I have to get creative with my scheduling since I work a FT job during the week. I already performed three gas station shops prior to arriving at work this morning. I am performing two retail shops during my lunch break. I am performing four more gas station shops after work. I will work on reports while cooking dinner. The end.

Yes mysteryshop i guess is good.

On Saturday I'm planning on doing 10 shops. They are ones I've done before, and I know they take about 5-10 minutes each. The biggest question is whether my knees will hold up climbing in and out of the car so many times!

I've done 18 bank shops in one day. Unfortunately the bank changed MSCs so I don't get them anymore. I would cover about 50-60 branches of the bank in South Carolina in a 3-day period. And part of the key to making this work is good communications. I would get in touch with the scheduler and get an extension on my reporting deadlines. There was only one time when I needed it, but it was nice to have. The cheat sheet makes the basics in the car easy to jot down. If there was something really odd, I would take a picture of the bank from across the street when I left...it was amazing how the one picture can help you recall details.

I use batch geo for really complicated routes.

I use my hotspot or find someplace with wifi and do my reports when I have afew minutes down time waiting for my next shop. Also you will find once you have a few companies you can sometimes hit a few in the same area.

I wish we had more gas shops up in Canada. We do not seem to have as much choice as you folks down south. As for grocery shops. I have yet to see one.

@Panache4u2 wrote:

I wish we had more gas shops up in Canada. We do not seem to have as much choice as you folks down south. As for grocery shops. I have yet to see one.

I'm only signed up with about 20 companies, but I have yet to see a grocery store job. I don't even see too many gas shops either. However, there are an abundance of oil changes and tire inspection type jobs.

Cettie, can you elaborate on how you lay out your route, as you request shops? I'd like to do higher volumes and can find them available, in my area. However, they turn out to be all over the map! Help us to be like you, I'd be happy to do 10 per day, everyday. Right now, I'm only managing 6 per day, everyday.

@aayaey wrote:

I have done 4 shops in one day that's about the most I have done, one was a detailed ACL one the rest were easy 2 coffee shops, 1 convenience store so the reports were fairly simple. I am having a hard time trying to get all the dates to line up, there are a lot of shops at my local mall but some have date ranges that don't match up, I have one this coming Monday and another one next Monday, it would have been nice if they all lined up. I have requested another shop with another MSC at the mall so if they assign it to me hopefully I can do two on Monday. I wish most MSC can let you move the dates around online yourself w/o emailing the scheduler and waiting around to see if they respond and the make the change for you. So far the only one where I can move the date around myself is on isecretshop for NWLPC, have not done other MSC on isecretshop so don't know if the other MSC lets you move the dates.

I often email the scheduler and ask for date changes to get things lined up. If it's early in the month it is rarely a problem. It's when you ask for date changes and extensions later in the month that they get worried, especially if you are a new shopper and they don't know if you are going to be reliable or not.

Your typing skills will get faster down the road, too.

Cettie & JASFLAMT - Thinking to complete that many shops in one day, there must be a small radius of like less than 75 miles or so, right? So, what's the radius generally? If they are spread apart, there is no way to successfully complete so many in one day, right? Educate me... : )

I maintain a route and use my smart phone for scanning-uploading-pictures-recording of details. I am organized and I would be lost without my smartphone.

@pampet

Trendsource floods my email box with over 10-15 grocery shops every other day. Have you signed up with that one?

@Panache4u2
Not sure if Trendsource operates in Canada, but maybe someone else can chime in.

My issue with taking shops a further distance from home is that where I live the price of gas has jumped way up over $3.40 a gallon. Most shops do not pay much. If I am going out, I must have a decent pay on the shop. I think if I could get 6-10 shops in a close route I would do it.

