Need advice from experienced shoppers
Warning: For Full Access Please Log In or Create an Account (Free)
I did not see anyone recommend keeping mileage records. You are in business. There is a tax deduction for miles driven for business purposes. A lower allowance for medical and charitable mileage. This can help greatly in underwriting your business efforts, even though it only comes on in the wash at tax filing time.
Also, as you expand and work into multi-day routes, it would be very helpful to have a small, portable scanner/printer. I don't think I've seen a multi-purpose scanner (with fax) in a small portable version, but that would be an extra. It can function as a backup to dead batteries which will inevitably happen on longer efforts, or in colder weather (where batteries drain quickly). Stop at a fast food shop and produce while your coffee-up and charge-up.
Good luck.
Also, as you expand and work into multi-day routes, it would be very helpful to have a small, portable scanner/printer. I don't think I've seen a multi-purpose scanner (with fax) in a small portable version, but that would be an extra. It can function as a backup to dead batteries which will inevitably happen on longer efforts, or in colder weather (where batteries drain quickly). Stop at a fast food shop and produce while your coffee-up and charge-up.
Good luck.
FranInDe, doesn't the IRS give you the option of standard number of miles?
John - Check out Best Buy. Great pre-paid phone deals can be had. They recently had an LG smartphone for 39.00 with Sprint No Contract (same model I got for $59 with Virgin Mobile) and your prepaid plan can be as low as $25 a month.
PS - Google Photos or Drive is a godsend for backing up cell phone pics (receipts, whatever). My phone automatically backs up the photos to my Google Drive storage account within seconds and I just access them from the laptop when I get home. (1Gig free - I pay 1.99 a mo. to get an extra 100 Gig)
PS - Google Photos or Drive is a godsend for backing up cell phone pics (receipts, whatever). My phone automatically backs up the photos to my Google Drive storage account within seconds and I just access them from the laptop when I get home. (1Gig free - I pay 1.99 a mo. to get an extra 100 Gig)
Thanks Boutique, even at spending an extra $25 a month is pushing my limits. If I can get a regular job, I can afford a cell phone and tablet. I just went through a job interview, and drug screening, so it looks good. Right now I'm not working and Mystery Shopping is all I have for making ends meet. I will look into that.
Johnb774 - There is no such thing as a standard number of miles. The IRS has a standard mileage deduction, which means that you multiply the number of miles driven for mystery shopping by a standard mileage rate, which in 2015 is $0.575 per mile. You still to have to track the miles you drive. I would certainly hope that anyone who is doing mystery shopping as a business is tracking mileage as well as parking fees, toll roads fees, toner/ink for the printer costs, paper costs, and all sorts of other things. (If you don't use the standard mileage rate, then you have to compute the cost per mile by tracking depreciation, repairs, gasoline, oil repairs, etc.)
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
Johnb974, as much as I hate WalMart, I use their straight talk plan on my smartphone. The phone was about $80 and the card to reload is only $45/month. IIRC, T-Mobile now has a similar plan.
.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)
"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)
"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
@James Bond 007.5 wrote:
Johnb974, as much as I hate WalMart, I use their straight talk plan on my smartphone. The phone was about $80 and the card to reload is only $45/month. IIRC, T-Mobile now has a similar plan.
I think the Walmart thing just rides T-Mobile's network anyway. I'd rather just deal directly with T-Mobile; I have reasons for not shopping at Walmart.
Some retailers recently had $39.00 Andriod 4.4 tablets one even had an intel processor keep your eyes open. The tablet is really a big help, especially if you can submit via app.
A Dad shopping the Ark-LA-Tex and beyond.
@ShoppingDad wrote:
Some retailers recently had $39.00 Andriod 4.4 tablets one even had an intel processor keep your eyes open. The tablet is really a big help, especially if you can submit via app.
I think I'll start loading all my work on my lap top and take that with me.
I also star locations in google maps, this way I can plot my route carefully and go to order. I would also make notes after each shop as to remember as after doing them all you without writing everything done you would forget, voice record your thoughts after shops seems like a slick idea too as someone mentioned earlier, never thought of that.
John, wait and see if you get the job.....if not, listen to the advice you are getting here from these generous, experienced people! They use their time to help us! What they are saying to you is, if you sacrifice, spend $40 to get the tablet, you will make more money and it will pay for itself very quickly.
We should have to pay for the advice they so freely give out! When I started out as a newbie realtor 37 years ago, the experienced reps would let me drown and fail before they would help. I had to pay (a lot) to attend seminars to learn how to be a winner. I tried to break that tradition by mentoring many new agents thru the years.
