Throughout this forum I see people talking about how cheap the MSC's have become, how the fees have dropped and so on, but the question should be why!
I have noticed through the years that more and more people are getting into this adventure, and as I am sure some of you will agree, this has both positive and negative results as a whole.
IMHO one of the biggest negatives seems to be the fact that people are willing more and more to take shops for free meals only, or next to no pay. Because of this fact, what incentive do the MSC's have in offering more compensation? "Why pay $20 for a shop if I can offer $6,00 and usually not have a problem getting shops done"?
Of course I have also seen the posts from people stating how desperate some MSC's become when the end of the month comes and no one has taken their shops, so a $6 shop gets a $14-$30+ bonus added to entice us to take these shops. Do you think the MSC's are losing money adding these bonuses? 99% of the time the answer is NO!
A $6.00 shop that turns into a $20+ shop still makes the company money, just not as much.
As long as we are willing to do this work for next to nothing, the MSC's will continue to drop rates and it is only us shoppers to blame for that.
I got into doing MS'ing because I wanted to make a difference, it sure was not because of the money. Yes the money makes it worthwhile (or at least used to) because I need to feel I am being compensated for the work I do, but there has to be a point where it is just not worth it. By the time you take into account the cost to travel (yes usually minimal but still a consideration), the amount of time it takes to get to and from the location, the amount of time you must spend to complete the shop and the amount of time to enter your report (which seems to be longer and longer as of late) what is the final value of your shop? $1.00 an hour?
All the years I have been doing MS'ing I do believe I have helped to make a difference, proof of that is in changes I witness myself in a lot of the places I have shopped. That does give me great satisfaction in knowing I actually made a difference for the better. Unfortunately as of late I am taking less shops and will be at the point I will just stop because I am getting tired of being treated like the MSC's are doing me a favor by allowing me to shop for them and not valuing my work enough to show it.
For the record, the lowest shop rating I have ever received was an 8, and that was because of "an issue with an image" I submitted which as usual I was never able to find out what the issue was. My shops are mostly 10's and 9's, I do take great pride in the work I perform.
What are your thoughts?