For those of you who have done one of these, do they really take about three hours to complete, or is this an inflated estimate to account for the worst case scenario? Is $40 a fair price, or are they a real PITA? Thanks in advance for any insight!

I've seen them but have not done them. I guess if would depend on how organized the store is. I've seen some that were a mess (shopping on my own there) and some that were tidy.

I have done one of these. Yes, my first one took about 2.75 hours, but I had to wait a little while at the beginning for a manager. Now that I've done one, it would probably take less, but still 2.0 - 2.5 hours. Plus you have to input all that info. The problem with those audits, is that the more things you find that don't ring up correctly, the more you have to input for the report - you don't just report the total numbers. The report I did probably took at least an hour.

I think the key is to have an overall plan and don't think too hard when picking your items. It is kind of tricky to get enough items from each department, items on sale, items at regular price, items with display signs, items on clearance, items in the circular, etc., etc., etc. I found it to be a very large PITA. I did one my first month as a shopper for $25 just to see what it was like. After spending 4+ hours total (including the report), I don't think I would do another for anything less than $40 to even make it worth my time, but would probably hold out for more just for the PITA factor.

I don't want to discourage you. Maybe you like audits more than I do, but don't be lulled into thinking you can do it a lot faster than what they estimate, especially on your first time. If you do decide to do it, definitely stick to their suggestion to do hardlines first, and then the softlines. For some reason, it took me about twice as long to do the hardlines because fewer things were on sale and you had to find specific items from the circular. Whereas with softlines, a whole line of clothing will be on sale and you can just find the rack and scan any item.

I've done several of these audits. The key is to minimize the amount of walking you do in the store. Before you even get to the store, make a list of your departments on a sheet of paper. Go to the store and sign in, then go back to the office with the manager, or whoever is assigned to accompany you. Review your list of departments and number them in the order you reach them as you leave the office. The result is you will make one loop of the store with maybe 2-3 breaks from the loop. Using this method, I can usually get the local Kmart done in just over an hour and the Sears [2 story] in under 1.5 hours.

Thanks very much. When you say, "Go to the store and sign in, then go back to the office with the manager, or whoever is assigned to accompany you," are you suggesting that someone stays with you for the duration of the audit?

Yes, I've always had someone with me. There is an alternative if no one is available, which involves loading all your merchandise into a cart and checking it at the register. But I have never personally done that.

I've done about 20 of these in the past 3 months.

Note that although Sears now owns Kmart, the actual audits are slightly different.

If you audit Sears, they have to provide someone to accompany you within 15 minutes of your arrival. If they don't, you are free to start the audit yourself. If you start it yourself, you won't have a remote scanner, so you need to grab a cart and your items, then take them to a register to scan them. They are supposed to provide someone as soon as they can, and they normally do because they don't want it to go on the audit that they didn't provide anyone.

If you do a Kmart audit, it is different. You have to wait. If I remember correctly, there is even a limit to the time you have to wait. If no one shows up in the time frame, then there is a # to call at Kmart. If you can't get a hold of the Kmart person listed in the authorization letter, then there is a phone number to call someone at the MSC. This is all in the instructions.

The important thing is that if someone goes with you, they have a remote scanner with them so it goes faster than picking 100 items and taking them to a register.

Regarding the length of time it takes. The first one you will be slow. I would totally plan on at least 3 hrs the first time. After you have done a few, your time will improve. I actually did a Sears Auto Center audit first because you have to scan only 25 items. That was a useful primer for the bigger audits.

I would never bother to go all the way back to the office to work out the game plan with whoever is walking with you. But I do go over the game plan with the person who is walking with me when we start at the customer service desk. That's because they will know how their store is set up and what is the most direct route. Especially since you also have to test the public-use price scanners, plus the ADA audit. Might as well pick those up along the way.

There are some things that you can't pick out in advance, like clearance items. That's because no one knows what's been put on clearance until you get there. In my last three audits, 20+ of the items I was to audit in each store were clearance items. True you get the category (department) in most cases. But you can't pick the actual items until you get there.

I do think it is helpful if you can "create a plan" with the walker. That makes them feel like part of the team and they will help you get done sooner by suggesting a good path through the store. Mind you, they aren't to stear you towards product. You pick the items - that is a must. But they know how the departments line up next to each other.

