I applied for a Grocery Shop on their website. Eventually they called (at work, when I didn't have a lot of time or privacy to talk) and asked if I was interested in doing it. I agreed to do it, but we didn't discuss payment. And now I don't see the amount on their website. Is there some specific place that I should be looking, or should we have nailed down the amount while we were on the phone? I am feeling like I just made a big newbie mistake.

Thanks!

Rule #1: Never, ever accept a job without knowing how much it pays first.

Rule #2: If they call, ask for a bonus and don't accept it without it. They
didn't call you because it was easy to fill.

techman01 Wrote:
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> Rule #1: Never, ever accept a job without knowing
> how much it pays first.
>
> Rule #2: If they call, ask for a bonus and don't
> accept it without it. They
> didn't call you because it was easy to fill.


Thanks! I thought that Maritz always calls to assign shops until you have a track record with them. And I thought the amount was on the website and/or in my emails - like anyone else. I did find an email from them that I responded to, saying that they were being bonused, but no amounts. Now I'm sure that it needs to have a BIG bonus, and I'm sure that it doesn't. *sigh*

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2013 09:15AM by RiverSong.

Maritz normally does call to assign shops until you reach self assign status with them. If you responded to an email that mentioned a bonus, I would call and ask them about it. They are very nice people,

There is a way to see what it is paying. I don't have any current shops assigned, so I can't tell you exactly how to do it. But you go into the shop itself and there is a blue option to "see all shops of this type" or something like that. It will take you to a page that will show you a list off all the shops (of that type) you have assigned to you with the fee and bonus (if any).

They call me all the time..... ask me to drive 30 or 40 miles away, and then say, "we aren't offering incentives at this time." Well....... call me when you are!



techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rule #1: Never, ever accept a job without knowing
> how much it pays first.
>
> Rule #2: If they call, ask for a bonus and don't
> accept it without it. They
> didn't call you because it was easy to fill.

Yes, I get a lot of calls pushing their hard-to-fill assignments with no bonus offered. Sometimes when they do call with a bonus it's $5.....doesn't even cover the cost of extra gas much less my driving time

Venting ---

Oh... this one was definitely a BIG mistake. I spent a couple hours on my feet last night doing the shop, and am in serious pain at work today (chronic health problems flaring up). I found out how much the payment is - it wasn't bonused, and it's even less than I thought it probably was - but didn't get my question about the photos answered. The report is late, and I have a ton of them to edit and upload, but I have a friend coming over to help me with something that requires heavy lifting and tools tonight - and it's the only time that he can come. And they aren't interested in giving me an extension. I'm about ready to just write this thing off. I have some other photos to edit as soon as I can for another shop - which was more reasonable in it's pay and for which I have longer to get them in. You can guess who's I'm doing first.

I should have just cancelled this shop as soon as I saw the actual guidelines, but after declining some other shops they have, I thought I would be nice and try this one - how bad could it be. BAD! I hate the fact that Maritz doesn't let you see a description of the shop before you apply. And they would prefer to waste my time while I am work with phone calls, rather than provide information in writing so that I can read it when I actually have time and refer back to it later. I'm also about ready to write them off.

BTW - I called my mystery shopping partner last night while I was driving home exhausted. When I told him where I was coming from, he said that I shouldn't be there. I knew that already - the bars on the windows of the homes nearby are a big sign. Although it's actually very close to work, it's one of those areas where just my race screams "mystery shopper" - although my old car does help with my "cover". That being said, I was actually very surprised by how clean and well-maintained the store was, and how nice everyone was. I probably owe them the report more than I owe it to the MSC.

On the other hand, I need to put myself, my health, etc. ahead of mystery shopping. I've been staying up too late working on reports as it is, and it's really affecting me. I'm not going to stay up and push myself for almost nothing.

Maritz prefers personal contact. Get to know the supervisors for your favorite project or team and you'll find all problems easier to solve. The phone call is better than email. They rarely reply to emails. They'll call you instead if they have a question. Been working with them since 2006. You can call and negotiate but don't be surprised by a bit of back and forth which can be frustrating at times. They're quite old school.

Do not read too much into the grocery shop instructions. They are actually pretty easy. At the end of your survey, you will be asked if you would do this location again. I did several with a heavy bonus. (hard to fill shops). I was surprised when they were assigned for a second round without a bonus. I did my speed dial thing and had a conversation with the scheduler. Now, they have the same bonus.

Here's a tip for the hard to fill locations. When they call, ask for a bonus amount and tell them you are firm on this.
This cuts down on the counter proposal nonsense. Works for me...

RS -
Probably too late now for the grocery shop report, but you may want to think about lowering your personal standards of photo editing. I used to spend a minute or so with every picture I submitted - on a 10-20 photo Maritz shop, that was a lot of extra time. Was too tired once to be able to apply my standards and submitted the photos as is (as was/as were) and the report was accepted just fine. Never bothered since then, and never had a report rejected on basis of photo quality (other than a certain pizza shop, but that's another story.)
If you send them in as is, and they do actually want improvements, then at least you'll still have submitted the report on time, your later photo editing time will only be spent on the ones they want corrected (not wasted on ones that were good enough already), and you'll learn their standards in the process.

Hope you got some rest and are feeling better.

