I have two blue and yellow gas station mystery shops tomorrow. These locations are located in service plazas directly off I-80 (you have to be on I-80 to access them). Since there is a service plaza, they do not have their own convenience stores. I have a few questions. I did e-mail the company, but they replied only answering one of my questions. So I am hoping to get some help here. I hope someone has done ones like this and can tell me what they did.

There is no time specified on the shop. In the training it states I will be given a window (one of three shift times). Does this mean I can shop anytime during that day? They are open 24 hours.

These locations have an employee that you can approach at a window (no acutual store you can go in). Do I still see if they have something I can purchase up to $2.00 (I am not sure if they sell anything)?

What vantage point (location) do you take your photo from. I was thinking maybe from the service plaza parking area itself?

I would appreciate any help.

spaztck Wrote:
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> I have two blue and yellow gas station mystery
> shops tomorrow. These locations are located in
> service plazas directly off I-80 (you have to be
> on I-80 to access them). Since there is a service
> plaza, they do not have their own convenience
> stores. I have a few questions. I did e-mail the
> company, but they replied only answering one of my
> questions. So I am hoping to get some help here.
> I hope someone has done ones like this and can
> tell me what they did.

Put a strap on your camera and put the strap on your wrist so you do not drop the camera in the bowl.
Watch out for angry gas attendants with Turbans on. You are not going to understand what they are saying but you will get the jist.
Take the pictures LAST on the way out, be sure the gas attendant is busy elsewhere.
In New Jersey it is hard to take pictures at the Island as we do not pump our gas and are told NOT to get out of the car.
The attendant usually stays so you can not sneak a picture. It does not take a lot of time to pump a gallon of gas.

The scenario NEVER changes. They know you are a mystery shopper when you buy $5 worth of gas and a $2 Slim Jim salami stick.
You can not park your car at the pump and run in to check the restroom and convenience store.
Welcome Newbie. I think if you do enough gas shops in the same route you make money, but how many packs of gum or sausage sticks can you eat? If you buy a lottery ticket at each stop to throw the attendant off you may hit the jackpot and become rich.

> There is no time specified on the shop. In the
> training it states I will be given a window (one
> of three shift times). Does this mean I can shop
> anytime during that day? They are open 24 hours.
>
> These locations have an employee that you can
> approach at a window (no acutual store you can go
> in). Do I still see if they have something I can
> purchase up to $2.00 (I am not sure if they sell
> anything)?
>
> What vantage point (location) do you take your
> photo from. I was thinking maybe from the service
> plaza parking area itself?
>
> I would appreciate any help.

Sorry, I should have specified. There is no audit portion. This is strictly a Mystery Shop with, in my case, probably only two photos since they do not have a rest room (one of the pump and on of the overall location).

spaztck Wrote:
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> Sorry, I should have specified. There is no audit
> portion. This is strictly a Mystery Shop with, in
> my case, probably only two photos since they do
> not have a rest room (one of the pump and on of
> the overall location).

here is how i have taken my shots.

the photo for the overall location is best done from the opposite corner of the street. get the whole property area within the shot, including the parking lot, building and canopy. try not to get too many vehicles from traffic blocking the view. take several extra shots (3 or 4), because some of them will be blurry when you accidentally shake the camera. make sure that the camera is set to 'daylight' and that it is light outside.

the pump photo should be from top to bottom head on. all of the octane ratings should be visible. include the entire top portion of the pump and the entire pump curb at the bottom of the pump. again take several shots, because some of them will blur.

further, some shops require a picture of the full pump 'island' (usually two or three pumps in a row) from a 45 degree angle, excluding the canopy.

does this answer your question?

there should really be some example photos in your shop guidelines, or some explanation at least in your guidelines.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2012 07:09PM by vince.

Ok, go anytime. The shifts are for reference. I pump my gas and wash my windows while taking the pump picture from across the car on the opposite side while washing my windows. I run in, buy a pack of gum get my receipt. I go back out and take my perimeter poles if no POP is correct. Sometimes (ok so every shop for the blue/yellow has no perimeter poles) so I take pics of telephone poles, other company poles or just one pic in each direction showing no perimeter poles N-S-E-W. I usually take my location shot from across the street when I can and safe. These are sooooo easy. Easy money. Definately try to buy something if a location with just a window, ask if they have a pop or bag of chips. Many kiosk type places like this have at the very minimum a pop.

Have fun. Be safe.

If you are assigned a specific shift you must shop during that shift for example first shift is useually 7am to 3pm second 3pm to 11pm third 11 pm to 7 am.

Thank you so much SecretAgentMom! I was so nervous, but no one even paid attention to me taking the pictures. There definately was no POP....took your advice and took sevral pics! Got scored a 5 on both shops!!!!! yippee! Just took them because they were 5 miles away from where I was going to meet a friend (on a non shop related social visit...lol). Ended up making over $30 in fees and got some gas and candy to boot!

Thanks for the help SecretAgentMom!

i would loe this job