Steak and Shake shops

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Sorry, but requesting a PM is still against forum rules and will still be a violation of most ICAs.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
I wish we had Steak and Shake in Arizona. I ate at one near Chicago once. The service was a tiny bit on the slow side (it was very busy) and they gave me my shake for free to make up for it. I was really impressed because it hadn't even been slow enough for me to start muttering "What's taking so long?" but apparently they had a time standard they failed to meet.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.
shopper64 Wrote:
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> Could someone please private message me with the
> name of the company that shops Steak and Shake? Im
> travelling in FL and want to do one... just cant
> remember who offers them. Thanks!


Hi Shopper64,

Not trying to be rude here, but if you've read some recent forum entries, people tend to get really pissy about others coming on and asking which MSC shop which businesses. In the time you took to type in the question, you could have found out the answer yourself by typing in, "Steak and shake mystery shops" and searching online. A lot of times you can find the answer that way. I just found the answer and signed up for the company.
Uh, people get pissy about being asked to violate a contractual agreement.

There's no guarantee at all that the person asking isn't a representative of the MSC, checking forums to see if ICA's are being violated. There ARE schedulers on this forum.

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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.
I used to shop them regularly - -like super regularly but I haven't seen a shop for them in about two years now - it will be two years in February I believe.

Liz
Actually I really liked the gist of what phms posted. The term pissy, is not exactly fair. It is usually the poster who doesn't get the PM or the answer who gets pissy about it and calls us all sorts of names for honoring our contracts and the forum rules.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Besides violating contracts and forum rules, the bottom line is that most of us are in this gig to run a profitable business for ourselves. In no other business is an owner going to willingly open their books for what could possibly be their competition.

_____________________________________________________________________________
"Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
~Viktor Frankl
shopgal Wrote:
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> Besides violating contracts and forum rules, the
> bottom line is that most of us are in this gig to
> run a profitable business for ourselves. In no
> other business is an owner going to willingly open
> their books for what could possibly be their
> competition.


People get into mystery shopping for a variety of reasons. Some to make money; some for fun. I would venture to say that the people who are asking for the direct route (ie who shops YY??, tell me now, I'm a new shopper etc,) are not people who are probably going to be in it for the money and make a huge dent into your bottom line-maybe, maybe not. They are people who probably want to just go out to Steak N Shake, or (supply your favorite shop you do). Plus, MAYBE these people are lazy (hence the asking instead of researching it for themselves) and won't last in mystery shopping. I am not saying to give the info and violate any ICA or the forum rules.

Sometimes the responses can come across as, "I know who shops whom, and I'm Better Than You. Na-na Na-na Boo-boo" Of course I've only been a member a short time, so I know that it probably gets annoying when people ask the same questions over and over without reading any of the forum first.

If you are (Royal We) in it for the money, why are you here? Why waste your shopping time on a forum like this? Go make money!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2012 08:53PM by phms199.
Hi, phms199, welcome to the forum. You sound like a think-er and a do-er, and based on that, I'm predicting MSing success for you.

You are right: all of us are in it for different reasons. Some of us want the money and some of us prefer the freebies, and some want both. We like different companies and we like different types of shops. Some work at MSing full time and others part time. I work full time at my day time and MS a little on the side, and, while I want to make a little extra money for my time (I don't work free!), I'm more interested in the tax-free reimbursed items, like a great fine dining for the family.

As to why we are here rather than out making money, there are lots of different reasons for that, too. I suspect many of the newer shoppers are here to learn. In 2008 when I started, I was here to learn - and, believe me, I learned a lot, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to the old-timers like Mert, Flash, walesmaven, and others who "mentored" me with their posts and their responses to my questions and the questions of others. I suspect that many of the old-timers (after more than 5 years, I'm now an old-timer) are here because they want to "give back" and "pay it forward" etc. etc. .... in short, we want to help newer shoppers learn the ropes. I now spend most of my time on the forum answering questions about how-to and why-does, although I don't answer who-shops-XXX because I respect the confidentiality agreement that I was required to sign with most of the 150+ companies I'm signed up with. And - although I'm an "old-timer MS-er" - I still learn something here pretty often!

