LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you want to continue with the unnecessary, time
> consuming steps you take, please feel free.


First, you avoided the direct question--you came here to say you are an expert, but you admit that you have never done a shop for this MSC of this client. I've done 11. So your advice counts for little to nothing where this particular shop is concerned.

Every step that I take is necessary to produce a quality report. This MSC was paying $80 bonuses on this shop so I gave them a quality report for their money.


Just
> don't hold yourself up as somehow better or make
> the mistake of thinking your carefully manipulated
> receipts will somehow make you a super star in the
> eyes of the MSC.

From start to finish, in every line of work, the attention to quality will be its own rewards.



>And don't make the mistake of thinking veteran shoppers who are smart enough to streamline processes are somehow slipshod.

Taking a picture with a smartphone, as you suggested, and uploading to the cloud is not streamlining and doesn't mark you out as a veteran shopper. Children are doing the same thing to their facebook pages.


> And if your goal is to travel the country and take
> all the shops because of some misguided notion we
> all rely on job boards.

You, ma'm, are out of touch. Most shoppers do rely on job boards, have to take the crappy jobs, and don't get invited to do shops, like you do. For every shopper like you, who spent years to get where you are, there are shoppers who were making more money working regular jobs before the recession than you ever touched as a mystery shopper. I'm not at all impressed that you are at the top of the game of shopping. Your jobs are like mine, they are offerred to you by video shopping companies, as you stated in your previous posts.

bgriffin Wrote:

> Perhaps he will be bring his team of shoppers on
> his mystery shopping tour bus to STL!

If you want to continue to confront me on this board you will be rewarded. You posted a challenge above. I met your challenge. You exposed yourself as a shopper who bends the shop requirements. That works for you--not for me. I am sure that I work for the same Video Shop companies that you do and I am also going to NO for the conference, and will be in Vegas later this year. Feel free to look me up in person. I will answer your challenges on this board.

By the way, here's my receipt system. I put it into my scanner, reasonably straight, and facing in the right direction. I hit the scanner button, and then start opening up my report. At some point after the scanner has finished, I open the scan, make sure that something absolutely terrible didn't happen, and rename it something like: DIY.City.7.21.2014. The scan folder is clear, with previous days dragged into a July2014 folder, so it'll just take me a couple of clicks to attach it to the invoice, and no real chance of a mistake. Total time, minimal, I think.

aggiejim72 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bgriffin Wrote:
>
> > Perhaps he will be bring his team of shoppers
> on
> > his mystery shopping tour bus to STL!
>
> If you want to continue to confront me on this
> board you will be rewarded. You posted a challenge
> above. I met your challenge. You exposed yourself
> as a shopper who bends the shop requirements. That
> works for you--not for me. I am sure that I work
> for the same Video Shop companies that you do and
> I am also going to NO for the conference, and will
> be in Vegas later this year. Feel free to look me
> up in person. I will answer your challenges on
> this board.

I don't know why you think I'm being confrontational? Under your old screen name did you not say you were trying to get together a team of shoppers to travel around together on a bus or RV?

You may or may not work for the same video shopping companies I work for. What does it matter if you do?

Have fun in NOLA! Wish I were going but couldn't pass up the route that dropped in my lap. There's a Pinkberry shop across the street from the casino you should pick up.

Also I am not a big fan of PMs with threats.

Ishmael Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By the way, here's my receipt system.

That's a good system and works for you.
Here's what I do--it may work for you or it may not.
I take a digital photo of my receipt. I take 6 images.
They are uploaded to my laptop because I use a Bluetooth enabled SD card.
I edit my receipt using the free GIMP photo manipluation program.
First, I select the best image, then I resize the image to a hieght of 700 pixels.
I then adjust the color level, which takes 15 seconds.
Next I export the file as a .jpg and name it using the assignment id number.
I save the file at 95% quality so the file is small and will upload quickly.
This might work for you.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> aggiejim72 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------

> I don't know why you think I'm being
> confrontational? Under your old screen name did
> you not say you were trying to get together a team
> of shoppers to travel around together on a bus or
> RV?

