Thanks. CR

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2013 09:55PM by cascaderobert.

depends which company your doing them for...

3 different msc's shop them...

The one that comes with the 36 page booklet they UPS to you with an ID badge and requires the safety vest photo will likely take an hour the first time you do it, and half that for subsequent shops. This is a mystery shop followed by a revealed audit with pics needed primarily of non-compliance issues. Pics of BOTH bathrooms are required. Is that your shop?

There may be other shops requiring pics of all the pumps. Although I actually did take pics of all the pumps for my first one, did the entire report in the car to make sure I didn't miss anything (and I had, so I was glad I took that step), and I was out in an hour and ten minutes.

I would expect my next one to take 45 minutes or less and I won't take pics of all the pumps that time.

An hour or 45 minutes....about the same. How much does this shop pay?

It varies widely by client and by condition of location.
An every pump revealed audit at a station in great shape with four pumps? 17 minutes.
Same client in crumby condition, 16 pumps, and someone in the restroom... 45 minutes.
Pure mystery shop with 2 required photos plus deficiency pictures... 8 minutes.
Mailed to you form, revealed audit... 35 minutes minimum.

For each of these, and all the other clients I've done, the first visit took significantly more than double the time I can do them in now. Try one, learn from the first, and be sure to try a second before you make up your mind about them.

Oooh, great question! And I love your answer, elcare!

I tried to do one of these and like itsa said, man, I missed something, too. Only I didn't do mine in the car. I did mine at home (45 minutes away from the pumps!!), and once you submit the report with the photos (mine had to have a picture of every pump, I missed one pump out of 18) there was no submitting the missing photo. I didn't know that at the time and went all the way back to get that last image, too. They told me later that it would be a no go. =( I spent two and a half hours in total for no dollars. Not a good investment for me. =) It was dumb of me to miss a pump, though!

I have always wondered this question, though. I've steered clear since that first shop!

jen -
Good job going back for the missing photo.
If it ever happens again, two things will work.
If you have daylight sufficient to go back for the photo, just don't submit your report and go get the photo. If you've already started the report, just close your browser and go - you'll have to reenter everything when you return, but it will be complete when you do.
If you've already submitted, or if it's too late in the day to return for the missing photo (in which case, submit what you have), then immediately go through the "Contact Us" (not the Live Support) tell them you forgot a photo with the report you just submitted and ask for help in getting it into the report, then email the scheduler or project supervisor telling them the same. In the morning, go get your photo, then call their offices to let them know you forgot a photo and need help getting it into your report.
You'll be able to send it as an attachment or submit it as a second receipt on the MSC home page. I've forgotten photos for that client three times, and being proactive has always gotten the job accepted.
I'm surprised you didn't get paid. The few times I missed a photo and didn't realize it, they let me know by email that it was missing and that I had 12 or 24 hours to get it in.
The tricky photos for that client are when alternative fuel pumps are off by themselves beside or even behind the building.

I think for the audit Jen is referencing, there is no going back and submitting one photo. They will allow you to completely redo it most of the time and by completely I mean new purchases, all new photos, everything.

In answere to the OP's question, too damn long to take them at $6

That's interesting, Lisa. I was assuming it was the blue GS revealed audit. Those are the ones I've been able to submit a missing photo for. I wonder if it may be a subjective call on the MSC end of things. ?

Without either knowing which gas station or which MSC there is no way to say for sure. I'm not up on all the colors for stations and there are so many in one region and not another.

It was a CORI shop, unfortunately. Lisa wins the set of kitchen knives. =) I SO wish it was possible to contact them and say, "Hey, could you please add this photo for me?" I only went back because I was hoping it'd be that easy. Sad to report, though, what's submitted is submitted. It's either go back and redo the shop (as Lisa suggested) or it's so sorry, Charlie!

That's great info to have for the future, though, elcare! Thank you! =))

You can keep the knives. Consider it your consolation prize for losing the audit

Wait, are the knives those as seen on tv 19.95 special or
are they a nicer set that retails for 300?

You might want to reconsider

In the rain....they take forever.....

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the rain....they take forever.....


why? rain never slowed me down...goes quicker
people pump their gas and get out of the station
faster

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SunnyDays2 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In the rain....they take forever.....
>
>
> why? rain never slowed me down...goes quicker
> people pump their gas and get out of the station
> faster


I'm talking about pouring rain, taking pictures of the pumps, with an umbrella in one hand, rain driven in your eyes and the camera in the other....

The fastest is when it is 25 degrees with snow flurries. Nobody pumping gas and an auditor that only slowed down to a trot.

I forgot about the snow. those days are the best. No one is ever around.

My first GS for Cori I failed to get a receipt and missed uploading one of the pumps (I had the pic, somehow I skipped it when I was adding the date/time).

They let me redo the next day. But that was my ONLY option if I wanted to be paid. No option to go buy another soda or re-take the photo because the date/time would have been wrong. (I later found the pic on my camera, just not on the computer)

Reshop went fine. And I've gotten much better about getting my receipts! I've learned to go back in and ask for a reprint when I realize they didn't give it to me.