In addition, MSing is a solitary job. Many of us miss the camaraderie of meeting our co-workers at the water cooler or in the employee breakroom. For some of us, this forum is the equivalent of an employee breakroom, a chance to visit with others who do the same job we do and speak the same (MS) shorthand we speak. How long posters stay and what they want from the forum also varies. Some posters come in and post once and are gone. Others start strong and suddenly lose interest, whether it is MSing they have lost interest in or whether it is that they have tired of the forum. Who knows. Some of us seem to stay around. I like it. I find it relaxing. While, yes, I could be out making more money, there's a limit to how much I want to work. And - I've made some wonderful, close friends on the forum - many live half a world away, but we can reach out and touch though forum posts, PMs, and e-mail.....and if I visit their area or they visit mine ...... we can do an MS job together ......OR - here's a big jump - we could even share a meal and PAY for it. Happy shopping, everybody!
phms199, you are correct. It does get annoying. Thank you for your thought provoking post indicating that many responses come across as inconsiderate.

Every shopper who has signed up with any company should know there is a contract. A potential shopper who has not bothered to sign up with any company has made no effort. Therefore, we are being asked to violate our contracts by (1) someone who knows better, or (2) someone who has made no effort. I'm no longer sorry I can't provide that information.

Starting now, I will devote time helping others to those who post within the guidelines.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
I don't consider my time spent on this forum as a waste, phms. I'm sure a lot of others don't, either. We all need a chance to relax and share with others in the field that understand our joys and pet peeves and funnies and frustrations in a way that our friends and fam working in traditional jobs can't really fully relate to. As Austin had mentioned, this gig can be very isolating, and it can be easy to get burned out.

Additionally, it is a rare week when I can't pick up a useful tip or trick that will help me better myself as a mystery shopper or improve my business operations. This forum is an awesome resource on so many levels, with a helpful and experienced community. The discussions here are far more useful to me than those encountered during the hob-nobbing I used to do at our local chamber of commerce events while employed in a traditional job. Any business that isn't striving to learn new best practices stagnates and doesn't grow to its potential.

Summing it up, this forum can help me make money because I have the motivation to continue to grow my business, the support and camaraderie to get through the tough times, and a wealth of useful information at my fingertips.

One last thing, whether someone is a hobbyist or a dedicated mystery shopping business is irrelevant when it comes to divulging information regarding which MSCs have contracts with which clients. There's just no upside in doing so.

_____________________________________________________________________________
"Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
~Viktor Frankl
I will say this. I think one of my first posts was asking about a specific shop directly. I didn't realize you couldn't talk to other shoppers at the time, I was fairly new. Now, I will say there are some shops that are not easy to find and I've asked (recently in fact) if the shops even exist. I hate wasting my time for hours and hours when someone could have just told me if a shop existed or not. Like, right now I'm trying to find American Girl and Dinosaur Cafe but based on my lack of responses I am thinking they don't exist.

I did find the Steak and Shake one's really fast though. God, I wish some of the other places I've looked for have been that easy. Geez.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2012 03:48AM by GonzoSam.
I don't mind helping someone if they ask is XYZ shopped? Matter of fact, I've asked that same question recently. It's when the question becomes "Who shops XYZ?" that I think most responders have the problem because at that point we are being asked to violate the ICA.

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Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
I would not trust googling to find MSCs for a specific client. Most likely not accurate and/or outdated. See....free info!
I agree with cynb .... there's plenty of info on Google about the company that used to shop Steak and Shake in 2009 ...... but they lost the contract in 2010.
Traveliz is correct. I have not seen any shop for about 2 years. I used to them monthly.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~
Ohhhhhh. Well, that was a waste signing up with that company. Dang. I thought I found something cool I wasn't even looking for. tongue sticking out smiley
IMHO, you didn't waste time signing up with that company. The company is a good one: good clients, reasonable reports, good explanations, understanding schedulers and editors, and fast pay. I think, rather, that the waste is in looking for companies who shop particular clients rather than signing up with a lot of companies to give a good base of companies with varied clients and shops.

