Hi,

Who has tips on how to best get in good with schedulers? Sometimes it seems like they are really hard to get a hold of and when you do they not as transparent about details of the shop, i.e. Flexibility, Bonuses, etc as I would hope.

Are $2-$5 bonuses and/or the offer of a "special" positive notation in your shopper file for others to view worth it for you to take on either low paying shops and/or ones that are further away than your normal demographic zone?

I've done a range of shops for several types of companies and just want to hear other people's experiences, I can't wait to hear what you have to say..

Thanks!

I, personally, would not be too inclined to take a shop with a 'hero citation', or some other pat on the back type of thing. It has been my experience that it doesn't mean a whole lot....if they really need help with the shop, and you are going to go out of your way to help them, then they need to pay you a bonus to do it and not rely on the fairly meaningless citations.

I accepted a couple of 'hero citation' shops when I was first starting, thinking that it would mean more jobs or better jobs coming my way. Not so much...all it means it that they gave me a '10', or perfect shop score, to add into my average rating. As my average rating wavers back and forth between a 9 and a 10, this did absolutely nothing for me. (Particularly as most msc's ask that your minimum shop score be a 5 to be eligible for shops.)

As for the schedulers, are you signed up for emails? I have developed a reptutation of sorts with several of them by simply replying to their shop listing emails. There are about 6 of them, from 6 different companies that I work with monthly because they know where I will go, and I have helped them out before. Sometimes letting them know that you can take a shop, just not by their posted due date will help them avoid calling all around to fill it later, and that can get you some email offers in the future.

I'm in a fairly rural location, and I do routes in all four directions that take me to even more rural locations that they have issues filling. Thus far, that has meant that the schedulers have me on their lists and that I usually get larger bonuses for driving.

Citations aren't worth much to high scoring shoppers, and lower scoring shoppers are unlikely to get bonus offers sent just to them (rather than the ones sent to the entire shopper list.)

Bonuses in the $2 to $5 range may be what you see for shops in the $7 to $12 pay range. If you really want to make some money, look for jobs that start at $15 and up, i.e., before bonus. Of course, the exceptions are for places you need to go to anyway (your own grocery store, your dry cleaners, your hair salon, your oil change place, your own bank). Any bonus there is pretty much gravy. BUT, if you can time those visits for late in the calendar quarter, the bonuses may be especially large.

When I am needing a hair cut, I check some shop boards and then email a scheduler late-ish in the month saying that I see an assignment languishing and if a bonus of $x were given, I would do it tomorrow. Same with my quarterly oil change, etc.

1. Perform your shops when you request them. I irked a few due to cancellations and just plain forgetting. Be careful how you schedule shops as I had some big paying ones rescheduled 3 times and Tmobile does not work on the road half the time! I was NOT going to lose out $65 over $7 + reimbursement.
2. Complete your reports on time.
3. ALWAYS polite and courteous using "please" and "thank you" in my communication.