Pet Food Audits

I think I've seen this topic discussed before, possibly on Volition or maybe it was here..

Anyway, I see ATH has pet food audits listed. They are basically asking for a list of items on sale, the reg. prices and sale prices. I've never done one of these types of shops before. Do they take a long time? The pet food stores in my area aren't that big. Couldn't I just walk down the aisles and pretend I'm talking on the phone and leave the list on my answering machine? I guess to me it doesn't seem like it would take that long to do, but I remember hearing somewhere that these audits are awful and time consuming.

I know that a lot of people are having issues with getting payment from ATH too these days which is another deterrant. I've been getting paid late, but the checks do seem to be coming eventually.

Should I run or are these really not that bad?

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I have done these kinds of shops a lot, but not for pet food or this company. If you know the store well enough so that you know where each item would be, it can be fairly fast to very fast. If you are unfamiliar with either the store's layout or what the product is or looks like, they can be daunting and time-consuming. If the store is small and service oriented and/or well-staffed, in addition to the latter qualities, they can be real nightmares.

And then you need to factor in the ATH annoyance potential. :-)

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

And it is the annoyance potential that would stop me dead in my tracks. From the shops I have done for them they generally are more awkward than industry standards and pay less than industry standards for jobs of same length and detail. Add to that the slow pay and for me it is a loser prospect.

Well I went ahead and took 1 shop. I have other shops in the area that day anyway. I'm crossing my fingers, but it doesn't look that hard to me. I do have pets and I know what most brands look like so I'm thinking this shouldn't be TOO bad. ATH says this could take up to an hour, but I guess I figure an hour is how long the idiots take. I guess on Monday I'll find out if I move at "idiot" speed.. haha. If things don't go well, ATH isn't a company I care to impress anymore anyway.

Hey poof, who are you calling an idiot?

I did this audit once. I used my cell phone - leaving messages on my home phone, taking pictures of the bar codes, and texting. My store was 20,000 sf and there were lots of items on sale. Employees were offering unwanted assistance every step of the way. I heard from one shopper that the store escorted her out and she was actually thrilled!

I did one once and it took an extremely long time over two days. I know I was conspicuous and that the employees either knew I was a shopper or they must have thougth I had some kind of problem that I kept hanging around. If I take one again, I will use my digital recorder with hidden mic to read the price tags. No way you can do it by writing them down like I did before.

Where I live, there are at least two different pet store locations, each very different in size and inventory. Another MSP has a similar shop as well. I've done one for each MSP, one at $18 and the other was bonused at $35. Basically, it's a competitor shop and reconassaince is the gist of it.

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Pet Food Audits

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