Part Time Merchandising on the Side

Hello, new to the forum here. I have a full time job as a sales rep for a DSD beverage company. It's a great job with full time hours, benefits, etc. However, being single and without many time commitments, plus looking to purchase a home in the near future, I'm looking for opportunities to merchandise on the side. I did merchandising for over a year with my company before becoming a sales rep and also worked in a grocery store for several years, so I feel my experience is adequate, however it is limited to primarily grocery products.

I've applied for most companies listed under the NARMS website. What I would prefer is mainly the self assign jobs or at least companies that are very flexible with when the work is completed. I know that generally speaking, more of the work is for Monday-Friday daytime hours, but that is when I work my full time job. Anything in the evenings or weekends is best for me. Any advice on where else to look besides Google? Any specific companies that would fit my needs? I suppose speaking with reps from other companies while I'm in the stores couldn't hurt.

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Go to the Weekend Work? thread a little bit further down on this forum. Lots of suggestions there.

Look into Castforce. Many of their projects can be done nights and weekends. For the past six months the majority of the work is gift cards in various convenience store and big box office supply chains. They pay per store and all are self-assign so that you can plan out a mini route! It pays to have a smartphone to alert you when their emails post about new assignments being offered. The jobs can go quickly if you wait too long to place your desired stores. Castforce pays monthly (usually the 3rd Friday) and the money is on a debit card. I've never had a problem with having the money in the account on the day they say it will be. Good photos of each completed job are a must or they will ask for more (means going back again!). There may be other similar firms that I don't know about. Good luck in your search.

I am signed up for Castforce. I actually got an e-mail at 6 this morning from them informing me of new jobs in my state. But when I went to look around 10 I didn't see anything new. Do they seem to put out new projects frequently?

New projects come at least two or three times a month. The latest one was released Saturday at 10:58AM. Two hours later all of the assignments had been snapped up, I was only able to get 3 stores in my area. If you get an email at 6 make sure your smartphone alerts you to look right then!

I just got called about and accepted a one time job with Merchandising Support Services to hang IRC's on Mt. Olive products in two stores. Anyone ever do any work for them before? Glad to get my foot in the door!

I am doing work for them right now. They are exactly as they say they are. They will send out notices of what is upcoming and you let them know what you are able or willing to do. You may not get everything you ask for, but they will let you know what you are signed up for. Make sure you follow the directions exactly and take the pictures exactly as they tell you to! You will have to go back for better pictures if you don't. They don't do a ton of work in my area unfortunately. About 3 times a year I hear from them.
The IRC you are doing now isn't too bad. No pictures required. I am short so I bring along a step stool to reach the higher shelves. I am getting the full placement in all the stores so far. Not hitting the 20 minute frame as I am waiting forever for my stamp and signature. What part of the country are you in?

I am located in Illinois, south Chicago area. I've actually merchandised these stores in the past for my full time company, so I know the managers already. That should get me in and out pretty quickly.

All the managers were on a conference call this morning. Bummer. Hoping for less hurry up and wait time tomorrow. I'm covering 7 small towns south of Milwaukee.

I also informed them to include the town that my full time route is located in when e-mailing open assignments. That route is 40 miles away from my house but I could still tack on jobs out there at the end of my day. Hopefully they have more available in Illinois.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2014 12:12AM by daturner.

Driveline does not mind if you work weekends or night. I have just started with them but thus far has been great.

“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In !

Driveline still owes me money from last fall. I dropped some higher paying work to do a measure and photo of 2 grocery stores 50 miles away. The manager just kept trying to add more and more stores on me that I frankly didn't have the time for. I had a 60 hour week scheduled, I flat out didn't have any more time to do anything. He told me I WOULD do the inner city stores as he was assigning them to me and I HAD to do them. I quit on the spot and have never been paid for an entire Sunday (8 hours) I spent in 4 different mass discount stores and the 2 grocery stores(2 hours and 109 miles) on the Monday. Never again!
Good luck with them. I may have had a bad manager.

I am a new mystery shopper' looking for jobs in the conyers, ga. area. I've had 2 shops so far and have not heard back from either. Any help anyone can give me would be appreciated. I' looking for daytime shops and reliable companies to work with. I don't have a smart phone but have digtal camera. Thanks

If you take a look at the bottom of the page there is a link for all of the companies this forum has verified. Go ahead and sign up with as many as you can and hopefully some of them will have work in your area. There is no guarantee of who has what so it's best just to do as much as you can. Good luck!

<3 Silver Certified <3

I have been signing up with companies, up to about 18-20 as of now. When I take on a new company, whenever possible I do one job for them and then wait to see if I have problems, get paid on time, etc. I know this isn't always possible, but I HAVE ruled out some after doing a $7 job and filling out pages and pages of narration, then they aren't satisfied and want more! There are too many GOOD places out there to bother with those.

There is an old saying that 80% of your trouble will come from 20% of your clients. In this case, your MSC's and Merchandising companies. I know I can use 80% less trouble. I've dumped 6 companies in the last 8 months.
Ever changing dates and deadlines. Not getting shipments in a timely fashion to meet deadlines. Contradictory instructions, quick do this by yesterday, now go back tomorrow and do this instead! Under timed jobs. Yep, they are all gone, gone, gone.
Now I can concentrate my efforts on the better paying work and not make myself insane fishing for POP in the back room at a dollar store and, because it couldn't be found, not getting paid for the call, or trying to fix a cell phone display for 2 hours with a surprise prepaid card component that has never been set up correctly and never getting paid for it. May they all rot in HXXX.

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Part Time Merchandising on the Side

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