The other thing I do is let them know the record time a Kmart or a Sears has been done in with me. I have always found they are anxious to beat the best time so far. :-)

Regarding pay, those audits fly off the shelf here for $25. I'd be thrilled to get $40 for them.

Regarding paperwork. The Kmart paperwork is easiest. You have to fill in the details on the problem items, but you don't have to upload anything except the audit authorization. The worst i've seen is 7 mispriced items, and sometimes they have no mispriced items.

The Sears paperwork always requires scanning and uploading the forms, except I think when there are no bad prices. It's been a couple of months since I did a Sears audit, but I am pretty sure this is true.

I have not done the Sears or Kmart audits. I have done Sears automotive, which are profitable. The stores seem intimidating, and not worth it to me. They get bonused, and I note shopper's level of acceptance. Still, not high enough for me to accept.

My last audit was fun, even though it went a little slowly, because I had the nicest manager going around with me. Actually, I haven't run into any problems with the associates I have worked with on these audits.

Note: Wear comfortable shoes. After standing/walking around for 2 hours, your feet do get tired. (Another plus about my last shop - I do product testing, and currently I am trying out Dr. Scholl's custom orthotic inserts. My feet did not hurt - even wearing flimsy flats!)

I did the K-Mart audit and it was funny because no one at the store wanted to accompany me because they also don't want to spend 3 hours doing the audit. They kept calling different employees and they were either hiding or coming up with excuses. The guy who ended up with me was very nice and stayed with me the entire time. He used a scanner and it took 3 hours. I would not take another one.

It was one of my very first assignments I ever did. Took me 2-3 hours plus imput. It was sears and a manager did walk with me for the audit. The imput was more of a PITA than the store part. I think $40 is fair anything less no.

I couldn't imagine doing an audit at my neighborhood Kmart: the place is always a mess and the employees are surly and lazy. Please keep in mind that I say this as a person who supports raising the minimum wage and I also believe in worker's right to unionize/ participate in collective bargaining. This particularly Kmart, however, challenges my beliefs;-)

PITA!!!!!

Hints please on who offers these audits....

I have done dozens of these, and while I would prefer to take them at the bonus rate, I do not object to taking them at the $25 dollar fee if they are within a route and require no further miles to be driven.

The first one takes the longest, but like any shop...the more prepared you are to complete the shop, the faster it goes.

I have NEVER had an audit take over 2.5 hours, including the one where the scanner did not work and we had to type them all into the register. BTW-I did not load anything into a cart for scanning...the employees would then have to take all that crap back to the shelves.

The employee read the info off to me while I filled in the sheet, then I read it off to her while she typed it into the register. Didn't take that long, at all.

I most often complete these in just over an hour. I have also NEVER had the data input take longer than 15 minutes....including the one that had 19 price errors. All you have to do is click the dept the item if from, click the category it was from, type in the SKU, the price, the register price, and the reason code for the error. You're reading this directly off of the form you completed, so you can do this as fast as you can type. Apparently I type faster than some folks who have complained about the report taking an hour to do.

Best case scenario, there is no error...the report consists of confirming that you audited 85 items....(at Kmart)....putting a zero in the box for the number of errors, and then filling in the checkboxes for the ADA and scanner questions. 5 minutes, max.

I don't scan the forms, I take pictures of them so that it takes less time to get them ready to upload.

I did 5 of these in one day once, 3 Sears and 2 Kmarts....all bonused....easy peasy and I was in bed by 10PM.

I had one last month where the manager never showed up. The guidelines clearly stated that I only had to wait 15 minutes, then leave. But I gave them an extra 5 minutes to allow for an after-lunch potty stop, went and did the ADA checks, and still nobody ever showed up. I emailed the scheduler to find out what I would get paid for a no-show. I get the full payment. It was the best deal of the month.

lbtweety Wrote:
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> Hints please on who offers these audits….


One of the biggest MSCs out there.

My first sears was 4 hours but It was my first one and I also did the auto center that same day. Also had 15 pricing errors so this added to the time. K- mart took less time and at first they tried to lead by selecting the products and when I told them that's not how it is supposed to be done and I was supposed to do it they said the previous person never did it that way. It took around 2 1/2 hours. Again first time always seem to take longer but for the pay 3 hours is to long and I would not do them again. I could do 4 other shops in the time frame and make more money.