I do 95% fuel shops

green/yellow stores - 25 minutes max - you only have to take the photo of the bathroom you use, the required photos, and non-compliant issues

red/white/blue - if a free-standing with no attendant/no c-store - 10 minutes, with c-store 20 minutes - required photos, bathroom/vest photo of the bathroom you use, and non-compliant issues

red/yellow - current cycle depends on the shop - if no FRN counts, 20 minutes, if FRN counts 30 minutes, required photos, both restrooms (unless unisex only), and non-compliant issues

Some keys - get your overall photos done first before you ever do the fuel or c-store shop - so park where you can get the required overall photo in case they don't let you shop, because you will at some point run across a fuel station that will freak out and tell you no. I was kicked out of the same green/yellow store twice because they thought I worked for a competitor. Also, if you have a strong zoom camera, you should be able to get the canopy, and MID.

As you are fueling, you can scan the lot for:
-required windshield washing equipment, trash cans, etc. along with scanning the building for damage, and the lot for damage.

To be honest, I can sit in my car on the lot of the fuel station and do 90% of the reports for all three and never be bothered.

My fuel shops run anywhere from $18-$30 dollars which includes fuel. The only time I make less is doing a debrand shop for green/yellow, and they are super simple, so I don't mind taking less.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2013 08:58PM by TrainTeach.

Thank you, TrainTeach. That is very helpful!

I have done them all and can tell you it will take from 30 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on the issues and the quality of your report.

Submission will run about the same; but, I don't think I have ever reported a shop in 30 minutes.

NOTE: Providing extra quality reports do not benefit you. There is a significant difference in the amount of work you could put into a shop and the amount necessary to make the company 100% satisfied. The difference is as much as 40 minutes.

It's time consuming to upload one photo at a time. Extra photos to support your report is great but will double your time online.

It is important to know how many photos a report will even accept prior to taking dozens and dozens of shots. For many audits there is a limit and depending on the MSC they may just want the best representative photo of infractions. Anyone who is experienced should be able to complete a gas station audit in around 20 to 30 minutes AND provide a quality report. Auditing can be worthwhile and lucrative if you learn how to move efficiently from one task to the next. That is why I do not use the forms as provided, choosing instead to make my own cheat sheet which follows a much more logical order than any form I've ever seen.

Lately I have only been auditing for one gas client and one MSC. The report, including photo upload, takes 15 minutes at the most.

anyone who spends 90 minutes at a gas station doing the
audit is doming something wrong. I don't care how many
pumps it has.

Not really Techman. The new Shell paper work can make the audit a hell and it can take a lifetime, above all if the gas station is big. Of course after a while you learn the short cuts, but at first it can take 90 minutes.

That is precisely why I said it depends on the MSC. I've heard enough about those and it doesn't surprise me a bit. But for the other brands I've completed across a couple of different MSCs, 30 minutes was the magic number after a bit of experience. Any brand new audit almost always takes longer.

I also wanted to clarify that efficiency does not equate to be slipshod or rushing and does not have to affect the quality of the work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2013 07:46PM by LisaSTL.

Italiano, i'm not referring to someone doing an audit for
the first time...

Another factor in the time for the every-pump audit is how busy the location happens to be when you are there. It's a real PITA to wait for a pump to free up so that you can get a photo. I know that if it's blocked the entire time we can take the best shot showing as much of the front of the pump as possible, but I do that as a last resort, and won't ever photograph a pump if it's being used.
Same factor influences getting a front counter photo. I've waited as long as 15 minutes just for there to be no customers in line to take one lousy photo and be on my way. I've learned to take that photo at the very first opportunity I get, and to keep checking throughout the visit if there's a line when I present the LOA.

italiano Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not really Techman. The new Shell paper work can
> make the audit a hell and it can take a lifetime,
> above all if the gas station is big. Of course
> after a while you learn the short cuts, but at
> first it can take 90 minutes.


Their new paperwork is crazy. The first pages with all the opinion questions, and rankings are over the top. I believe it was 24 pages when I printed it.

TrainTeach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> italiano Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Not really Techman. The new Shell paper work
> can
> > make the audit a hell and it can take a
> lifetime,
> > above all if the gas station is big. Of course
> > after a while you learn the short cuts, but at
> > first it can take 90 minutes.
>
>
> Their new paperwork is crazy. The first pages
> with all the opinion questions, and rankings are
> over the top. I believe it was 24 pages when I
> printed it.


Yea, now I ignore them. I print the paperwork the old way. I print page 1 and the I start again printing from Q1. When I go back home I quickly fill in the opinion question the best I remember. Then I finish fixing them with the error messages after trying to submit. I know for sure my Q are correct, so I fix the opinion accordingly. I just wish the system brings you back to the opinion question when you click the red message. Looking for the right CR takes a bit of time.