I understand a lot of you have shops that are close to or past the deadline and I would love to help you out with these shops, however, when the specified shop is nearly 200 miles round trip from me, don't insult me by e-mailing me personally and offering me a grand total of $14. Would you travel nearly 200 miles for $14? Gas alone would cost more than the payment for the trip. I'm not being rude, and while I do appreciate the assignment opportunities, I must respectfully decline these shops. I have MSC's who have offered me a $250 bonus (or more) to travel a lesser distance than this. I love to assist MSC's in completing assignments, but I put forth amazing effort in completing both my shops and my reports in both an accurate and punctual manner; so, in essence, I feel my time is much more valuable than this.

Also, do you really need to post a subject with 47 exclamation points when just one would be sufficient? Some schedulers do this for every email, which makes me not want to pay attention to your email. When your subject is in all capital letters; it also makes me want to send your emails to the spam box forever.

I appreciate the opportunities you offer me, especially when you actually email me personally instead of a mass spam email; but be realistic about it if you do that. Emailing me personally for a mystery shop that pays so little is an insult.

Thank you everyone for listening to me vent and have a great day!

I agree with most of your post and am happy to listen to your vent. Just one bit of caveat, though: some "personal" emails are not really personal, even when you are addressed by name and thanked for your past shops, etc.

Hope you have a great day, too.

It's doubtful that each and every time an assignment needs to be filled that a scheduler checks the location of each shopper before sending out a mass email. I agree that the notification systems could use some improvement, but right now it's simple for me to just hit "delete" when I see a shop way out of my area for an insufficient fee, or to open up bonus negotiations if I'm doing a long-distance route.

On the other hand, if I am sure that the email singled out me and only me, I will start a dialog with the scheduler in hopes of doing future business with them on mutually beneficial assignments.

I wasn't saying anything to really be rude about it. It just gets frustrating when I get an email with my name asking for help (at least 10 question marks usually) and they don't offer me even close to enough compensation for the amount of travel.

One of the emails (I won't mention which MSC's or schedulers; it's not about that; I wanted to vent) asked for my help because "I have done the shop in the past for them". The only reason I did the shop was I had already scheduled 12 shops in the area and it was nice to pick up another one. The pay was $7 plus reimbursement (up to $5) and they take a ridiculously long time to pay. This MSC thought they were doing me a favor by bonusing the shop $5.00. The location was 45 miles away.

Any MSC (or scheduler) I deal with on even a semi-regular basis knows that I'm automatic when it comes to quality shops and meeting deadlines and most of them respond in kind by paying me pretty well. I never flub any shops and my reports are either 9's or 10's.

It does get to me once in a while when I am receiving a whole slew of email assignment announcements, and not a one of them is worth stepping outside the door. That goes for both nearby and long-distance shops. I think this will be more of a trend as fees go down and visit requirements increase.

It's really hard when I'm trying to put together a route and I see shops in the area I'm going to and the shop fee is below my "I won't get out of my car for that" amount. I seriously will not get out of my car for less than $7.50 unless I need to eat.

I will not interact with more than two people for less than $15. Each interaction is a name, a description, a greeting, a closing, and usually a narrative.

The more interactions, the better the chance that the shopper will mess something up. So it had better be worth my while to attempt one. We are gambling our time to get a payback.

I still laugh every time I see that "foreign furniture" shop sitting on the board for $55 (occasionally with a $5 bonus) for their 23 interactions or whatever it takes. I have to wonder if anyone ever does that shop. I'm not going to talk to someone, remember who they are, and write about it for $2 ... and risk that if I fail on one interaction, I will receive nothing for all the ones I managed to do correctly.

Would be lovely if they would all walk a mile (or drive 200) in our shoes once in awhile. But I suspect the problem lies neither with the scheduler nor the MSC, but the cheap clients who think they should get their data for free. They want the million dollar benefit of the shops but don't want the people who do them to be able to eat.

Each of us needs to draw his or her own line in the sand and stick to it. When only newbies who don't know better take the cheap shops and the quality of the shop goes down because of the constant turnover, maybe they'll figure it out.

I'm still technically a newbie; but I'm also a fast learner.

I am with you all the way, I keep getting offers that pay $2, 4, and $7. Come on, I won't make a phone call for $4.00 due to the amount of time the report takes. I know the schedulers don't bother to Google a state to see distances. I had a very nice scheduler call me one night and ask if I could do an $11 visit 93 miles away. 1st one needed to be done after 7pm, then the next week between 10-1. No bonus/mileage.I will drive anywhere for drive time/ mileage if the job pays at least ok. I spent 10 minutes telling her which towns she should be looking for people in as she was very nice and was new to the business. To me it wasn't her fault, she was just new. Hopefully when there is something in my area she will remember me.
Perhaps a list of companies that want the sun and the moon, 50 pictures, 26 page reports for $7 would be in order? I know reading this forum has saved me from more than a few that I would have signed up with due to posts of insane jobs, poor communication, slow or low pay.

