Me2 but I'm trying to be good, at least a little bit now and then.

Our rain is clearing up for now but supposed to be more over the next two days and snow on Tuesday. I need to go to Phoenix and there's a mountain pass I have to go over that sometimes gets snow when we don't here. I had to pull over and wait for the snowplow I had passed a few miles back and follow it over that pass once. My plum trees are in full bloom and winter decided to come back all of a sudden.

And I just got a new furnace and it doesn't seem to be keeping up....

@dspeakes wrote:

I've always felt unions are there only to protect the incompetent. <-------EXACTLY.

Forget unions. One of the best things about this job is how we each get to really make what we want out of it. Another would be only people who work hard thrive. Forget fair. If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen!

I'm elderly and icy, can barely chip my dog sled out of the cave in order to go out and do my non-union shops. I wonder if having a union would plow the 296 inches of snow we've had so far so I can go out and pick up all the shops that these young kids won't touch because three snowflakes fluttered past their little noses while they tweeted their every move to their fans?

Ex-wife of a teamster here...he had no benefits because all he could get was on call day work. The guy who my ex normally subbed for got great benefits. That guy regularly showed up to work drunk, high or both. Never passed a drug test, but was still able to keep his job. Why because the union made sure. We didn't have any benefits, but still had to fork over the cash for dues. Don't take this the wrong way, I do believe unions have a purpose and able to accomplish great things.

As a former manager of idiots, my answer to them was if you can get through the day with no shortages and taking some initiative, I would gladly support their idea of a union. Since not one of them knew how to spell initiative...

I like this work. I like the way it's set up. I'm sure I get passed over in preference for other shoppers in my area. Guess what?, it only makes me want to work harder & learn more about how to do this the right way. It's refreshing to finally be in control of my schedule and paycheck.

There's a lot to be said for working our own hours and picking our own clients and jobs.

There's also a lot to be said for a steady paycheck.

I think I have the best of both worlds now with my part time job, my seasonal tax work, my reasonably steady rental income, and mystery shopping for fun and profit in between. I'm making ends meet and not having to run up a credit card bill. The critters are fed and so am I.

Being a person in a union I would say absolutely not! The beauty of this is the flexibility and the choices. We would lose all that and it would be WAY more demanding because companies are paying more out of pocket! Which would mean less work because companies would no longer use schedulers they would have internal mystery department and we would be out of work, it would turn into a REAL JOB. All fun lost and it becomes a fight. No thanks.

We are self employed, and I like it that way. We do not need a union. We need something more like a modern guild. Take the Screen Actor's Guild for example. Guild membership is usually a prerequisite for working on major productions. Members are then paid a minimum guild scale.

How did it come about that we are not the ones deciding what the fee is? If I hire a self employed person to do work on my house that person decides what I pay him, and not the other way around.

That person decides how much to bid on your project, but you eventually decide what to pay and it's going to be the lowest of the bids you collect. Many of us decide our own fees simply by not taking assignments at fees we don't find acceptable. I consider the fee attached to a shop to be the MSCs offer. If they find someone willing to take the offer its no different than you choosing the painter or plumber who offers you the lowest bid.

I am currently a full time Union organizer and have been about 5 years now. There is probably not another person on this forum that is more committed to the rights of working people and the labor movement. The OP of this thread clearly has no idea how unions work or the structure of MS. It's true that some places contractors or "business owners" can get union stats but ive only seen it in place where the state subsidizes the income somehow like in child or home care. MS have no ability to be unionized and should have no reason to based on the contactor status. Don't like how you are treated? Work for someone else or don't do the work.

@alannajm wrote:

Take the Screen Actor's Guild for example. Guild membership is usually a prerequisite for working on major productions. Members are then paid a minimum guild scale.

Guild members are actual employees and have taxes taken out of their checks. They are not freelance, so the guild concept is also not pertinent.

There are plenty of non-union actors that work freelance on smaller projects. They have no protections and are often asked to work for free...or just for food. Not much different than our situation.

