to a 12 hour reporting time. And now, I am seeing notices saying that the 12 hour deadline is absolute with no extensions.

What is going on???

The 12 hour one is really challenging. Spend a full day on the road, come home, have dinner, and start reporting. Already at the 12 hour mark. And what if dinner is on the road?

I am finding that the 12 hour turn around on reports is reducing the amount of work I can do in a day (to meet the reporting deadline.)

Any one else?

** in the past, some shops have had a 4 hour reporting time. I told the schedulers to forget it. Not happening. Same with the 6 hour reporting time. Not happening.

I think with those short reporting times the MSC is expecting the shopper to do the report on a mobile device in his/her car immediately or very soon after completing the shop. Those like myself who do not have smart phones, laptops and tablets are being squeezed out of these shops because of the new reporting times.

You might have to have the report in within 12 hours, but the editor can still wait a week to finalize the shop.

I am with you Bena, I can't do the shop on a mobile device. In the old days (like 7-8 years ago) I had bought a wireless card so I could do reports on my laptop in the car, between shops. That didn't last long for a variety of reasons.

For those who can do the reporting on a mobile device, isn't that difficult? Doesn't it still cut into the number of shops you can do in a day?

I stopped working for one company because it was a rush-rush to get reports in and then the reports sat there for up to three weeks before being reviewed. (The same company had editors that deleted vital bits of information from my reports. I learned this when the office person [possibly scheduler] informed me that I was not getting paid for my work because I did the shop wrong. When I showed her the report I turned in, along with the instructions that proved I had not done the shop wrong, she emailed me back what had been turned into her. The report she had and the report I submitted were VERY different. She chose to stand her ground. I chose to end the relationship.)

I also remember the other end of the spectrum where an editor actually emailed me while I was writing the report (ya know, on their website, in the shop report itself) and told me to hurry up and finish my report!

I emailed her back and told her I was in the process of writing my report and was actively in the program when she sent me the email! This was like 4 hours after the shop! And I still had 18 hours to go before the shop was due! That editor is no longer with that company.

Well, Sinclair wants them in 6 hours

(as I recall, it may have changed but most shops a few years ago, the banks, you had 6 hours..)

When I know that I will not be able to meet an MSCs reporting timeline (for example, while on the road) I just shoot the scheduler an email asking for more time to complete the report. I have never had an extension request of this type refused.

I have always been able to get a report extension when I had a good reason. Being on the road all day has always been a good enough reason.

What I found infuriating was the companies that had a 12 hour or by midnight if you did the job on the last day of the window whichever is earlier deadline. If they were on the east coast they sometimes timed it in their time zone so you could never get a west coast dinner job in on time. I stopped working for that company.
If there is too much push back for these earlier times they will have to change their tune so stick to your guns shoppers. I do not do road trips but I often will do a job on the way to work but cannot finish and file until I am home again where I can scan the receipt. I can sneak the report in on my lunch hour if it is an easy one but it would require too much equiptment for me at work to scan and send receipts as well. 12 hours gives me just enough time from when I get home to just do the receipt and send the finished product in.

I have a laptop but found it inconvenient to carry it with me on shops. I have a smartphone but there is a lot I don't know about it. I don't expect to go from kindergarten to graduate school in a hop, skip and a jump. I will learn this and it will be gradual (that is, between shops and home responsibilities). That way, I will learn it by doing it and not forget. I don't even take pictures on my smartphone any more because it was filing them in weird ways and I haven't found a way to upload to the computer from it. I upload from my digital camera's SD card. Technology changes so fast. Only the people who specialize are catching on completely. I don't have time to read a lot about it like the teenager I hired to help me learn my smartphone. He is now studying for his SAT and I have no backup person. Even my husband, who worked for years in computers, has to study and examine the computer screen when I get lost and he's not always home when I need that. If I had the time, I'd go to the local college for a class or to hire someone for a few hours, a little at a time. All these advances are nice, in theory. Some people are upset that students no longer have a reason to study cursive writing. I am very sad as that means that they would have to hire a specialist if they ever found great-grandpappy's love letter to his future wife and want to read it. As it is, even cursive styles changed so great-grandpappy's handwriting was even very different from mine but at least I could figure it out. We are slowly losing our past. The general opinion is that the history books were written by the winners, anyway, so there's no reason to study them. People don't think a knowledge of history has benefits. Those of us who studied Latin in high school know how much it helped our knowledge of English and also history. Now the schools say a foreign language studied has to be a modern language. It's sad but a woman from Italy said that they don't even study Latin there. That's.their.history!!!! So technology says, "Wini, widi, wici." I'm sure I don't remember how to spell that correctly but Caesar said, "I came. I saw. I conquered."