Thanks, and you may be right. Although, even if not editing them, it still takes time to organize them according to the questions and rename all of them. And that's after all the time I spent in the store.

elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RS -
> Probably too late now for the grocery shop report,
> but you may want to think about lowering your
> personal standards of photo editing. I used to
> spend a minute or so with every picture I
> submitted - on a 10-20 photo Maritz shop, that was
> a lot of extra time. Was too tired once to be
> able to apply my standards and submitted the
> photos as is (as was/as were) and the report was
> accepted just fine. Never bothered since then, and
> never had a report rejected on basis of photo
> quality (other than a certain pizza shop, but
> that's another story.)
> If you send them in as is, and they do actually
> want improvements, then at least you'll still have
> submitted the report on time, your later photo
> editing time will only be spent on the ones they
> want corrected (not wasted on ones that were good
> enough already), and you'll learn their standards
> in the process.
>
> Hope you got some rest and are feeling better.

Thanks, but with my health issues, two hours spent walking around a store often isn't "easy", and I don't have the time during the day to be calling them up and chasing after bonuses. I've decided that their gas and grocery revealed audits are definitely not for me (we don't have their bank shops here), and they are very inefficient in the way that they do business, so I'm putting them at the bottom of my list unless/until something changes.


mrcomputer101 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do not read too much into the grocery shop
> instructions. They are actually pretty easy. At
> the end of your survey, you will be asked if you
> would do this location again. I did several with a
> heavy bonus. (hard to fill shops). I was surprised
> when they were assigned for a second round without
> a bonus. I did my speed dial thing and had a
> conversation with the scheduler. Now, they have
> the same bonus.
>
> Here's a tip for the hard to fill locations. When
> they call, ask for a bonus amount and tell them
> you are firm on this.
> This cuts down on the counter proposal nonsense.
> Works for me...

I have never "renamed" a photo file and have never had a problem because of it.

I take pictures in the order of the report. The photo matching thing always mixes them up out of order, but my camera's file numbering system will be in the order I took them so it's not that hard to match them up that way if there are similar pictures.

On my paper report for audits/reveals, I put a check mark for each picture, so if I take two pictures of a certain thing, I know there are two for that question even if only one was required. It helps me keep the number sequence organized.

itsasecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have never "renamed" a photo file and have never
> had a problem because of it.

On these, there are very specific instructions regarding how the photos should be named with the job number, question number and a description.

> I take pictures in the order of the report. The
> photo matching thing always mixes them up out of
> order, but my camera's file numbering system will
> be in the order I took them so it's not that hard
> to match them up that way if there are similar
> pictures.
>
> On my paper report for audits/reveals, I put a
> check mark for each picture, so if I take two
> pictures of a certain thing, I know there are two
> for that question even if only one was required.
> It helps me keep the number sequence organized.

Thanks for the tip. That's a great idea. I do tend to take several photos of each item so that I can pick the best one, and also have backups.

> itsasecret Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have never "renamed" a photo file and have
> never
> > had a problem because of it.

RiverSong Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> On these, there are very specific instructions
> regarding how the photos should be named with the
> job number, question number and a description.
>

Itsa -
I've always renamed them, following the specific Maritz instructions that RS mentions. Have you done Maritz shops without renaming the photo files? This would be a HUGE timesaver.

Ahhhh.... maybe it wasn't Maritz. But I have done shops for I think MF where I was told to rename and didn't. The first time it was an oops -- I remembered the instruction after I had submitted the report. Nobody said a word. But it probably wasn't Maritz. I've done bank shops and I think one GS for Maritz and that one didn't have photos.

They are fussy about having the job number on the bank documents so maybe they would be fussy about having the job number on the photo files for the GS's.

The need to rename a gazillion photos would keep me from wanting to do their other GS shops. I'll have to remember that if I ever am tempted to apply for one.

I have done many, many Maritz shops without renaming the photo file, even though the instructions tell you to do so. It is a huge time saver. I mostly do this for their banks because I take pictures grouped by bank and in order of questions. If I have a single or just a couple gas stations, I don't rename them either all the time.

However, most of the time to keep my photos organized after I upload and resize I create new files within a dated file. Each new file has location name and id number on it. I do NOT rename each individual picture, only drag them into the file for location/id number.

So my files look something like this:

6/11/13 has 13 individual files; in it of those 13 files

New York 123456 has 20 photos in it, those photos are named whatever the camera named them 001, 002, 003...

Yeah, I ALWAYS rename photos for MF. Hubby, not so much, and they have never said a word to him



itsasecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ahhhh.... maybe it wasn't Maritz. But I have done
> shops for I think MF where I was told to rename
> and didn't. The first time it was an oops -- I
> remembered the instruction after I had submitted
> the report. Nobody said a word. But it probably
> wasn't Maritz. I've done bank shops and I think
> one GS for Maritz and that one didn't have photos.
>
>
> They are fussy about having the job number on the
> bank documents so maybe they would be fussy about
> having the job number on the photo files for the
> GS's.
>
> The need to rename a gazillion photos would keep
> me from wanting to do their other GS shops. I'll
> have to remember that if I ever am tempted to
> apply for one.

I was using my good camera to do these and spending forever cropping and shrinking them after a day of audits, until I accidentally figured out that my phone automatically takes them at the exact size. I remembered today that I could rename them as I took them with the jobslinger app on my phone and spent about 5 extra seconds naming each photo while walking to the next photo. It cut my reporting time in half so I can spend more time on here talking about reporting.

I don't know if I've already told you, but I love your name! The only water in the forest is the river.

RiverSong Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks, and you may be right. Although, even if
> not editing them, it still takes time to organize
> them according to the questions and rename all of
> them. And that's after all the time I spent in the
> store.
>