@MDavisnowell wrote:
And let's take a look at the motive for suggesting others do not accept shops at X dollars. They want the shop to go up. Why? Not so the shopper who accepts at X will make more dollars, but so they themselves can make more dollars when the shop fee increases. Whoa! Talk about a double standard, somehow I think that is one.
I appreciate everyone's input. That said, it's a fact that I accept what works for me and I believe everyone else does the same. It does not bother me at all if any or all of you pass up the shops at X dollars and I am unconcerned that you accept the XX and XXX shops only. I think it's great you're in a position to do. I'm not in a position to do that.
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But, I don't criticize anyone who wants to do the shops I don't want. I'm somewhat puzzled when other shoppers criticize my selection of shops which is primarily based on what's abundantly available, simple to execute, and located both locally and as far out as I care to go. So many of us want these same shops that the base pay will remain the same with far flung location sometimes listed with a bonus. Why is this a mystery?
I'm not attempting to speak for others, but I think part of it is the fact that we are independent contractors - our own self-employed business. Businesses have costs. As such, we should all price ourselves as the businesses that we are.
Consider just some of the overhead of a business:
Business use of your home (assuming just a 5ftx8ft closet): $300 depreciation per year
Some health insurance deduction: hundreds of dollars, potentially thousands per year
Various other insurance (liability, vehicle policy, etc.): easily hundreds of dollars per year
Computer/phone/internet: several hundred per year minimum
Just those above categories comes to well over $1,000/year. Likely several thousand dollars. That's what a business incurs as just the bare minimum for overhead.
So even if you do 1 shop every-other day, or 180 shops per year, that means your overhead is easily $10 per shop that you have to earn just to pay the bare minimum overhead expenses. And likely it's much, much higher. Do fewer than that, and your overhead per shop is higher. Which is why MSC's get paid substantially more than that per shop - because they have bona fide business expenses - just like all of us MSers have bona fide business expenses.
And that doesn't even begin to address your transportation costs to get to a place. Oh, and much less actually getting paid for your time!
Speaking of wages - when you do short-term duration work, you should always get paid more on an hourly basis. Having a steady, 40 hr/week job is more dependable for a set wage of $x/hr. If you are only working 2 hours for someone doing something, you should be getting paid much more than the same $x/hr that you would if you worked full time. Don't believe me? Go ask what a heating company will charge you on an hourly basis for a 2 hour service call. Then go ask them what they would charge per hour if they installed all of the ductwork on your new house you're building.
MSCs want to have mystery shoppers treated as independent contractors, but most independent contractors don't act like ICs when it comes to pricing their time.
Yes, I get the argument of the widow/widower is lonely and just wants company, and will be at the mall anyway, and will do a shop in exchange for a free fast food sandwich...but your motivations don't matter in business. Is someone who is wealthy going to suddenly sell their services for nothing since they "don't need the money"? No. And is that same lonely widow/widower who will go to the mall and do a shop for no fee going, to go to McDonald's and work for free 40 hours a week flipping burgers? There is no difference. Yet, if you suggested that the widow/widower or someone else (who could be essentially paying the MSC to do the mystery shop assignment when you factor in all costs of mileage/time/etc.) go flip burgers at the golden arches for free, you would be laughed at. Yet it's the exact same thing money-wise..
You set a market price based (largely) on what the market is willing to bear. But when the market is distorted by people who don't fully stop and consider what their time and services are truly worth (partly because they don't understand the aspect of running a business and all relevant costs and what their services would be worth as a true business), it cheapens the value of the services provided.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2016 08:32PM by STL_shopper.