Vini, vidi, vici. I think.

History books are written by the winners. IMO that doesn't mean we shouldn't read them. Another popular and relevant quote, "Those that don't know history are doomed to repeat it."

Lol - sandyf - you brought back some more memories! I use to do a lot of work in Hawaii. I would calls from schedulers/editors on the east coast demanding to know why my report was not in. I would have to remind them of the 7 hour time difference! (It's 6 or 7 hours depending on the time of the year.) The "meeting" they thought had already happened was even able to happen for a few more hours!

I use to do a lot of work for Sinclair. Not anymore. These short turnaround times, low pay, don't work for me.

I do have one company that requires the report to be in within 2 hours of the first available time to start the visit. Again, that is nuts! I can't do the report on my phone. I usually email the scheduler to say I am heading out the door to do the shop OR will email her when I get home OR call her to tell I have completed the visit part and will do the report when I get home. It's never been a problem with her. She's a nice one!

Sandra Sue - I am with you. I use to write computer programs and now, I can't even figure out where the power button is on these devices! So much has changed in such a short time.

I do feel excluded from quite a few shops because I don't have the tech savvy OR the super high cell phone plans that allow me have unlimited data which would allow me to be alerted when jobs come available, or to do reports immediately.

To the schedulers, please allow more time for a report to be in. Maybe change the timeline to say the report has to be started and saved within 12 hours.

Cell phone plans are getting cheaper and data much more reasonable. Check out Virgin Mobile for a good plan. I have an older plan - unlimited everything (talk, text, data) for $55

Trendsource shops are easy to do on my smartphone with their app. I'm not tech savvy at all and can do it. I've been dinged by them many times, because I tend to fall asleep before getting all my shops submitted. Their pay is so low as it is, to be docked for not getting them in on time was seriously stupid (on my part), so the few that I do take, I will submit in my car right after doing them.

Sandy,

Just email the pics to yourself.

As for the timelines, clients know that the longer we wait the less we will remember correctly. The last thing they want to hear is someone has 10 shops running through their head that haven't been reported.

@sandyf wrote:

What I found infuriating was the companies that had a 12 hour or by midnight if you did the job on the last day of the window whichever is earlier deadline. If they were on the east coast they sometimes timed it in their time zone so you could never get a west coast dinner job in on time. I stopped working for that company.
If there is too much push back for these earlier times they will have to change their tune so stick to your guns shoppers. I do not do road trips but I often will do a job on the way to work but cannot finish and file until I am home again where I can scan the receipt. I can sneak the report in on my lunch hour if it is an easy one but it would require too much equiptment for me at work to scan and send receipts as well. 12 hours gives me just enough time from when I get home to just do the receipt and send the finished product in.

What I find funny is, when they want your report in by midnight 12:01 a.m., I always wonder what editor is up at 12 midnight checking submissions?

MsJudi - yeah, I have been considering a new cell phone plan. I pay $40 a month for two smart phones now. Moving to two smart phones on a different plan will run me about $110-180. Plus buying two new phones (mine are old and no longer supported.) Plus activation fees. It's a bit of an investment. I am still researching it.

Any phones/cell phone plans people would recommend? I will check out Virgin Mobile.

SunnyDays2 - some of the editors are college students. Some are night owls. It's very rare that I have someone actually waiting to pounce on my report the minute it's done. It has happened before...and one editor use to jump the gun and tell me to finish entering the report while I was entering the report! And it was no where close to the deadline.

For me, the quietest time in the house is near midnight. If I was an editor, maybe I would be one of those watching the clock, waiting impatiently for the clock to digitally change to 12:01 am, EST so I could grab a report to help build my paycheck.

I just applied for a dinner shop at one of Jimmy Buffet's establishments where the deadline for the report is midnight. I asked for it to be extended to 24 hours. I've done the same before and haven't had any problems so I'm hoping the same will hold true this time.

I budget time at the library when I do a full day of shops. I do several, stop at a library, input them and go out for the rest. They are still fresh and I get a little rest before going out again.

Route shopping isn't exciting until you're burning the candle at both ends and in the middle.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

What I find funny is, when they want your report in by midnight 12:01 a.m., I always wonder what editor is up at 12 midnight checking submissions?

I have gone to sleep at my 3 AM after filing a report and then gotten up early west coast time after a few hours of sleep, turned on my computer and gotten feedback from the editor that my report was sent on. some editors seem to be night owls or perhaps they live in Europe and see my reports in the afternoon of the next day!

you can bring a lap top and go someplace with free wifi to do reports between shops.......I don't trust the security

you might also be able to tether your smart phone...but it does use your data...

