Yes, I looked at a $12 job today and passed. 14 miles across town, take photos and home since I have nothing else in that area in the next few days and found nothing to pick up along the way. 28 miles means my IRS gas deduction would exceed the fee. Add the time to it, the photo clean up and upload, reading the instrux before etc. It made no sense even though I don't have anything urgent on the schedule. Yes, my time is worth something, even if it is dumping old flower pots and getting ready for my spring garden.

When do you think the IRS is going to reduce the 58.5/mile?

Sad when all one can find is a lowly-paying orphan shop.

This has been a good, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, discussion.

Hellbent you said....."Funny the differences of opinions here. My viewpoint is that my TIME is worth something. That's how I select jobs. Scheduling takes time,driving to the job is time, performing the shop is time,driving back from the job is time,inputing the job is time,clarifying reports is time,Then there is the printing out of paperwork,buying supplies,keeping invoices up to date, quizzes and test. I'm sure there is a lot of time consuming things related to this business I've left out. But there you go get the drift.Five or even ten bucks just doesn't cut it anymore. I'd rather not start my vehicle, and the save the five bucks in gas, then go do a five dollar job."

I have to totaly agree w/ you,I read some of these jobs and think to myself you have got to be kidding and I am so glad I am not the only one who feels this way but boy I sure am starting to feel the empty bank account but i am just stubborn enough & wise enough to know I would be putting myself in the hole if I take these jobs...good thing I also clean houses as another side job.
I sure would like to think a boycott would do it but i just don't think so as there will always be someone who will do these lower paying assignments.
Whatta gonna do?
dee

My time is worth something also........it is just like the restaurant shops that only reimburse. Many say.......it is a free meal. Well, it is not free....you are working for your meal due to the fact you have all the observations, report to input, scanning and uploading receipt. I have never understood why FF will reimburse and pay fee while most casual and fine dining ONLY reimburse. There are a few exceptions. Now, cheesecake factory sends you a giftcard.......what's up with that?? So I only do restaurants w/reimburse only that I would normally eat at and the audit takes a short amount of my time.
I will take some shops below $10 but only if they are in conjunction w/other shops and convenient.
I do understand though if others choose to take low paying shops as they may very well need the money. I do this part time so the pay is not a necessity. It is just a shame that MS companies and/or the clients don't pay decent pay for the shops. Since I began almost 5 years ago, shop fees have either stayed the same or decreased while everything else in our world has gone up.

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When do you think the IRS is going to reduce the
> 58.5/mile?
>

They have already reduced it. For 2009 it is only 55/mile and I expect it will probably drop July 1 though I have heard or seen nothing yet.

I have recently turned down all shops with pay under 15 bucks. I still will take the restaurant shops for reimbursment as some of mine are fine upscale joints. I have on this weekend that pays $250 in dining and bar. So, don't pay me. That is OK on this one. I refuse to take the cheap shops with the attendant tests, overly stringent reports and nonsense editors. There are too many good people in the msc to bother with the self important no nothing knomes. And we all know who they are without me badmouthing them. It does not take too long for all of us to find out who they are.

How about the fashion sunglass shops that only pay $8, yet you have to buy a $250 pair of sunglasses, but the purchase isn't reimbursed. So, they instruct you to return the sunglasses for a refund, just not on the same day or the shop won't be valid. That means two visits to the client for $8, basically $4 per visit. Yeah, right. Their scheduler called me the other day, I told her to put me on their Do Not Call list.

I was offered via phone, a shop that is 127 miles away to do a 5 minute eval of a gas station out in the middle of nowhere. The pay was $12.00 plus a bonus. Sorry, but that bonus would have had to be a lot more than they were offering. Then she had the gall to ask if I would do one in a town that was even further away, at least a 2 1/2 hour drive, for the same pay. Sorry, no can do.

I too have boycotted all jobs under $5.00, actually $10.00. I don't get alot of offers, living in a small rural area, but the measly pay isn't worth my time of driving over 35 miles to the closest town, filling out lengthy forms and waiting for my pay a month or so later.

I've done the sunglass shops - must have been with a different MSP. Standard pay is $15, several locations can be done in one day at the same mall, and oftentimes they're bonused. Purchase and return in the same day, a half an hour apart. I like them.

