I received this from Maritz today:

"Maritz Research is now introducing the 2012 version of a popular mystery shop/audit gas station program that requires you to purchase 2 gallons of gas and get reimbursed for it!"

They later mention compensation as "INSTANT GIFT CARDS: (these gift cards (one per location) will be sent to you separately from a third party, see 2012 reference guide for more details)."

Does this really mean that they are now giving me $10 gift card instead of a check/paypal for an already underpriced shop?

The last thing I want to do is use a gift card to buy overpriced name-brand gas when I find Costco and Sam's gas works just fine in all of my buggies. And for this generous gift card I get to take pictures and measure gas flow?

Who in the name of God does these?

That bites. Often when a company purchases multiple gift cards they are receiving a discount. So, guess what, they are "paying" you $10 and it might only be costing them $9 or $8 or less.

Back in the 90's I got laid off from a job and found a temporary job at a great company who actually liked hiring people between jobs with the expectation they would be looking. This was 20 years ago and the pay was at least $2 or $3 bucks more than minimum wage with real commission and cash bonuses available. On top of that they were incredibly accommodating when we needed time to interview for permanent positions.

Along comes Maritz to buy out the company. Time off was frowned upon despite the fact they offered absolutely no benefits, commission payments were suspended and bonus was only paid in gift cards. This was before Visa type gift cards were common and most, if not all were for one of our local department stores. Real nice since neither my landlord, the gas company or the phone company were very interested in receiving gift cards to the equivalent of Macy's!

I did quite a few of these shops last year. I was giving gift certificates, printed by me, to the employees who met the requirements by the gas station company. The way I understand this year's program, instead of giving out the cheesy printed certificates, they are sending the actual gift card to hand out. 1 per shop sucks tho cause several stations have more than 1 employee working. Silly me, I enjoy these shops.

My understanding is that the gift cards are for the attendants/cashiers that do their jobs and win. Instead of giving them the piece of paper, we are handing them the gift cards on the spot. I'm glad about this because I had several winners tell me during the next visit that they never received their previous gift card in the mail. I think, personally, the station owners or someone else was keeping the cards and not passing them on to the correct employee. So, now we will be able to reward them on the spot for doing a good job. I like that.

We are not being paid in gift cards...it's for the employees rewards.

That sounds much more reasonable and certainly better for the deserving employees!

They also put a rotation on this time. If you did any of the shops the 3rd quarter, you can't do them this time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2012 09:11PM by mawmaw26.

Interesting comments and thanks for the clarification. The gift card explanation makes sense

Gift cards used for various things such as manufacturer's rebates are a pain in the butt. But I don't know for sure that they are bought at a discount. They are processed, mailed and tracked by an outside company that certainly must be paid for their services. The problem with rebates by gift card is that (a) they expired rather quickly unlike normal gift cards and with no notice, and (b) if you don't receive the expected gift card you go thrugh hell calling a country somewhere far away, they argue with you and eventually send you a replacement card, but with $6.95 subtracted from the value. This has happened to me with cards given out for test driving a Kia product, for contact lense rebates, and for Staples rebates.

Just send me an old fashioned check, thank you please.

There are several Maritz gas station shops available in my area. I've looked at the job board but don't see any way of pulling up the information on what is required in doing the actual shop. Can someone who has done one of these explain what is required and how extensive is the report? I note that they are listed for $10/pay - a few of those would fill up the tank!

plmccut, I've done 12 of these shops. They are easy. You'll need a orange safety vest, camera and stopwatch. First you go to a pump and then go inside to pay for it. You gotta ask employee a question and then go out and time how long it takes to pump gas. Then you go back inside and reveal yourself. Then you start checking things out. They give you a list of pics to take and what to look for. They also have an employee check list and if the employee meets that you get to give them a prize! LOL The first one will take longer till you get the hang of what to look for, but usually takes 45-60 minutes depending on how busy the station is. You also gotta try not to get hit which isn't easy while you're looking up taking pictures!!
Of course this is the really condensed version. But you're right it does pay for gas.
Good luck!

Thx. ELE - I went ahead and signed up for one 'cause when I started getting more heavily involved in MSing last fall, I vowed to try at least one of each if I could get them assigned to me. It's just a shame that Maritz doesn't allow us to get more information without requesting the shop first.

What you did is a great policy anyway. I wish it was something I would have done more of when I started. There were way too many times I bit off more than I could chew!!!!!

I've tried for dozens...never get them. Only assigned one bank shop after being called

Geaux - is that pronounced Joe?

I, too, have tried for a number of shops that I don't get but have been fortunate enough to be able to get some shops where they truly do use the "first come, first served" policy. I firmly believe there have been a number of shops that I requested and requested first, only to have them given to someone else. I understand that the scheduler's often do not want to take chances on a newbie . . . so I just move on to the next one. I try to use the attitude that "it's their loss."