First, I repoted your posting a private message in a public forum. That's a violation of a rule somewhere, isn't it. Why am I not suprised that you would break that rule.

Second, what on earth are you talking about? You have me confused with another user.

I'd say you are being overly-defensive and hostile. You confronted me in this thread first, and I answered your challenge and showed you that this shop takes 2 hours to complete. you in return. The invitation is open. If you want to confront me on this board feel free. I will answer you. If you want to do so anywhere else let me know--verbal, peaceful, and open to discuss your point of view. But I can see you are defensive and insecure and read too much into things.

And I stand by my statement that you bend the rules if you do what you say you do on this DIY shop.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2014 05:01PM by aggiejim72.

I agree with the veterans. I have done 32 of these shops in the last few months. The total time will vary of course if you are including driving distance. The time in the store has never taken me more than 45 minutes (very busy store on the border of two states on a Saturday afternoon). The average time in the store is 25 minutes. My average time to report (including proofreading and submitting the invoice) is 15 minutes. As bgriffin mentioned, the same items are consistently out of stock in almost every store. If you keep a list of three or four, I guarantee at least one of them will be out of stock in any store. I simply double check in advance of heading out (no more than 2 minutes). So minus drive time (too many variables), these shops are on average a total of 40-45 minutes.

nhgirl1970 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The total time will vary of course if you are including driving
> distance.

You say above that the average report takes you 25+15 minutes, or 40 minutes. When you add driving time of 20 minutes RT, you are at 1 hour. Add 2 minutes for your out-of-stock scenario. Then the 2 minutes to write the assign id on the receipt and upload to the cloud or whatever you do. You are now at 1 hour and 4 minutes total for this shop. Then you say the drive time varies, of course. There is alot of room there to add 20-30 minutes to your total shop time if there is traffic. Now what if you added that extra 20 minutes you had to wait at the location on the busy Saturday. These are targeted shops. You sometimes have to wait to be helped. You are now at 2 hours. Like I said, you have to allow 2 hours to do this shop. It is easy to quote a shorter time when you assume everything goes right. And if you've done 32 of these shops then you are doing most of them for $12, or $6/hour.

Also, if you have done 32 shops then you are driving alot to get to them, because nobody can live close to 32 of these DIY shops. 3 at the most. You aren't considering your travel costs for your $12 payday.

People will often decieve themselves that they are making more money than they really are. When you break this shop down, it is 2 hours.

I am now leaving this thread. It's been enjoyable to show some posters who desired to be shown the error that they made. It is a pleasure to do so. I am leaving now to conduct this shop, for a bonus, and it will take me 2 hours. It will take anyone doing this shop the right way 2 hours to complete--from reviewing your scenario, determining your out-of-stock, walking to your vehicle, driving to the location, parking, entering the location, performing the scenarios, leaving, getting in your vehicle, driving, loggin on, reporting, proofreading, submitting an invoice.

Any veteran shopper that says otherwise is practicing self-delusion or producing a bad report, with a lousy receipt, and poor narrative, and few accurate quotes. This MSC apparently is okay with that, too.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2014 05:25PM by aggiejim72.

I have never done this DIY shop for less than $27 dollars and my average for these is $62. As I said, drive time is variable. I make a route (sometimes with other DIY shops and sometimes completely different shops). If you simply take the one shop in a reasonable driving range by itself, add a total of 20 minutes driving round trip. I am still at a total of 1 hour and 5 minutes (double checking out of stock item, drive, shop itself, and report including invoice) and that is the ONLY shop I have done for $27. It goes without saying if a DIY two hours away, I will do it for significantly more money and be darn sure I have other shops in the area that are also bonused. I ALWAYS consider my travel costs and my time.