The sunglasses shops that I have done (one MSC is no purchase, the other purchase and return same day or another day but the return not part of the shop) paid $20 each (and the latter one was bonused to $30 when I did it.) One is a high end chain with few US stores, the other is a national chain with stores in seemingly every mall in America. I like those shops, and the sunglasses return, since they have so many stores here, was easy for me to do when I did something else and I did not have to go back to the same store. I paid $125 for the glasses and they did the credit directly to my CC as an IMMEDIATE credit, with no wait.

I agree ,I know the company that offers the $5-$6 shops for Exxon. I do work for
them ,but I wait until the price goes up,I agree I will not work for pay that low.
I also do work for another company, I do audits for Conoco,it requires 10 pics and a report.But it pays $14 ,which is still too low,but if you can find stations that are close together it's worth your time. I just don't understand how these companies think someone can make it on $4-$6 bucks a shop,.It is just not worth it.I did a few when I 1st started and man it just ain't worth the time and effort.

I find if a company calls me and asks if I'll do a shop (usually real close to the due date), I come right out and ask what about a bonus. No bonus, I won't do it. A lot of the time they'll throw in a bonus.

Yes, that is the usual approach. Among other things you probably decided not to take the job at least a few times from their website or emails already because either it didn't work for you or it didn't pay enough. I have no qualms about saying something like, "Oh yes, I saw that one and wasn't interested because of _______ and the pay." If it was just a schedule issue and it can be stretched to fit I may not push hard on the bonus. If it was money, they need to know that. If they can't do anything about the fee you can try horse trading. "I will do this if you will give me that".

The only good thing about CRI is they do pay weekly.But they are tough with their
reports.I recently did a college bookstore(Barnes & Noble)the bookstore only had one employee ,but the report was setup for a muli-employee type big store.They got really upset when I imputted n/a on a lot of the questions.I doubt if I get paid for this shop.Or they will probably want me to re-shop,all for $12.I mean come on ! I won't do a re-shop ,not for that kind of $$$.

txguitar, please remove the name of the client. The company has been named in the thread (and indeed in your post) so disclosure of the client is a violation of the confidentiality clauses of your Independent Contractor Agreement.

What a great thread!

I am a brand-spanking new mystery shopper, just started this month. So far I've completed just 7 shops, most of which have paid between $12 and $15. I've received grades of 9s and 10s on all of my shops. All of these shops have been within a few miles of my home, and have not required more than a $1 purchase, so I can't complain.

However, I did a shop yesterday that I knew from the start I should have never signed up for. It was for a local fast food chain, and the pay was $10. I'm not crazy about this particular restaurant, but it's only a couple miles from my house so I figured I would take it just to get some restaurant experience. Before I accepted this shop, I knew that the pay was only $10 and I knew that I had to make a purchase and that I would not be reimbursed for it.

Once I accepted the shop, I discovered that I needed to make a relatively large purchase..an entree item, 2 side items, a drink, and a dessert. I chose the least expensive items on the menu, and my bill came to $7.49. So, the bottom line is, for about two hours of my time (preparation, the actual shop, and filling out the very long, detailed report with several narrative sections) I netted about $1.25 per hour. Not a big deal because I knew what I was getting in to, but I did promise myself I would NEVER do a shop like this again.

Well, this evening I get an e-mail from the scheduler who gave me a grade of 9 out of 10, which is fine with me. However, in her e-mail she listed several "mistakes" I made, such as not starting the names of the food items with capital letters. I went back and checked the guidelines, which included a "sample narrative" that did not capitalize the names of the food items, nor was it mentioned anywhere in the guidelines that capitalization was required. There were several other nit-picky things mentioned, which really pissed me off!

I'm not one to keep my mouth shut when I feel like I'm being treated unfairly or when I have a strong opinion about something, so it was all I could do not to send a response telling them how ridiculous and insulting this was. Instead, I sent a "polite" e-mail thanking them for pointing out my errors, but also telling them that in the future it would help if their guidelines were more specific, an so on.

So, I've learned my lesson about settling for low-paying shops, and will most definitely join in the boycott!!

You stated that you did this shop for restaurant experience, it shouldn't smart that you made peanuts. You gained experience and a 9 out of 10, with constructive feedback. That's a plus. You were diplomatic in your reply; that's also a plus. Biting your tongue was wise.

