$8 Grocery Shop: I saw this one... you have to shop so many departments, ask a question in each department and make a lot of observations, including name tags or lack there of...ect...ect...This particular MSC has never had these until now....

I did not apply to any of them and apparently, not many shoppers did either.. because a good 25 of them are up on the board. .

They also have the OOS (Out of Stock) revealed Audit. I think I like that one better. It pays $15. Has anyone ever done the OOS Audit? How was it?

Oh, and this MSC reimburses you $10 for groceries I guess that's better than the last MSC that reimbursed $3 bucks.

I'm not sure which MSC you are referring to, but I think I'd be more comfortable doing the audit myself.

I like the grocery store shops for 15 and 15. They're much easier than it sounds and there is always something at the grocery store I need so the reimbursement feels more like a bonus to me.
For me it seems like a 30 shop where I get half of it up front.

I did two of them yesterday but didn't stay one hour for the out-of-stock audit. I must have missed it in the instructions when I read them so they were both rejected. One of the locations was a very small grocery store so I would have just had to wander around for a while to fill in time. The other one also had very few out of stock items and the MSC was not happy with that at all. They said it seemed very unlikely and given I didn't stay the hour as well they doubted my figures. I think the store had like 79 out of stock general items and they like to see figures of around 200. What can I say? They were really well stocked! I offered to go back but apparently I'm no longer trustworthy so they rejected my offer.

For the mystery shop portion I felt really obvious asking questions at every department, particularly since in the deli the bakery and the meat person were right nearby and heard me ask where an item was (I'd just asked both of them a question where something was). I felt a bit silly...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2013 01:22AM by jpgilham.

The un-revealed one is super easy, easier than it looks. With your experience, it should be a piece of cake. Grab them.

I just took the test for both of those and the unrevealed looks far easier to me. You only have to wait three minutes in each department if no one is there and the time in and out can be 15 minutes.

Liz

There are similar to the other shop that you must ask these really weird questions that I think identify you as a shopper. There are about 3-4 questions for each dept. but they all seem so obvious to me.
I like being able to ask simple location questions and not have to purchase some thing from the deli. I would do the unrevealed one but none were in my area so I will have to wait. Passed the tests easily.

I've got my first one of these tomorrow! I was excited to see them as I shop regularly at these stores anyway. I think the questions sound easier than the other shop mentioned where you pick one of four possibly questions.

I didn't pick the revealed one, because I thought "well, if I do that, I'll never be able to do the un-revealed one at the same store - they'll KNOW" , and the company may not assign me either because I did the revealed.

I have 2 of the unrevealed ones tomorrow. There's still a ton on the boards in places I travel a lot, so if these two go well I might grab more. It looked significantly easier than the stupid ones where you have to ask specific dumb questions in the seafood department and pay is the same. I know so many people who ask the seafood person if swordfish is high in mercury!

Snoopy4678 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure which MSC you are referring to, but I
> think I'd be more comfortable doing the audit
> myself.


SCM...

As no client has been mentioned, the MSC is Sinclair Customer Metrics. I did one of the OOS audits yesterday, took just over one hour, and I have another one on Monday.

For the pay and the required work, these shops are not worth my time. Over an hour looking for items in a store that typically doesn't even had the items in their own ads... no thanks.

I did the unrevealed one yesterday. Super easy. There was not even anyone in the seafood or bakery, so I just had to wander around for three minutes. For the other departments, I just asked them to show me where stuff was like, "where are the oranges?" I drove right by that store on the way home from work, so I thought it was very easy with $8 pay and $10 reimbursement for groceries. I was in and out in about 20 minutes.

I think you can only get one in a certain area though, because when I accepted that one, the other one a little farther away left the board. I didn't do the OOS ones, seemed like more work for less pay, if you include the reimbursement.

Send them an email, the same thing happened to me and I was told it was a glitch. I did 2 today, super easy, way easier than the other brand in this area. Took me a little longer than 20 minutes but not by much. I think it's a much better deal than the revealed also.

UGGGGGGG! I hate when I screw up. Copied all the requirements to Evernote on my phone before the shop. Somehow forgot to list the Bakery so I missed it on both shops I did today! Uggggg, hopefully they let me reshop but I can't do it until Monday.

I did one of the out-of-stock audits today. It took me 2 and 1/4 hours. For me, it's not really worth it unless they jack up the pay.

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> UGGGGGGG! I hate when I screw up. Copied all the
> requirements to Evernote on my phone before the
> shop. Somehow forgot to list the Bakery so I
> missed it on both shops I did today! Uggggg,
> hopefully they let me reshop but I can't do it
> until Monday.


So, did they let you re-shop both of them? Inquiring minds want to know?

Ok, I must live somewhere that doesn't have these shops. It is right up my alley and I am clueless as to what you are talking about. I need something different than cell phone shops and banks. I really am tired of those. I need to spread my wings but I don't know what company does what shops. I would love to do grocery stores and Burger King, lol. I don't normally eat Burger King because of the one here, but, I believe the company needs it done, imho.

Yep, I reshopped the following Monday when I got back into town. They were super nice about it.

Well I've done several dozen of the "green" ones and when I read the guidelines for these I thought they were quite a bit more work so I passed.