Lol no...like "go"

Louisiana thing

I know I've been passed over for shops. I keep trying though :-/

Would the x make it plural?

lol...it's a play on words since the 'eaux' makes an "Oh" sound in many cajun last names

Uh, oh, Geaux - I think I feel a Lisaism coming!

Lisa - I ran around like an idiot the first two weeks of Jan. doing all these different shops and on top of that my computer was giving me problems. I survived that but now that I've done just about one of everything and built up my reputation I can start being more picky and also play the waiting game for the shop pays to increase. I did some cheapies to get my foot in the door.

Besides I'm 73 and retired - I just want to keep from going brain dead and stretch my retirement dollars so it's not like I have to work hard.

Actually I'm somewhat familiar with how it sounds since my last name is French and ends in eau It wasn't an attempt to be a smart a--, but a real question I've always wondered about and never bothered to research BTW, it always amazes me that in St. Lou, a town founded by the French where plenty of French names still abound, that so many people around here don't have a clue how to pronounce anything, LOL!

When I visit family in Louisiana, I still see signs for various bayou or river/stream names and am clueless lol.

Big help you are, LOL!

I find maritz to be a good company when ever i have a problem the girls in the office are very helpful.

I did 6 of those gas station shops in February. Nothing was said about gift cards. Hoping to get a check from them soon. I'll update then.

I have been doing gas station audits for Maritz for the past five years. I currently do about 400 shops per year for them--mainly the yellow emblem, the man with the star and the navy rank insignia.

Up until this year's series of shops, I could do the yellow emblem shops in 20 minutes or less as they only require two photos of each required shop plus a photo for the "no" responses. The star/insigna audits required 25-30 minutes if it was a day shop because you also had to get photos of all line-of-sight competitors as well as certain aspects of them (gas price, amenities, etc.). If it was night shop you still had to get the aspects but no additional photos were required and those shops usually took 20-25 minutes. Of course the online reports would holler if you entered times less than 30 minutes without an explanation.

This year the roles are reversed. They've enhanced the requirements of the yellow emblem shops with a lot more questions on the mystery shop (initial) portion of the shop. It now takes 25-30 minutes to do one of these shops. The star/insignia shops have removed the competitive requirements including photos so most shops, days or nights, only take about 20-25 minutes and it appears that they have relaxed the online report to accept times of 25-29 minutes versus 30 minutes.

On the yellow emblem shops, I love the way the MSC wastes money by sending out the gift cards to the shoppers. I got an initial package of 50 cards when the quarter's shops were released and I had signed up for the maximum of 50 shops. Thereafter, every time I requested more shops, the MSC would send a FedEx package with the same number of gift cards as shops I had requested. If I only requested one shop, I got one gift card. They were spending $4.50 to send a FexEx package containing a single gift card. To date, I have done 84 of the these shops this quarter and I have given out perhaps 6 gift cards.

I just wish I could find more gas audits that required gas purchases. I used to do shops for the company that had the big Gulf oil spill two years ago but after I signed up for some shops 250 miles from my home, my car's transmission failed and I had to cancel the shops. Afterward, the MSC removed me from that client and I have been trying ever since to get reinstated even though I still manage to do 400 other gas station shops for them every year.

A bunch of gas stations just popped up in my area. None of them in a city with more than one stoplight if any How are they? Since none of the logos described match the brand I see, could it be a local brand? I have only seen them here in the midwest

plmccut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thx. ELE - I went ahead and signed up for one
> 'cause when I started getting more heavily
> involved in MSing last fall, I vowed to try at
> least one of each if I could get them assigned to
> me. It's just a shame that Maritz doesn't allow us
> to get more information without requesting the
> shop first.

What information are you looking for? If you have not done any shops for a particular client for a new quarter and you request a shop, a brief requirements blurb will pop up which you must read and "Accept" in order to get shops for that client. Any future requests for that same client in the same quarter will skip the blurb.

Also, on the job "board" each shop usually has a blue link on the right that says "Review Project Details." Clicking on this will pop up the blurb mentioned above if you haven't done the "Accept" listed above. If you have, it will tell you that you are approved to do shops for this project.

I just signed up for one that's 30 miles away. It's listed as an audit, but I figured if it sucks at least I found out before scheduling a route... I had no choice of dates, once they accept my shop, do I get to pick a date at that time? It's my first time shopping Maritz.

Kai, when they call to schedule you they will give you a list of dates to choose from.

To all with Maritz. It's probably been said before, but the BEST way to get shops (especially if you are new) is to CALL them. They simply do NOT respond to email (except Payroll) and are flaky at best if you request shops. Calling them usually gets shops scheduled immediately.

Just did one of these this weekend. $35 incentive. (I earned it). Spent the morning negotiating to do a shop 1.5 hours away. In the end, I did not get it, but it was fun negotiating...and knowing I would walk away if I did not get my fee! Power to the shopper! Power to me!!!!

They called me today. The project doesn't start for another two weeks but they seem very easy to work with so far. Scheduled for one right now, and I did mention to them I might be interested in doing routes for them. Does anybody know if they have a max number of assignments per day?