Hi all. I am a scheduler, and appreciate all the wonderful shoppers I work with. As many of you know, schedulers do not get to select a shop fee. We all wish shops paid more. Shoppers make their money creating routes. I do not expect shoppers to go out of their way. If you get an email asking you to do a job that is not in your path, just delete it. You do not even need to respond. You are an independent contractor. Part of the job of being a scheduler is to get build data base in smaller areas as well as larger cities. I do not expect a shopper to drive 30 miles to do a $10 shop. If I do not get responses to a job posting, I start to get data base for shoppers in the city, and call them. Thanks all. Dawn Hunt

I have done that "forgien furniture" shop before when I first started mystery shopping. That was the worst shop ever!! I was excited when it was $85 but soon learned that it was not worth it. Never doing that one again!

I also shop routes as I am in a part of PA that I can go to other states and do shops but I make it worth my time, effort and gas to do so.

What about if he actually calls you when your email reply says you are interested and would help by doing all the shops if they are bonused. Then when you ask again, "Are they bonused?" he says, "I'll see what are offered." Then he confirms all 8 high-end shops and there is no bonus. He is now suddenly silent and does not give you the courtesy of a reply. You cancel and it goes to your records.

Yea, schedulers don't really look at your home location. They just pull up who has done a shop before and send out a notice. I vacationed to Wyoming two years ago and I get requests to do shops on WY all the time. I live in Philadelphia - like 2,000 miles away..

DanteInPA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
The only reason I did the shop
> was I had already scheduled 12 shops in the area
> and it was nice to pick up another one....The location was 45 miles away.

What I usually do is email them back, thank them for offering the job to me, and tell them that I am unable to complete it at this time because I currently do not have a route planned in that area. You can let them know that if you do plan a route in that area again, you will check their job board to see if the shop is available.
>
>

There was a MSC that I decided not to work for anymore because of the low pay, detailed narrative and no bonus pay offered. That is the beauty of being an IC - you can let go of one company and sign up for 5 more.

I don't fault the scheduler for sending out a mass email for a shop.

I don't fault the scheduler who calls me and asks me if I can shop a city that is 80 miles away and she does not realize it's that far from me.

I don't fault the scheduler if she can't give me a bonus (if she tries). I just thank her and hang up. It's really that simple.

When you see a job 75 miles away and they are offering $10. Don't be insulted. Tell them how far you live and if they are willing to give you a decent bonus.

I am so relieved to see that other people are as particular as I've become over the
years. I thought I was just being snotty and elitist about what I'll do!

SandiAigo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am so relieved to see that other people are as
> particular as I've become over the
> years. I thought I was just being snotty and
> elitist about what I'll do!

I've learned, and very quickly I might add, that there is no such thing as being snobby and elitist about choosing shops. You're the sole person who decides how much your time and effort is worth in this business.

IMHO, the reason we as shoppers don't get the pay we should most of the time is because of the people who are impatient and choose to scoop up a shop for the most miniscule amount just because it's close to them. For example, when there is a shop that is being run nationwide because of a special promotion with a concrete deadline and these shoppers take the shops for the first offered pay instead of waiting; waiting can mean the difference between $25 and $100+ if you play your cards right. I'm not talking about multiple shops either; more like one shop.

The schedulers and bosses at MSC's love the type of people who attack the board the first day a shop is posted. Their goal is to get shops filled for the least amount of money possible, which helps them line their own pockets. The longer a shop stays on the board and the closer the shop gets to the deadline, those MSC's pockets get a little looser (okay, sometimes a lot looser) and there are opportunities to make these shops more lucrative.

This isn't the case for every scheduler out there. Some schedulers try to pay people what they're worth and the scheduler's boss comes down on them. So, in some cases, the schedulers' hands are tied.

The best thing we could do collectively, is wait a little while when some of these (most actually) MSC's post shops with ridiculously low payments. When these shops don't fly off the board, MSC's get a little antsy and throw more money at shoppers.

That's just my opinion and I apologize for writing a novel.