I'm not sure what the "green" ones are, but if you're talking about Publix this one is significantly easier. You don't have to shop the floral department, which is practically impossible in my local Publix stores. You don't have to ask stupid questions about how much mercury is in swordfish. You don't have to have a special request. You don't have to get something from the deli. You don't have to tell the service desk you bought milk that had gone bad.

MMMM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The un-revealed one is super easy, easier than it
> looks. With your experience, it should be a piece
> of cake. Grab them.

I agree 100%! They are really easy fast and easy to do. I consider it $18 shop with the reimbursement. No one is touching the OOS shops around here. That would be a 10' pole shop for me. I don't remember exactly, but besides 1 hour minimum in the store, they are expecting 200 OOS items in each of 10 departments? Crazy!

I enjoyed the one unrevealed that I did. Question on the OOS: do you just report the number of OOS items per department? That seems awfully simple if all you do is count holes (versus logging bar codes or product names or entering narrative).

That's what I thought too - but then when you see tags for 8 different flavors of product, and you realize that they "covered up" the holes with the same product - it seemed disingenuous to me to just count the holes, because I was then aware that there were more out of stock items that just the holes represented. So I was going up and down the aisles comparing product to the tags and I thought to myself "man- this just isn't worth it!" lol

I also did an unrevealed one and I would do those again. Very simple.

cubbiecat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No one is touching the OOS shops
> around here. That would be a 10' pole shop for
> me. I don't remember exactly, but besides 1 hour
> minimum in the store, they are expecting 200 OOS
> items in each of 10 departments? Crazy!

Er, someone did and that stupido was ME. Never ever, never ever again!

I start by auditing the outlying departments, saving the “Center Store” until last. When I finished the departments, I checked my watch and reminded myself the training stated, “You must be in the store a minimum of one hour.” Since that was twenty minutes away, I felt I could meet that requirement, but, maybe, just barely.

Between that moment and until I finally departed the store—one hour later—my enthusiasm began a steep descent. The “Center Store”, as it turned out, quickly revealed itself as an out-of-stock abyss. I remember thinking, “Now, I know what IKEA shoppers are talking about, since this must be close to 1/16 of an IKEA shop.” As the out-of-stocks continued to mount, that might have been the last lucid thought I had. I continued to glance up at the endless amount of remaining aisles and began to feel despondent. I couldn’t help but remember how Michael C said the IKEA shop made him cry. Yep, it made sense!

One hour and forty minutes from start to finish, hallelujah, the end finally arrived.

Never ever, never ever again!

(heart)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2014 12:41AM by stilllearning.

The OOS shop should pay at least 75 bucks and I wouldn't do
it for less than 100.

And the base pay ive seen offered in every email is 10 for mystery
and 20 for OOS and 10 reimbursement and you can do both in the same day...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2014 10:38PM by techman01.

Oh boy, that sounds like fun!

(heart)

stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cubbiecat Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > No one is touching the OOS shops
> > around here. That would be a 10' pole shop for
> > me. I don't remember exactly, but besides 1
> hour
> > minimum in the store, they are expecting 200
> OOS
> > items in each of 10 departments? Crazy!
>
> Er, someone did and that stupido was ME. Never
> ever, never ever again!
>
> I start by auditing the outlying departments,
> saving the “Center Store” until last. When I
> finished the departments, I checked my watch and
> reminded myself the training stated, “You must
> be in the store a minimum of one hour.” Since
> that was twenty minutes away, I felt I could meet
> that requirement, but, maybe, just barely.
>
> Between that moment and until I finally departed
> the store—one hour later—my enthusiasm began a
> steep descent. The “Center Store”, as it
> turned out, quickly revealed itself as an
> out-of-stock abyss. I remember thinking, “Now, I
> know what IKEA shoppers are talking about, since
> this must be close to 1/16 of an IKEA shop.” As
> the out-of-stocks continued to mount, that might
> have been the last lucid thought I had. I
> continued to glance up at the endless amount of
> remaining aisles and began to feel despondent. I
> couldn’t help but remember how Michael C said
> the IKEA shop made him cry. Yep, it made sense!
>
> One hour and forty minutes from start to finish,
> hallelujah, the end finally arrived.
>
> Never ever, never ever again!
>
> (heart)


This is off topic kinda but thank you for explaining so well, and thanks for mentioning IKEA. I keep receiving emails about one in my state and even for 45.00 it didn't seem worth it to me. Firstly, it's a 45min drive at least. Secondly, that place is ginormous. Just shopping there it takes hours so I can imagine how long it would take to audit this place or look for OOS items. Your post really solidified how bad this shop would be. Thanks lol

I was able to get my OOS audits done in one hour. The "clue" in the guidelines states, the "Center Store" usually has 300 or more OOS items. That told me that it was the "biggest department" and needed the most time devoted I covered the store in grid-like pattern, first doing the outer perimeter and working in to Center Store..

Perhaps because I do merchandising and am used to covering large areas, counting the items was quick...

The pay was $15 and should have been $25 or more but I wanted to give it a try!

i messed up their XoXo test :| so I gotta wait to apply again.. doh