Fair enough. I guess I was responding to this part of @STL_shopper's post:

@STL_shopper wrote:

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.

This sounds to me like someone telling me and others how we should price ourselves as the businesses that we are. It's a pretty long post, so I didn't want to spend the time to take it apart, but maybe I should clarify some of my specific issues:

@STL_shopper wrote:

Consider just some of the overhead of a business:
Business use of your home (assuming just a 5ftx8ft closet): $300 depreciation per year

Nope, I'd still have my house and have to pay for it whether I did MS or not. I didn't buy a bigger house so that I could do MSing, so while I'm fine with taking the tax deduction if you're entitled to it, I don't agree that this is an overhead cost for everyone.

@STL_shopper wrote:

Some health insurance deduction: hundreds of dollars, potentially thousands per year
Various other insurance (liability, vehicle policy, etc.): easily hundreds of dollars per year

Health Insurance: This may apply to some full time shoppers who don't get insurance coverage from some other source. That doesn't apply to me.
Liability, etc. Insurance: I have the same insurance coverage I had before I started MSing, so I haven't incurred any additional costs in that regard.

@STL_shopper wrote:

Computer/phone/internet: several hundred per year minimum.

Nope. I would still have a computer phone and internet even if I didn't MS. I know this because I used to have a phone, internet, and computer before I ever started MSing. Again, I'm fine with taking the deduction for it if you're entitled to it, but for many people, this is a cost of living in modern society, not a cost of being a Mystery Shopper.

@STL_shopper wrote:

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.

I agree that some or even all of these expenses might be applicable to some shoppers, but obviously that blanket statement does not apply to everyone who Mystery Shops.

I've said before on another thread that I think it's smart to remind shoppers that our actions impact others, and I take @LisaSTL's point that some shoppers may need to hear that they should take a more structured, systematic approach to their business. Just wanted to make the point that there are lots of different circumstances and reasons for Shopping, and that what works for some, won't work for others. I keep having to remind myself not to assume that everyone on here shops exactly the same way I do. Thanks for the reminder!
(edited to add that this was meant as a response to LisaSTL's post, not Mary's)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2016 03:10AM by CaliGirl925.

So, with your proximate time at 45 minutes for one shop, do you take into consideration travel to and from the shop?
If so would that get you up to about an hour?
How much then do you make on that hour?
Is it less than $20.00 for an hour spent on one gas station job?

Please explain "loosest possible interpretation".
Also "hahaha?"
Is this an insider joke, or a demo of cleverness?
Thank you.
Also, it seems in reading several of these posts some shoppers off handedly state they throw in a bank or two to add a bit of flavour to their route.
What am I to learn about the culture of mystery shopping with regards to casual throwing in a few of this or that shops?

Maybe someone doing this full time can afford the additional costs to set everything up as deductible businesses costs.

Anyone that does not have a office space and computer dedicated to business purposes will find it difficult to write anything off. Anyone that incorporates their visits along with their normal commute and personal doings will find it a challenge to justify vehicle related deductions.

From what I can see, the vast majority of shoppers (80%??) are doing this part time for whatever reason. Let's keep that mind when making broad recommendations or any assumptions.

Just to get back on topic for a minute, I've only done two different gas shop types for Maritz. I like the Mystery Shops for one brand that they offer here locally and try to take several each cycle. There are no photos required for that shop, which I think helps since Maritz is persnickety about photos. I've also done one kind of revealed audit for Maritz, and I didn't like it as much. I wouldn't do it again without a substantial bonus and maybe not even then.

Different areas have different gas station chains. I work with four different chains for this company in the North/West Texas area. All of the ones I do are image audits, which means they have pictures. The most simple chain pays $10 plus $1 inside reimbursement. The most difficult pays $10.50 plus two gallons of gas and $2 inside purchase. The other two fall in between, with one requiring gas and inside purchases along with pictures of all pumps, and the other one not requiring a purchase of any kind. These stations usually range on site times from 10 minutes to twenty minutes, mabey a bit longer at a larger station in drive time.

I do not consider any of these difficult at all and believe they could be done by the average twelve year old child. Therefore, in answer to your question of are they really that bad, I'd say they're not bad in any sense of the word. Others will disagree and have these gas stations at base rate on their ten foot pole list. We all have to decide for ourselves.

You should be aware that at first the stations may seem overwhelming. I recommend learning one brand at a time and getting that one down pat before you move on to add another brand. Each brand will require the preparation of a detailed cheat sheet and the development of an on site routine that will produce all the needed pictures and information. If your area is like my area, you will find these stations keep your car gased up and provide dependable income.

Should you be truly interested, study the guidelines carefully and make up your cheat sheet directly from the picture list provided by the MSC and from the report, which you can print out, mark up for notes, and check back against your cheat sheet. I believe you'll find the result satisfactory.