I live in New England, so it is not that hard to find these shops in a reasonable driving distance. Also, I have done most of the stores I have shopped three times. I also build these shops in with other activities (I did one on vacation next to my hotel-zero driving). The point is any shopper with experience knows how to do these (or any other) shop and make the most of their time. I really don't want to argue; you haven't accepted anything anyone has told you no matter how much they break it down for you. If it takes you an average of two hours, it really isn't my problem. All I know is I do mine correctly, never have issues with the MSC, and always get paid very well.

I HOPE THIS THREAD IS DONE... What is the definition of insanity?

Time for recipes!

Wow...I have shopped for 15 years now (and yes I am sure others have shopped longer) but I do consider myself a veteran. I shopped for the new MSC for years before they took on this project...never once were the way I attach receipts an issue...here all along I have either slapped it on the scanner or taken a phone with my phone and been done with it. I can't imagine spending the time to manipulate it. And it must be all good because they regularly call me for shops.

As far as finding an out of stock item...there are numerous appliances that aren't stocked..keep a list of a few and check real quick even as you are entering the store.

I have NEVER EVER spent two hours on this shop...first off drive time doesn't count (routing etc) so in store I am going to say 10-15 minutes. I always buy the same item for my receipt (bird suet) and I pick that up as I am entering the store. I guess I have just gotten good at finding who I need now. And reporting..that is only slowed down by any procrastinating I am doing. It is certainly not anymore than 10 minutes.

Liz

Well obviously your shops are unprofessional and you cut corners if you're able to do it that quickly.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well obviously your shops are unprofessional and
> you cut corners if you're able to do it that
> quickly.


Apparently but as long as they pay me without question I can live with that

Liz

Oh, my goodness sakes. All of this animosity over someone's tone of voice and the length of time it takes to do a Maritz DIY shop? No wonder there are wars.

(heart)

I have done a ton of these shops and they take me around 4 hours total per shop..........

I normally carefully take a steam iron to my reciept so that not the slightest crease or wrinkle can be observed................

I then translate my reports into 17 different languages just in case Maritz needs them....

Most fill out the reports online, not me........ I actually drive to Maritz and hand them over personally along with presents for all the staff.......

Strange thing was, on my last trip I was blocked at the door, the police were called and I was escorted off the property.......

Im guessing maritz doesnt want me to shop for them anymore because I am just too good at this.....

Someone please explain to me why we care. Is this rock science or what?

Yes, it is rock science.

What it is NOT, is rocket science.
(Just teasing, Mary!)

While it does take me longer than some of these Speedy Gonzalez shoppers, it doesn't take me anywhere NEAR two hours, either. The longest parts for me, are:

1.) Getting an associate to interact with you. And, at least with the prior MSC, (I haven't done one for the new MSC yet) there were required waiting periods where you just had to browse around and hope an associate notices you, before you could go somewhere and directly ASK for assistance. Now, sometimes this wasn't an issue... other times I had to wait out the full time and then it STILL took forever to find an associate to assist.

2.) I apparently tell more in my narratives than some of you. I probably don't need to.


But still, nowhere near two hours. And while I do count driving time, I almost always do these along with other shops so that gets split up and all. It does sound like OP does a lot of very unnecessary steps. And several people have given very good advice to make things more efficient.

dwater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I normally carefully take a steam iron to my
> reciept so that not the slightest crease or
> wrinkle can be observed................


Quite possibly the most hilarious single sentence I've ever read here.

And I thought there were some smug arrogant elitists on here before! In my opinion, this guy isn't even worth the waste of time to type a response.

These shops usually take me 45 minutes including the debrief and invoice and receipt upload. Driving time would have to be divided between multiple shops, as even at $92 with a bonus, I usually don't make it a point to travel in order to do just one shop, unless my fuel is also being covered.

Next, let me guess; This dimwit is going to say that the blue bank shops take him 12 hours to complete... or a pretzel shop takes an hour... or a FF shop takes 3 hours. Why even waste our collective breath?

Let this guy go back to trolling the V-God's board!

It's absurd that these shops would take two hours. I've done them for years with the previous and current MSC, but even when I started it was not even close to 2 hours. But, I'm not counting driving time. That's too difficult to do when you have multiple shops along a route.