I got a call last week....... 3 shops, 100 miles from me VERY nicely bonused. I emailed a question about them, and when the scheduler got back to me, he said that one of them had been taken, but I could have the other 2. I said I would need to look around for something else in the area to make the trip worth it for the 2 shops. He got back to me, saying that if I wanted........ he could offer me 2 more shops in MY town, and that may make it worth the trip! ummmmmm I just don't see the logic in it.

robinhardage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a call last week....... 3 shops, 100 miles
> from me VERY nicely bonused. I emailed a question
> about them, and when the scheduler got back to me,
> he said that one of them had been taken, but I
> could have the other 2. I said I would need to
> look around for something else in the area to make
> the trip worth it for the 2 shops. He got back to
> me, saying that if I wanted........ he could offer
> me 2 more shops in MY town, and that may make it
> worth the trip! ummmmmm I just don't see the
> logic in it.

I honestly laughed out loud when I read your post

That's what I'm here for!! Next show starts ummmmmm the next time a scheduler says or does something that I find amusing. Shouldn't take very long!!


SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I honestly laughed out loud when I read your
> post

There is a logic there, but it only works if he was offering you jobs you wouldn't otherwise have been able to get on your own just by going to the job board, or if they were shops that were in high demand that you would have had little likelihood of getting or if you were out of rotation on them.

If they were just regular shops you normally would have done any way but not on your "route" day, then that's like giving you a glass of air.

I think I love you. =D


DanteInPA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I understand a lot of you have shops that are
> close to or past the deadline and I would love to
> help you out with these shops, however, when the
> specified shop is nearly 200 miles round trip from
> me, don't insult me by e-mailing me personally and
> offering me a grand total of $14. Would you travel
> nearly 200 miles for $14?

For example; today I picked up two shops that are in the same area (21 miles away). Neither shop requires a purchase and total payment is $70 for these two shops.

Total amount of time in these two shops is 45 minutes. Driving time 30 minutes each way. One report will take 15 minutes (probably less: it's an audio shop; easy report) and the other will take 30 minutes. 2 and a half hours approximately.

Fuel expenses will cost me around $7.

So, after fuel my profit is $63 for 2 1/2 hours. $12.60 an hour. Not horrible.

Wouldn't that be $25.20 an hour?

Yes, my math was a little off... Still waking up... I know, I know it's 12:50pm here (don't ask... lol)!

I get that. While $12.60/hr isn't exactly horrible, $25.20/hr is pretty dang good

I could have picked up a lot of other shops, but didn't because- I didn't want any shops that were restaurant reimbursement only, or shops that required purchases or shops from MSC's that take forever to pay. I look at a lot of factors when picking up shops. If there had been a restaurant shop available that I was already planning on buying food there, I would have grabbed it of course.

Today's a beautiful day (75 degrees and sunny as a high) and I didn't want to be stuck doing reports all day either.

robinhardage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a call last week....... 3 shops, 100 miles
> from me VERY nicely bonused. I emailed a question
> about them, and when the scheduler got back to me,
> he said that one of them had been taken, but I
> could have the other 2. I said I would need to
> look around for something else in the area to make
> the trip worth it for the 2 shops. He got back to
> me, saying that if I wanted........ he could offer
> me 2 more shops in MY town, and that may make it
> worth the trip! ummmmmm I just don't see the
> logic in it.

I see the logic if you look at the four shops as one project and if the project as a whole is worth it. In other words, if adding the two shops in your town brings your profit up so that it meets your $X/hour requirement, then it may be worth your while to accept the project.

Dante, this time of year my "mobile" office has become my home office and it sits right by the door to a covered patio

Hello all. I am new to this forum, but not new to MS. I have been shopping for about 20+ years off and on and belong to another shopper forum. I wanted to reply to several comments here so I just figured I would combine it all into one post.

Dawn - Thanks for that reply. It really is best for everyone if we just delete the message and move on. If we are truly not interested in the assignment (and it is obvious that you didn't really send us a one on one email) then it wastes time for both of us to reply (us to send and you to read). I opt for the path of least resistance while still being cordial whenever possible.

SandiAigo / DanteInPA - >>I thought I was just being snotty and elitist about what I'll do!<<

Not at all. "It's not personal, it's business" (as Fox Books said to ShopGirl). This is a job and not being willing to work for less than the national minimum wage isn't being unreasonable by any means. Once you do the math and subtract the expenses - gas being the big one these days - then divide by the total hours/minutes needed to perform the shop - many shops will not meet this minimum wage requirement. Pick and choose and make sure you can get a living wage out of it. That is the only sane way to approach this line of work.

Itsasecret - >> then that's like giving you a glass of air.<< Excellent analogy ! Gotta remember that one.

LisaSTL >>I get that. While $12.60/hr isn't exactly horrible, $25.20/hr is pretty dang good<< Darn tootin'. That is the goal we are after. If you can start averaging all you shops to pay out between those two numbers you can consider it a decent paying career. Missing insurance and some benefits, but there are less tangible benefits like ... sleeping until 12:30 pm if you need to... lol.