@jay225 wrote:

I've seen a few threads on here that caused to me to steer clear of these shops, but are they really that bad? Due to lack of available shops around me lately(and loss of arches), I may need to start regularly doing these. I don't see how it would be possible to spend an hour at a gas station taking photos like i've read others have... i've done them for other msc's and i'm at the location 10 minutes. Are the different fuel station brands all the same level of difficulty? Can I get away with asking for $50 a shop?

And no, this company will not usually pay more than base rate for a shop unless it is a far flung orphan. Your hope of $50 per shop is unrealistic.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

And no, this company will not usually pay more than base rate for a shop unless it is a far flung orphan. Your hope of $50 per shop is unrealistic.

actually, it ended up becoming a reality.

It's like eating potato chips. I don't do just one. I do a string of several. On the onsite work, I can do between two and three per hour but I don't think of it as so much an hour. I think of it as so much money generated for the day. Yes, I have some driving involved. When I had a salaried job I drove between 70 and 100 miles per day to arrive at my assigned work site for the day and expenses getting there and back were my monkey. Driving? What's new?

Think about it this way. Let's say you have a 40 hour per week W2 job. You divide the gross by 40 and figure that's your hourly income, right? Sure. But, no, that's not the real picture. First, calculate your commuting expense (ownership and per mile operating costs) and subtract that weekly total from the weekly gross. Then figure your commuting time. Let's say 1 1/2 hours per day, which is the average commute in the USA. That's about seven to eight hours. Call it seven. Add that commuting time to your work week of 40 hours. Oh, oops, be sure to add in five hours for lunch to your time because you're actually away from home. 40 plus 7 plus 5, now we're up to 52 hours time invested in the 40 hour job. Take your gross, subtract your commuting expenses, and then divide the remaining number by 52 hours devoted to the job. Wow. Look at that new number. Surprise!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2016 10:48PM by MDavisnowell.

as for the argument in the thread, i feel like shoppers should do whatever they want. it's no more "ridiculous" to try to get as much money as you can than it is to do the shop for base fee. whatever makes you happy. seems like a lot of you guys don't ask for bonuses which means they'll have more money to throw around once it gets to the nitty gritty, so that works for me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2016 10:30PM by jay225.

What I said is they will not usually pay $50. I have done thousands of those shops and this company does not usually pay $50.

..quote=jay225]

@MDavisnowell wrote:

And no, this company will not usually pay more than base rate for a shop unless it is a far flung orphan. Your hope of $50 per shop is unrealistic.

actually, it ended up becoming a reality.[/quote]

@MDavisnowell wrote:

What I said is they will not usually pay $50. I have done thousands of those shops and this company does not usually pay $50.

..quote=jay225]

@MDavisnowell wrote:

And no, this company will not usually pay more than base rate for a shop unless it is a far flung orphan. Your hope of $50 per shop is unrealistic.

actually, it ended up becoming a reality.

[/quote]

as of now after 2 shops(both in my hometown) the per shop average is $50, and hopefully going up soon. a year from now, yea, i'm sure the average will be below $50 because these shops are easy, and I wouldn't mind jumping on more in my area before others can get to them... but hey, present is the present.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2016 11:05PM by jay225.

I do a lot of Maritz gas station shops. I've been doing them a long time and can knock them out in under 20 minutes on site and under 10 minutes in my office.
Drive time is tough to figure out because they are part of a route of merchandising, shops, and audits. Having a mix of income with a lot of flexibility lets me average $20 or $25 / hour but any one of those income streams alone would probably not make minimum wage.

One day $60 / hour after travel time, mileage, hourly rate, bonuses, etc. It was a long drive with good reimbursements for multiple companies,
Next day just one gas station shop I couldn't finish the previous day 40 miles away for $16.

Also, I hope someone can help me. I'd like to start another Topic looking for information on Apollo Retail Services but I don't see a way to create that new topic.

@nevercoldinhouston wrote:

So, with your proximate time at 45 minutes for one shop, do you take into consideration travel to and from the shop?
If so would that get you up to about an hour?
How much then do you make on that hour?
Is it less than $20.00 for an hour spent on one gas station job?

Drive time is a fact of life. But I do bunch stations together, so while it may take 15 minutes to drive to station A, it may only take 2 minutes to go from station A to station B. Heck, I've done three different gas station brands (for 3 different MSC's) all on the same intersection before.

Driving around the countryside is what I do to relax. Now I make money at the same time. And yes, I schedule several and route them.

No these are great shops. Yes they only pay $10, but they also reimburse you $5.00 for gas and $1.00 for a minor item from inside. Yes there are a lot pictures and the first couple of times they may take a bit longer due to getting used to it, but once you get it down to a system it goes fast. Same with the data entry. First couple of times it takes while to enter the information until you get used to the form and then it goes quick. If you can get 6 of these a month that's $30 in free gas and pays for all of your driving for the other mystery shops.