I think once you set yourself a goal, possibly between 5-10 with simple shops, such as the home improvement, cell phone and possibly some audits at gas stations. Those would give you an ability to complete more throughout the day. Also like an earlier post stated stick with the familiar jobs at first and get used to knocking them out. I don't post much at all but have been shopping for almost 8 years and with any other job, it will come with time and build up the routine of using the smart phone and the map apps( they are great). The shops I listed earlier takes about 15-20 minutes to enter. I usually do route shopping now and it does take the time to prepare prior to starting your day.

Last week I took 8 in my area. It was my first time doing that many shops in a day. Right now I am trying to scale up on assignments and of course the extra income. I was browsing the job boards and noticed a MSC needed some help in fulfilling some paint shops. After doing a little bit of research about the reporting on these assignments here on this forum which were all positive , I registered with the MSC, got approved and decided to go for it. I emailed the scheduler asking for a travel fee to complete all the shops. It got accepted, and then went to Mapquest and organized the route the way I wanted. Printed the questionnaire for each shop for note taking so I wouldn't forget all the details. Had to fill out the questions after each one so I wont forget the details. And even downloaded a recording app from the play store for my android phone to help with the notes. It did helped a lot. I thank you guys for all the comments, and thanks for this forum. It gives me so many ideas and resources to look for when trying to find some good shops.

@aayaey wrote:

@pampet

Trendsource floods my email box with over 10-15 grocery shops every other day. Have you signed up with that one?

@Panache4u2
Not sure if Trendsource operates in Canada, but maybe someone else can chime in.

I just signed up with them, and Canada was in their list of companies. We will see what happens if I get the verification email.

Yes. Mapquest will route you once you get into it far enough to learn it. I used it one day when I went to a new town and did 5 shops. It worked pretty good, but 5 is definitely my limit and I don't even want to do that often. For me, too much work in one day.

My advice when attempting to schedule and complete multiple shops, is 1 make a route, 2 bring a laptop that has wifi and 3 make good friends with your schedulers. I do 22 grocery shop audits in a 3 state area twice a month. that assignment is repeated for me every single month. The "window" to complete them is supposed to be either 3 or 4 days, but since I do these same 22 I get the window extended to 11 days. I then go to my other schedulers, such as sit down restaurants and tell them where I will be on what days and where are you sending me to eat? 9 trips out of 10, I end up with either a lunch or dinner shop to complete while on my road trip.

I also carry my laptop in the trunk of my car and have been known to use the free wifi at Mc Donald's, Wendy's or Burger King, buy a drink, and submit several of my shops or audits while the info is fresh, especially if there is a negative thing that might have happened so I want to enter that while it is fresh in my memory.For small receipts, I use the camera on my iphone and email the receipt to my email account so I can upload that photo. If anything has a bigger paper to scan, I have been known to put a 4 in one printer in the trunk and attach that to my laptop to scan the documents and submit my reports. Several months I will spend the night in a motel depending on how many shops I have in that area. I cover a territory that covers 3 states and I drive as far as 2 1/2 hours one way to compete my road trips. Remember, as self employed shoppers, the motel room, if needed, is a tax write off. (always get a hotel that has an indoor pool, might as well enjoy the stay)

I was really slow when I started MSing. I was slow reading the instructions, slow doing the shops, slow doing the reports. I've been doing this for over a year now and I agree with everyone else. You get faster with experience. And you automatically remember the details better with experience. I audio record a lot of my shops though, so I don't have to take notes. I've done three apartment shops in one day that have very long reports that take at least 30 minutes to write, and several other smaller shops in between. That was a rough day! I usually do my reports in the late evening. I'm a night owl and can go for days with minimal sleep though.

I say, do what you need to do for each time frame of your life. Eclecticism is good. The other posters have given you many options which will apply at various times as you explore this business and perhaps experience it in a variety of ways.

Instead of seeking bigger, badder routes, I am stepping back and letting work develop.