You ignore what people tell you, over and over. You are a stubborn one!
We should have to pay for the advice they so freely give out! When I started out as a newbie realtor 37 years ago, the experienced reps would let me drown and fail before they would help. I had to pay (a lot) to attend seminars to learn how to be a winner. I tried to break that tradition by mentoring many new agents thru the years.
You ignore what people tell you, over and over. You are a stubborn one!
Shopping Central Jersey Shoreline. WHAT? I'm an adult?! When did this happen?! How do I make it stop?!
@johnb974 wrote:
Amandad, I really wish I had a cell phone, can't even afford one. There are jobs I miss out on, because I don' have a cell phone or tablet.
If you are low income, you may qualify for a free cell phone through a government program called LifeLine. It may not be a smartphone, but the phone is free and the cell phone plan is free.
@LisaSTL wrote:
Have you compared the income you're losing to the cost of a smart phone? Mine paid for itself in a couple of weeks just with the additional work. Adding in all the cost savings makes it a real win/win.
I have a smart phone. How/why is it a tool for additional work and can you list the cost savings associated with smart phones?
I have a smart phone and never use it. I don't even like it. I have a narrow window of opportunity to return it for full refund.
Why, exactly, would I as a shopper would benefit from using this unliked thing?
Thanks for any insights... I promise to consider them.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
I don't know about everyone else, but my smart phone is invaluable for shopping. I check my emails and apply for shops, or self assign them with my phone. The emails alone would make it worth it. I get a lot of work on the road with my phone. Shops that would probably be gone by the time I get home to my laptop. GPS is another useful tool. I have a stopwatch function on my phone as well as a voice recorder. It takes better pictures than my nikon camera. I was doing an audit awhile back when the battery in my camera failed me before I was finished. I was able to finish up with my phone. I could go on and on.
On a smart phone:
1) I can check emails to see if jobs are assigned to me
2) I can receive emails with updates to instructions from schedulers
3) I can email schedulers with questions from the road and get replies
4) I can access instructions without having to print them
5) I can use GPS with real time traffic (free app from Google or from MapQuest) and avoid traffic jams
6) Some people actually submit shops, but I don't do that
7) I can complete phone shops which require specific time frames when I am on the road
8) I can see who is calling me
9) I can use visual voice mail
10) I can accept cell phone shops which require that I have a smart phone
11) I can take photos of food / bathrooms / displays / etc. when required and because "everyone" takes photos with cell phones, I don't attact attention at all
12) I can email photos to myself almost as I take them
I am sure that there are more ways that I use mine, but it has become so automatic that I don't think about it. Others will probably add to my list. I resisted getting a smart phone for years. I think that I have had one for about 4 or 5 years, and can't imagine how I got along without one.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2015 03:01AM by myst4au.
1) I can check emails to see if jobs are assigned to me
2) I can receive emails with updates to instructions from schedulers
3) I can email schedulers with questions from the road and get replies
4) I can access instructions without having to print them
5) I can use GPS with real time traffic (free app from Google or from MapQuest) and avoid traffic jams
6) Some people actually submit shops, but I don't do that
7) I can complete phone shops which require specific time frames when I am on the road
8) I can see who is calling me
9) I can use visual voice mail
10) I can accept cell phone shops which require that I have a smart phone
11) I can take photos of food / bathrooms / displays / etc. when required and because "everyone" takes photos with cell phones, I don't attact attention at all
12) I can email photos to myself almost as I take them
I am sure that there are more ways that I use mine, but it has become so automatic that I don't think about it. Others will probably add to my list. I resisted getting a smart phone for years. I think that I have had one for about 4 or 5 years, and can't imagine how I got along without one.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2015 03:01AM by myst4au.
Evernote is invaluable to me.
There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind
At the moment only demons come to mind
That is quite a few shops! I'd say the most important thing is to make sure you allow enough time to get all of your reports in.
Good luck!
Good luck!
What a thread! There's a lot here for newbies and people who just want to change how they work their work.
I am very grateful for information about smart phones. For example, I now know (and am not surprised, haha) that my smart phone can be about a gazillion times smarter than I am, make me much smarter in my work (think Michael Lebeouf for the 21st century), and organize all of my life into one little itty biitty thing which I suppose I can learn to like.
I am very grateful for information about smart phones. For example, I now know (and am not surprised, haha) that my smart phone can be about a gazillion times smarter than I am, make me much smarter in my work (think Michael Lebeouf for the 21st century), and organize all of my life into one little itty biitty thing which I suppose I can learn to like.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.