If a shopper is a hobbyist and wants only to shop a short list of companies, a good tactic might be to contact the corporate office, present yourself as a mystery shopper, and ask if they have a mystery shopping program. If the answer is yes, ask that they recommend you as a shopper to the company that performs their mystery shopping program. A company representative in the corporate office might be willing to give that information.

While on occasion I've been surprised and delighted to find a shop at a personal favorite company offered to me, more often I pick and choose among a large number of assignments. I've "discovered" a lot of favorite companies by performing a shop. No way would I waste my time by listing my favorite companies and looking for the MSC that might be currently shopping them. In the big scale of things, the majority of companies are not shopped. And many who are change their MSCs regularly or take a break from being shopping periodically. I'll shop the ones who are shopped.
Could someone please clarify? I thought the forum "rules" just said you could not link a mystery shopping company and their client in the same message, so I asked for a PRIVATE MESSAGE to help me remember which MSC shops Steak and Steak... but my post was edited for violation??? Please advise.. thanks.
When we sign a confidentiality agreement, we agree not to reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies. To reveal the clients of those companies is a violation whether it is done in open forum, verbally, in a PM, or in an e-mail. In addition to being an ICA violation, the guidelines of our forum prohibit revealing the clients of MSCs - and revealing through a PM is as much a violation as revealing in the open forum.

The forum guidelines do not mention linking MSCs and their clients in the same message. The guidelines say:

Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies.
Austinmom - I usually don't look for specific companies unless I'm traveling and want to save on vacation or something like that. I actually have a long list of companies that I work for but I was excited about steak and shake bc I like to eat there and rarely get to. I actually rarely do resturaunt shops bc they don't pay. I onl do them when I want to eat for free or almost free. Like I'll do Fox and Hound for this one MSC bc their french dip is soooooooooo good but I can't afford them normally. You are right though, I didn't waste my time, at least I hope. I live in Oklahoma and so a lot of companies have no shops here. I wasn't really thinking when I said that so it's good to know they are a good company. Hopefully they'll have something in my area! smiling smiley

Shopper64 - It's not the forum rules. It's the contract you and "we" all signed when we sign up for a company. A shopper is not allowed to tell another person what companies a particular MSC shops. It's just not allowed and can get people fired. Most the time you can search on google and stuff and find the company or go to places like Volition.com or Jobslinger.com and they will help you to find them. Kind of. It still takes effort from you and sometimes you just can't find a company and you have to move on, I have. But, with effort you can usually find something. Once, I was looking for airline shops and was told they didn't really exist by a lot of people but I eventually found a company. Unfortunatly they are based out of Canada so no bueno. It took me almost a week but I found them. I also found a lot of other good companies in the process. Sometimes you just have to sign up for ones that do shops like what you are looking for and hope they are that company.
Keep in mind that schedulers post jobs so using the name of the client in a search on the forums also might get the results you want. Unlike us, MSCs and their employees often are allowed to publicize their clients.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Francine Wrote:
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> EDITED FOR ICA VIOLATION

If you have the thought, "I hope I'm not violating...", you probably are. I appreciate that you were trying to be helpful Francine. However, both the ICA and the forum rules don't allow us to connect the MSC to the client. That's why a moderator edited your post.

Please keep reading and posting. We're glad to have another helpful member here!

AndrewTX
Certifiable
Francine, I agree with Andrew 100%. Welcome to the forum, and I hope you'll keep posting.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Back to the original restaurant-they seem to have gone downhill in food and service quality drastically with or without shoppers!
Sorry for the Violation. I am new and will keep this in mind. It is hard to remember all of the rules at first. It's only my first day so thanks for keeping me in line.
James Bond 007.5 Wrote:
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> I don't mind helping someone if they ask is XYZ
> shopped? Matter of fact, I've asked that same
> question recently. It's when the question becomes
> "Who shops XYZ?" that I think most responders have
> the problem because at that point we are being
> asked to violate the ICA.

+1

I've asked that question several times. If I know that the company is shopped, I can start tracing down the companies I'm not registered with to find out who has them as a client.
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