$30 a mo absolutely does not even come close to covering my driving expenses for the month.

I agree, $30 is not close. When doing a weeks work of stations I will go through a couple of $50 gift cards. However, I do consider the gas reimbursement income, as well as the $1.00 Arizona product so a $12 station becomes an $18 shop. And I would say 20% of my shops are bonused, but I'll have to check that.

Hello everyone. My new forum name is Dandydew (formerly "Shopperfest" which some people did not like.) Quick question: Does anyone take time to rename the photos for the convenience of the editors. Is it even necessary to rename photos? I have done a few gas station shops, and renaming/uploading the photos is what take's the most time for me. I do not do many because the fee is so low, but mostly because the bathrooms are so disgusting!

I number and name the photos for me, not for the editors. I do not number with the shop number. I number one through whatever on the required photos along with a brief description. I number all infractions 33 so they will come up last on the photo run. Here's the way I use 33. For example, 33 RR dirty toilet, 33 RR dirty door, 33 RR no toilet paper. Those would all be restroom. Then I might have 33 Pump torn decal, 33 Pump etc. etc.
I do not believe it is necessary to number and name pictures to do these stations. I do it for my own convenience. After I've used the numbered photos I pull all of them into a folder with the job number on it. Then I number the next set. Since I don't use job numbers it is imperative to put each shop in a folder after I've used the pics before I start numbering the next set.

I have a folder set up for each shop. In each folder I may or may not rename the photos if that's what makes it easy for me. If there are only a few pictures, I don't bother. Sometimes, I rename them things like "pump 1," "pump 2," etc. I have never renamed the photos the way the MSC suggests and I have never been asked to change my methods.

To me, asking me to change the way I keep records would be overreaching on the part of the MSC. I'm an IC, which means the way I work is up to me, as long as the job gets done.

I don't rename any of my photos, and just submit them with the number assigned by my camera. But I also have a system in place so that I can find the correct set of photos if I ever have to refer back to them. I keep all the photos for each day in a separate folder, and then on my spreadsheet I enter my shops in the order performed. ( I use an accession number column - 1, 2 ,3 4 etc. - so I can return the shops to the right order after sorting and such.) If I need to go back and find a photo, I refer to my spreadsheet for the date of the shop and the order in which I did it, and then I go to the corresponding folder to find the right pictures.

For photo intensive shops, I create a folder for each location and date. For my convenience, I rename the photos so that I can find them as I need them when doing the report. I do this for gas stations, food stores, giant computer superstore and everything else that comes my way from any MSC. This system works for me.

I accepted one of the $11 plus $5 in gas $1 purchase. I have read mixed feelings about the reports and photos...Im questioning if it is worth it based on all the documents i need to review and understand (and take the quiz)! Seems very time consuming and there is only one shop left available in my area so all this prep is for one shop. They are quarterly, arent they?

Some of them are quarterly and some of them are monthly. You may be able to opt for auto reassignment on the monthly ones. If so, you would be in rotation every other month. That system doesn't work very well so don't depend on it. Sometimes they'll be reassigned and sometimes they won't, at least that's been my experience. No, it is not worth it to learn the guidelines for just one shop. If you plan to do these shops on a long term basis you will find it well worth your while to learn the guidelines and develop a cheat sheet along with a routine.

Warning - if you opt for auto-assign, you will be paid the starting price for the shop and you will have little if any say regarding the date of the shop. I choose not to auto-assign. I do like to do the same shops again and again and they get easier after the first one. You will probably have to take the quiz again, so keep track of your answers.

On the ones that I auto-reassign, I can choose 1st week, 2nd week, or 3rd week. The fourth choice is "anytime". If you do not select a week they can assign whichever week they choose.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2016 03:59AM by MDavisnowell.

Wednesday thru Saturday of this week I will make over $500 on gas station shops for two companies. Not bad for four days work, huh?

No, the shops are OK. BUT don't ever question a supervisor or you'll be blackballed on all jobs forever. I once nicely pointed out a safety concern of having to take a picture of a service station from across busy streets,, and it was put into my file that REFUSED to take the picture

I almost always consider Mystery Shopping pay as a "per job pay" and NOT a per hour job. Whether it's $10 on a quick job or a nicely bonused Car shop for $100, that is still either $10 or $100 added to my account. Money is money. Overhead? I work from home and use the equipment and internet I already have. (This point was mentioned by another poster as well.) If you think about it as an hourly job, you just might make yourself crazy.

I'm doing this just part time and it's been the best choice over spending my entire nights and weekends for low pay anyway and not having the choice to make my own schedule. I've made much more money than I would at a part time job without the nasty bosses I've had to deal with either.