For example, I am not waiting around for that alleged, vague time after which some companies lift their shop caps. One company had 12 unclaimed shops along my various work and pleasure paths. I am the one who charges little when my true cost is little. If the company had allowed me to perform the possible number of shops, I would have added them to existing schedules and routes. Their project in this area would have come in under budget, on time, and with money to spare (because I charge little when shops dovetail and cost me little additional money) and the scheduler would not have needed to ratchet up the shop fees with bribes I mean bonuses.

Starting next month, I am shopping only for mani/pedi money. This gives me great freedom to choose assignments that fit into the rest of life and do not require extensive scheduling activities.

So far this week, I have scheduled one efficienct shop day with several shops clustered within one mall and time left over for personal stuff; one food shop; and one bonused retail shop which slides into the end of a camping trip and covers my half of the fuel cost for the camping trip.

My profit from the newly added shops covers next month's mani/pedi costs. Which shops will fund my nails in October?

I do not care if any shop caps are in place, nor will I wonder whether I should play a waiting game for bonuses.

It was my goal to stop needing to shop and to stop being subjected to the vagaries of remuneration in this business.

If I can make my goal, you can make your goal. The tips in this forum helped me and will help you with your goal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2015 05:37PM by Shop-et-al.

Oceangirl ~

I just re-discovered Mapquest. I love Google maps, but Mapquest allows you to enter many addresses and then gives you the option to allow Mapquest to "change the order" to the shortest route or to a time saving route.

I do several shops most days. For me, the ticket is to take notes and pics as I go and then I do all my reports afterwards. Most days, I'll do 3 or 4 early in the day, do the reports and then do a dinner shop in the evening.

@Panache4u2 wrote:

I wish we had more gas shops up in Canada. We do not seem to have as much choice as you folks down south. As for grocery shops. I have yet to see one.

Hey Panache4U2, I drive south to get to Canada

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Instead of seeking bigger, bladder routes, I am stepping back and letting work develop.

When you take a bladder route, you have to allow extra time for each time you relieve your bladder! That cuts into your profit margin.

@pampet wrote:

I am retired and do mystery shopping to make a bit of extra cash and to keep my skills sharp. If I do 3 shops (and reports) in one day I consider that a lot. I admire those of you that can do way more than that and maintain your sanity.

I am right there with you pampet! I've started MS for the very same reason back in '07 when I had to retire. Now I'd loose my sanity if I didn't have the out.

As for stacking shops I also admire the ones who can load up. But for me, 3 is the max. And then that is rare.

Check the back issues of Mystery Shopper Magazine. I seem to recall that, when James Bond 007.5 was editing it, there was a special issue on route shopping with a lot of good information.

ETA: The ebook is no longer available.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2015 04:15PM by GMooneyhan MBSC.

I am new here, I just join it today right now. Hope it will be good for me.

Thanks
fashion_pulses ( Ebay Store)

I am not as much of a route shopper as some...my radius is much more limited, more like 25 miles. I rarely do more than 7 shops a day, personally, but I generally hold out for bonuses so I can go do shops in an afternoon and often make over $100 in a matter of 4 or 5 hours. I did have to do plenty of lesser paying shops to establish reliability and trust with schedulers for MSCs, but I have been shopping for about 15 years now so the shops come quite easily. I also live in a pretty heavily populated area with a few small cities that are close together, so there a few malls and retail areas with strips within 15-20 miles of my house, not to mention several post offices (though I recently received the email that the MSC currently shopping them will not be doing them anymore in the future). I can sometimes get 2 or 3 shops at the same mall, a restaurant shop right down the street from the mall, and a couple of post offices in between, and then pick up a pizza on my way home. There are people in here who do heavy traveling but I really need a great deal of incentive to get me to travel out of my comfort zone. I also do merchandising, so I often can pick up a quick food shop at lunch--while other merchandisers are out spending money on their lunch, I am making money while eating mine

@CCC wrote:

Cettie & JASFLAMT - Thinking to complete that many shops in one day, there must be a small radius of like less than 75 miles or so, right? So, what's the radius generally? If they are spread apart, there is no way to successfully complete so many in one day, right? Educate me... : )