Sample narratives, feedback and communication from the MSPs are sometimes less than grammatically perfect, yet that is the expectation from the shopper. That's the rub. Shrug it off. Sometimes, our performance is better than our "employer". Just the way it is.

I have yet to boycott any MSP. I pick and choose what works for me.

I agreed Jeanne, it's simply ridiculous what the companies expect us shoppers to do the work for. When you get done driving to the shop, getting your info offline, (course we still have to pay for internet fees & phone fees and computer costs), then all the time to do the shop, PLUS putting it all online.. (god forbid you have a connection problem on the web), you often get like $1.75 an hour! this is just stupid. I'm going broke doing these shops for these companies..

I got a shop for $15 for CorpRes, but I had to drive 2 hours round trip to get there.. Well, figure out the cost of gas, wear and tear, the fact you're proably going to have something to eat, sometime during the day.. plus coming hom, I made NOTHING on the job!

This is ridiculous.. Unless they want to supply us with company cars, give us free gas, free computers, internet service, etc.. they've really got no right expecting us to work at below min. wage!

This is like working for a 3rd world country, honestly..

I would love to get a typing job too.. Where do you get one? I used to typeset for a living, I'm an excellent typist.. This is just nonsense!

Jeanne728 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think I made Second to None mad today. I told
> them it was ridiculuous on a job to give page
> after page of single spaced instructions which
> needed to be printed out. I need to print so I can
> highlight exactly what they want. Then they want
> you to study for a quiz and take the quiz before
> the shop. I went through this last year over a
> Starbucks shop. They kept emailing me about
> wanting more information. This was after they told
> me to be at the shop between 9 and 10 a.m. The
> place opened at 10. I was already in a bad mood. I
> had taken their quiz, printed, sat in the parking
> lot for an hour and then had to keep emailing back
> and forth over a $10 check. I finally told them to
> pay me or forget it. How much can you write about
> ordering one cup of coffee??? They did pay, but
> they weren't happy about it. When I saw what they
> expected about an insurance shop today, I ended up
> refusing it. They expected me to spend an hour
> hearing a talk on insurance. Listen for all kinds
> of technical terms. Tons of questions on the final
> form. Don't these people realize that we are worth
> something? By the way, anybody know any legitimate
> places to get typing at home. That's what I'd
> really like to be doing.

It's not just the mystery shops either.. some of the movie checking shops do you this way. I was workgin for T.E.S. My dispatcher was such a disorganized fool, he assigned me to do 3 days worth of a block buster hit, and instead after doing the entire weekend, I was finally informed by the V.P of the scheduling, Lisa, that I was only supposed to do ONE DAY!
Did they pay me for the other three days?? Nope.. never an apology, nothing.. Don't go work for them if Lisa. N is still their V.P! They are a lousy company to work for now. NEver used to be this way. Their dispatchers were good and dependable, helped you out as much as they could, gave you good assignments..

Who on earth can afford to work for 2 days and get paid NOTHING? I should file a lawsuit against them with the Dept. of Labor in CA.

They are ruthless and rude. Wow.. must be more than 3 or 4 companies in all of America though that do movie checking... Certified Reports is not so great either.. Had really rude nasty dispatchers for them too...

I dunno.. it's getting to be a really bad scene, when the Americans are forced to work for what comes out to be like $1.75 an hour, and yet, we are STILL expected to meet our housing expensives, like mortgage, rent, ins. all that good stuff.. while they can delay or not pay us at all and get away with it, and they are a global company!

I think we should boycottt them. If they cannot get good help, they will HAVE to start increasing their prices.. There's probably nothing worse than having new peopel with no experience do their shops...They probably make alot more mistakes, don't pick up on the things that the more exp. shoppers do...

And then, if the customers are not happy... those stores & businesses are going to lose money. They sure do NOT want that!

Too bad we shoppers do not have a union..

In response to Mert.. yes, this shop was a learning experience in many ways, but I still feel like I was taken advantage of in a way, and then nit-picked about errors that weren't even errors according to the guidelines..really unacceptable in my opinion.

I would not necessarily boycott an MS company all together, but I'll definitely think twice before accepting a shop with this particular company again. If they have something that seems reasonable, I'd probably accept it.

And yes, biting my tongue was a HUGE challenge, lol, but I know it was the right thing to do. Funny thing was, the scheduler never did get my e-mail...it kept kicking back to me, so my "polite" griping feel on dead ears any way.