I don't think you get my point to say my statement is foolish! We are easily replaceable. Companies pay the MSC that then pays us....Some companies DO have in house mystery shopping to SAVE on it. The same would happen more and more and YES its nice to pick and choose my work
Would NOT be the case if I'm in a union. The enjoyment for many (if you read through the pages of comments) is making your OWN time and MONEY. Do you understand exactly what changes when unions happen? I appreciate it for my FULL TIME job and I pay quite a bit into but the expenses from a companies stand point do not add up for submitting a report on whether I was offered the new cell phone. Companies would run for the hills. Are you truly aware of the EXPENSES of a union? We are not learning construction, or handling a high volume inbound call center or learning to be an electrician. A company would have to increase pay substantially to pay an MSC for us to be covered for all the benefits required in union work. It's not just get a union and you have a pay increase. The work is not THAT high in demand. Companies would work in house and keep it simple for truly SIMPLE work compared to union standards.


P.S. Please do not refer to me as selfish, it's not selfish to understand unions and be aware of the complexity of the union and realize how much work I do in a REAL UNION in comparison to filling out a dorm and crying about it. Union jobs are for careers that are needed. Companies can't AFFORD to train in house construction or electricians. They can afford to tell someone to go pretend they need a car. No training required.

My misspellings due to my cell phone. It's worth it for companies to invest in true union work. This is NOT a job that would warrant a company paying more for a SHOP.

I don't believe there is an intelligent reason for a union as a matter of fact they have outlived their usefullness like so many other things. This is our business you can get paid for what you are worth by working smarter getting educated in the business. If you like the company or project then it take it if you don't then dont. simple econamice. You cant legislate good sense or a persons self employment. I worked for the union many years and the only benifet i saw was I got to pay out I always made more money workin gout of the union..


God bless you all

I dislike unions and would have no interest in joining one. Not to mention the myriad of other reasons listed here against them. (Ie, independent contractors, etc)

I agree and disagree. Unions keep pay up in this country. If you look at non union states they have the lowest wages, but unions can be VERY corrupt and work with the company behind the employees back.

Yohan -
A couple of things you have not taken into consideration. First, if the shop doesn't pay what you want, don't take it. Second, even if it does, you need to expand your scope and become a route shopper where you can maximize your return for the time spent. Trust me, I know route shoppers who make good five figure incomes. Third, you rail against the MSCs (and their staff, I trust) without any knowledge of the huge number of so-called mystery shoppers who do not follow guidelines, can't write English, do not read any extra notes about a shop; all of which causes the MSC to spend extra time and money paying their editors to straighten out reports. I know an editor whose piecework pay does not truly compensation for the inordinate amount of time she has to spend in finalizing a report (contacting the shopper several times, for instance, which delays the report by as much as 12 hours). There are too many crap shoppers out there for me to want to be organized with them. Last, I'm sure you have not been in a union or you would not want to join one for this kind of work. The union dues would gag you, on moral grounds if nothing else - "pay to work" is required for a union member, while it is not for the free-lance mystery shopper. Don't get me wrong, unions are great for certain industries, but in view of my above comments about the many low-quality shoppers, they could not get accepted into the union because of low skill levels. Oh, they can get trained, by the union, and for a fee. THEN they could get work - IF and only IF the ultimate customer were willing to pay an even higher price for their reports. In this economy? Fahgeddabowdit.

I haven't read this thread yet because it is long so I don't know if anyone has mentioned this. Although we can't unionize because we aren't employees, what if we had an organization (IMSC?) that allowed us to pay a retainer for their lawyer? School teachers have a similar system. Then if someone was refusing to pay, we could have the lawyer look into it. If several have the same problem and have contacted the lawyer, then the lawyer has more fodder.

Pick and Choose your Battles and your shops. I used to work for corporate not any any more.

On the other hand or the flip side. I would be nice to have a industry standard for the MSC to go by. Basic grammar standard, points, grading, basic time to turn in reports depending on the company, forms (those need work) etc.... I think this would help mystery shoppers in general new and old would know what to expect and in turn it would help with quality of work received for the MSC's..

LisaSTL, I need to say I really appreciate your input on all posts.

Thank you. I've learned so much from reading posts from you and others.

My Dad was head of the carpenter's union in Hartford. For his job, it made sense. For ours, not at all.

I would sooner propose a mystery shopper's bill of rights that if you're in the MSPA, you would agree to for the shoppers you hire. Things like being paid in a reasonable timeframe, having someone to talk to to resolve issues, that sort of thing. I think there are a lot of things we'd agree would be helpful to ask for.