I have a free app but I don't think it does secure sites..or you need to schedule it toward the end of the day

and yes...some libraries (or even staples or best buy!) you can use the computers...kmart used to have them..but I think they all broke.....but some libraries you have to be a member of that library.....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2015 03:07AM by jmitw.

I appreciate that some folks are doing what they can to make money mystery shopping. But the reality is that this is business. And just like any business, to get ahead you need to spend the money to compete with other shoppers and satisfy the MSC's requirements. Its not the MSC's responsibility to lower their requirements so that everyone can be happy. If you want to be serious about shopping, then pay the price for unlimited data, get a smartphone, get a hotspot and get a laptop or tablet. Get the tools you need to get the job done. If you can't or won't, then you need to accept the fact that there are limits to how much you can accomplish while those who do make the investment are able to thrive. We are independent contractors. If we want to succeed then it is OUR responsibility to position ourselves for success. They put the jobs out there with their requirements and they shouldn't have to alter them for each individual's situation. Its business.

If I am doing a day of shops that need to be done in 12 hours I will stop at the library or a Starbucks and try to finish a couple of fast ones. I now email all my pictures so they are in my inbox when I am ready to do the shop. Then all you have to do is download and attach. What burns me the most about the short report times is how about paying us a little faster? Rush to do the report and then wait 30-90 days to be paid...

roxy1 - The post was about shorter turn around times.

How many more shop reports can you accomplish with unlimited data? How many shop reports can actually be completed using an app?

A few companies out there are specifically saying that shop reports are NOT be completed using a mobile device.

The companies we choose to work for will continue to change their requirements. Some moving forward with technology and others stepping back from their advancements.

Remember the time when some shops were only given to people who would Geoverify? Now if you have a phone that is pre Oct 2013, Geoverify does not work. Luckily, some companies have eased up the Geoverify requirement.

As individual business owners, we have to find a that happy medium that keeps the companies happy and fits into our budget.

At the end of the day, I get to choose which shops to self-assign or to request. Makes this a pretty good job!

Negotiation is also part of being an IC. It doesn't just apply to fees and should include reporting times for route shoppers. We often have a limited number of hours for actual onsite visits. Giving up an hour or two in the middle of the day can adversely impact the money we make.

I have a tablet and will report easier shops on my way to work when the time will be tight to get it submitted within 12 hours. Super easy reports like MF, tablet is fine, but their site on FF and chrome won't let me submit the ICA. It is nice though to just come home, scan the receipt and submit the ICA.

Anything with any decent amount of narrative I don't really want to do on my tablet and want a computer for. Shopping on my way to work can make the time when I get home from work super tight.

@roxy1 wrote:

I appreciate that some folks are doing what they can to make money mystery shopping. But the reality is that this is business. And just like any business, to get ahead you need to spend the money to compete with other shoppers and satisfy the MSC's requirements. Its not the MSC's responsibility to lower their requirements so that everyone can be happy. If you want to be serious about shopping, then pay the price for unlimited data, get a smartphone, get a hotspot and get a laptop or tablet. Get the tools you need to get the job done. If you can't or won't, then you need to accept the fact that there are limits to how much you can accomplish while those who do make the investment are able to thrive. We are independent contractors. If we want to succeed then it is OUR responsibility to position ourselves for success. They put the jobs out there with their requirements and they shouldn't have to alter them for each individual's situation. Its business.

Interesting take on it.
Personally, I don't care if everyone is happy. They are happy with me and seek me out. I negotiate things all the time. Who is to say that we can't? People negotiate huge bonuses when they are driving through BFE. I negotiate bonuses to bring a friend along pretty often. It's pretty rare that I am in a McDonalds or Starbucks doing a report. I have an Iphone 6 +, a tablet and 3 laptops, plus the desk top that doesn't go on the road with me. I am not a big fan of unrealistic reporting deadlines. If it really is going to be edited right away, I'll consider it. I won't rush to get something in and then get an editing question 3-7 days later. They can wait a few hours in that case.

I agree it's getting insulting to us independent contractors to have deadlines dictated that are so short.
It used to be 24 hours, then 12 hours and now I'm seeing:

Report your results as soon as possible but no later than 8 hours after your shop.

I wont do a shop that is out of pocket for more than $12 if the report submission time is less than 12 hours. If I have other better paying jobs, I will not take those low paying shops that would be good filler shops, simply because I have to write them before the real money shops are reported.

I have already declined shops due to the 8 hour restriction when I have better paying jobs that stack up on the same day.

If they go to 6 hours, then I'll just ignore them all together.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2015 12:33AM by scanman1.