@Sybil2 wrote:

I am curious how long some of you have been shopping for. I hardly ever rely on emails or visit job boards anymore. I work more on projects that are automatically sent to me, phone calls and of course, text messages. I have a quarterly merchandising project that pays quite well. I think the only job boards that I kinda have to visit are for hotel shops. I only do this part time but I have been shopping or merchandising for almost 10 years.

Sybil2 you are fortunate to be able to demand those types of shops. I have been shopping for over a year and can command higher paying shops, but not on a consistent basis. My best jobs are emailed to me personally. And as for merchandising, that is out for me. Due to the other MS (multiple sclerosis) I do not have the endurance for those types of shops. From what I have gathered on the forum, there are numerous people that physically can not handle the ongoing shops like merchandising and the strenous shops like auditing. That leaves more for you!

@KathyG wrote:

My children all prefer texting as their main means of communication. It took me a while to learn not to leave them voice messages, which they wouldn't even listen to :-)

I agree and I disagree (spoken not like a shopper lol). My children usually don't return my calls for days at a time, when they get around to looking at who called them. If I text them, I get a response within minutes. There is an exception. When they look for a job, their voice mail message changes to their "professional voice" and they check voice mail, text, email, and snail mail regularly. The key here is that they are "searching for a job". Much like us, they use every medium at their disposal.

I guess the underlying theme here is that we will use the medium where we can receive the best shops that fit our shopping. Those that have been shopping for years and have regular shops, tend to rely less on email. Hardly anyone relies on social media (twitter, facebook, etc) for shops although the MSC's promote them. Confidentiality is questioned there. Most of us tend to rely on email and job boards. There are those who rely on texts and they feel strongly about it.

I don't think I heard from any schedulers. Would like their input into the conversation.

Also, scanman1 wrote: "I'm starting to think that the video shoppers are afraid of sub $50 camera's as it will bite into them making $$$ routes as local shoppers will do it for much less if the MSC's approve them."

It's kind of funny that you say that. This week I have turned down two video shops because i didn't have time. I did two more as a favor for the MSC. I am refusing any more for the rest of the month because I am booked. There may come a time when it cost much less to become a video shopper. Just like pen and paper notes have been replaced by recording notes (in my state), the typewriter has been replaced by computer, and faxing has been replaced by scanning. But, there will always be the next thing, the newest and greates.

Scanman, you are missing two very important points. We aren't afraid of camera prices going down. For shops with no rotation there will still be a need for qualified video shoppers. The emphasis there is on qualified. Those type of shops are not your garden variety retail. As it costs less for a video camera and more shoppers can do it, there will actually be more clients. For a long time it was hard as hell for video companies to sell the service because they had so many gaps in coverage across the U.S. That's why video shopping was limited to new homes, apartments and new car sales for years. There are now more MSCs involved in video shopping in some way or another than I've seen in my five years. You wouldn't even know some of them have clients utilizing video shops because they contract out those shops to MSCs with video departments.

I also don't depend on FB and twitter, i get my shops from text and emails , I am new into this , but really found this is great thread , so much to learn understand and discuss from you all

@lilly11 wrote:

I also don't depend on FB and twitter, i get my shops from text and emails , I am new into this , but really found this is great thread , so much to learn understand and discuss from you all

Welcome to the forum lilly! Hopefully you have picked up on the Mystery Shopper Magazine too. It is very helpful. Happy shopping!

I get my shops the same way I get Carnegie Hall...either practice or rent the place.

Go ahead and groan.

In all seriousness, I get most of mine from email with some by phone calls.

Schedulers call me on the bat phone.

As a scheduler for over 10 years, the regular way I notify shoppers about assignments is via email. Both Sassie and Shopmetrics, which Mercantile Systems use, have their notifactions sent to shoppers emails. I will post on job boards and, like this morning, I did post my remaining March assignments on Facebook but that is not my "go-to". I would never expect a shopper to respond to a job notification on Facebook by commenting on it, BUT I do have shoppers who will send me a message or email me after seeing the notification on FB email me as I do include my email address in the notificaiton.

As for email vs phone. I have many shoppers who will be away from their computer BUT have their shopper email account set up on their phone so they get my emails there as well and will reply asking me to approve them. If they will be doing the assignment before they get back to their computer, I have been known to send the guidelines to them in an email that they will then read on their phone.

Oops...sorry, meant this as a reply to an earlier post on this topic about Hillary and her email screw up.

That's, actually not true, regardless of how many times it's being spouted by the spin masters for HC. I just retired from a 37 1/2 year federal government career, and I am telling you that every federal employee knows that it is illegal and against federal regs to use person email accounts for official government business. You even sign documents to the effect, and not just once during your federal career, but it is also reinforced periodically throughout your career, along with a host of other security training which these days is heavily geared towards computer & cyber security specifically. Do you really think the government wants employees with security clearances to conduct official govt. business on their gmail or yahoo email accounts? And just because somebody believes their own personal email is somehow more "secure" than other people's person email, well that is just bs. Our adversaries are able to sometimes hack into even supposed hack - proof govt. computer networks. Ms. Clinton. Is either that stupid, or thinks we all are. And believes she is above the laws and will do what she wants, regardless. If she cared at all about national security, she would not have pulled this dumb stunt.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2015 07:00PM by mbaldwin1958.

e-mail is ok but I am checking their job boards 3-4 times a day to get something good. The posting usually call for jobs nobody wish to pick.

@SchedulerDeva wrote:

I will post on job boards and, like this morning, I did post my remaining March assignments on Facebook but that is not my "go-to". I would never expect a shopper to respond to a job notification on Facebook by commenting on it, BUT I do have shoppers who will send me a message or email me after seeing the notification on FB email me as I do include my email address in the notificaiton.

schedulerdeva: I guess I'm trying to figure out if I was not on facebook, would I have received a "push" notification from you or would I have had to check the job postings?

When you learn, teach, when you get, give. Maya Angelou

Oh yes! You would receive other notification as I still will be sending out emails!

@CureMS wrote:

@SchedulerDeva wrote:

schedulerdeva: I guess I'm trying to figure out if I was not on facebook, would I have received a "push" notification from you or would I have had to check the job postings?

Deva Roberts
Director of Operations
shoppers@acemysteryshopping.com
ACE Mystery Shopping
[ace.shopmetrics.com]
[acemysteryshopping.com]