Scattered among the piously self-aggrandizing tantrums, there's actually some helpful stuff in this thread.
@jonchance... Yes, I got the exact same phantom bonus offers. Didn't call them to follow up.
@ Ishmael... bg's 4 methods of saving time are solid. Add to that...
5. There's no need to wait at all in the out-of-stock portion. Neither the timing nor the greeting are evaluated. I just go to the first available red vest and say, "I'm having trouble finding the Acme Road Runner Catcher and was wondering if you could help. I have the item number here if that would help." I have the number on my phone which I hold up to show the associate. I report what happens. 10 seconds to 3 minutes depending on whether they walk to the location, look it up at all or just tell me it's over there. End of scenario.
6. In the assigned department, we only have to wait five minutes. If nobody offers assistance, go to the nearest red vest and ask for their help. Pressing the button for assistance is a roll of the dice in terms of how long it will take.
7. Do not use the restroom at the location. It will add 1.5 minutes for a number 1 and the full ABC song during hand-washing, and will add between 2.5 and 17 minutes for a number 2, depending on what you had to eat yesterday. Just hold it till you get home. Actually keep holding it until after your report is submitted and invoice filed, if you count reporting time as shop time.

I have applied bg's 1-4 and my 5 and 6 above to exactly 50 of these completed with the current MSC, April-June, 2014.
Slacker that I am, I've transgressed my number 7 above several times. With number 1's, in case you were wondering. TMPD?
A B C D E F G...

Rock Science: Science for the hardheaded.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2014 06:01PM by MDavisnowell.

Remember, this is the same guy who says that it takes 25 hours to sign up with 25 MSCs.

Correct. Because it's more important to spend an hour finding out what the MSC has and if they have shops you're interested in than it is to just spend the 10 minutes signing up.

aggie you're being a little offensive to respected shoppers on this forum. I do a lot of these shops ALWAYS at the bonus and they take me 20-30 minutes and about another 10-15 to enter them.

I just posted in another discussion that it takes me 20 - 30 minutes in the store, plus 10 - 15 minutes to write the report (including scanning the receipt). The 30 minute (or rarely 40 minute) shops occur when it is hard to find an associate, and when I do, they try to be really helpful. Most of the time, I am in and out in 30 minutes. If I am driving by the store, then $12 + $1 is reasonable. I was happier when they were bonussing them. I got the same email about bonus. None of them were bonused. Due to location, I never even considered them at the base price. I did one yesterday on the way home. The incremental distance was driving in and out of the parking lot. In and out in 21 minutes. 11 minutes to write it up. $24 an hour. Reasonable by my standards, but if I had had to spend time getting there and had to compute mileage at $0.56, the math is quite different.

DanteInOH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
... or a pretzel shop takes an hour...

Hey now, I do love me a pretzel shop, especially the part where we have to taste the pretzel, and report on the quality. Sometimes one taste isn't enough for the report, and it requires more research. If I'm not running on a whirlwind schedule, I'm sure I could spend at least 45 minutes researching the taste and quality of my pretzel. Might even have to go get a second one for comparison. Printing paperwork, entering report, scanning receipt...yeah, I could make an hour out of it.

Reading just the first page of this thread had me laughing... I don't do the shops so I can't comment on time personally but 2 hours is over the top...

The snitty attitude, again, laughable.

If it's taking you 2 hours to do that shop and you are okay with it... great but I bet you won't be here long or you will change your ways soon...

So how did you like the honey whole grains jon?

jonchance Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DanteInOH Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> ... or a pretzel shop takes an hour...
>
> Hey now, I do love me a pretzel shop, especially
> the part where we have to taste the pretzel, and
> report on the quality. Sometimes one taste isn't
> enough for the report, and it requires more
> research. If I'm not running on a whirlwind
> schedule, I'm sure I could spend at least 45
> minutes researching the taste and quality of my
> pretzel. Might even have to go get a second one
> for comparison. Printing paperwork, entering
> report, scanning receipt...yeah, I could make an
> hour out of it.