Am I the only one to wonder this?

Like countless MS I've signed up with loads of companies over the years. Something hit me today.

Do these people invest in software to check where you live? Since I once had a company e-mailing me daily that they had an *urgent* shop they needed done. Just one little problem . . . it was on the other side of the continent, in another country. How was I suppose to help them do this shop? I doubt they'd cover for me to fly or drive there, and then come back while making a tidy little profit margin for myself.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2016 11:06PM by OldDog.

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I've wondered that as well. Virtually all MSCs ask for your address so they know where to send the check and 1099 forms. Would it be that difficult to be able to sort shoppers by state? I live close to the state line so I do appreciate receiving emails for the adjoining state. It is frustrating to have to sort through shops from all over the country. At the same time, I do understand the scheduler's point of view. It's easier to send out one email to all the shoppers than send out 50 of th same to just the shoppers in given states.

"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful." Edward R. Murrow

Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.--Branch Rickey

With some companies I beieve that they give their schedulers a geography test first, before allowing them to contact shoppers. If they PASS the test then they are not allowed to schedule.

My favorite story of the moment is when a scheduler thought the states were arranged cross country alphabetically and told me that Nebraska and New York were in close proximity, another argued with me that I was only 20 miles from canada because her mapquest said so. Apparently her mapquest thought I lived on a houseboat.

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

I actually understand some leeway in this, especially if you live close to a boarder, but crossing 3 time zones. Why not set it up to e-mail shoppers within a radius they set?

@GMooneyhan MBSC wrote:

I've wondered that as well. Virtually all MSCs ask for your address so they know where to send the check and 1099 forms. Would it be that difficult to be able to sort shoppers by state? I live close to the state line so I do appreciate receiving emails for the adjoining state. It is frustrating to have to sort through shops from all over the country. At the same time, I do understand the scheduler's point of view. It's easier to send out one email to all the shoppers than send out 50 of th same to just the shoppers in given states.

@OldDog wrote:

. . . it was on the other side of the content, in another country.

Huh?

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

I do believe that some will send emails to as many as possible when they are desperate just in case you are out of town visiting the place where they need the job done. And if I was on vacation in some far flung place and got an email about a job nearby with a huge bonus I would probably be thrilled and take it. But if they are sending all routine jobs that way....I like Cettie's idea that they sometimes try to hire those who fail the geography test.

@BirdyC wrote:

@OldDog wrote:

. . . it was on the other side of the content, in another country.
Huh?

It's autocorrect... continent.

Now scheduling travel shops for the day after Christmas through mid-January.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

@OldDog wrote:

. . . it was on the other side of the content, in another country.
Huh?
It's autocorrect... continent.

Aha! But, that's why proofreading is so important....

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

For reports. Unless someone is complaining about being marked off for grammar and spelling in a report, as long as I can easily comprehend what they are writing here, it's all good. It's amazing how the human mind can "see" continent in the context written.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

My favorite is on the Shopmetrics platform where sometimes you get shops in Beirut or Abu Dhabi when you filter by your own zip code + 20 miles. Nope. I'm not going to Beirut for you for $50. If I decide to do any secret shopping for you in Beirut, I will let you know.

I always get annoyed by the airport shops, but then I remember that airports are really one of the few shops where they're specifically looking for shoppers who are travelling to that area (especially if it's a post-security shop). Sigh... so I guess I can understand why they send them to everyone in the whole country in case anyone is flying into the Memphis Airport. It's nice when they put the name of the 1 or 2 airports that they're recruiting for in the subject line of the email, though, so that if I'm not travelling to Grand Rapids, MI I can just delete it.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

I agree with Cettie that a geography test would be warranted by the schedulers, especially if they are scheduling geography-specific locations. I had a scenario once where I was to call a travel agency and get a quote for a family of 4 travelling to the Maritimes for Christmas. The travel agent then should have upsold me to a car/hotel/tours, etc. So I priced a flight for 4 to Halifax. The scheduler wrote me back and told me the shop was declined because I was to go to the Maritimes, not Halifax. I wrote back and explained that Halifax is a city in the Maritimes, but she still didn't get it. Finally....... finally I was able to get through to her that the Maritimes is NOT a city -- it is a district of 4 provinces with many cities in it. After countless emails she finally accepted my report. My thoughts are that if the scenario is to the Maritimes, the scheduler should maybe take one minute and find out where on the globe that location is.

Geez, I live in Ohio and I knew about the Maritimes. What a ditz!

No great stories like the above, but I have been asked how far I lived from the New York-New Hampshire border.
I answered as politely as I could!

I agree, major pet peeve. They ask for my address. Ask for what Cities, Zip Codes, Area Codes I want to work in and then send something from either another state or the far end of the state I'm in. Best one is offering a shop in a Metro area and I reply it's too far away. "But it's only..20 miles away." Yes. By Ferry, Your fee plus bonus won't even cover one way. "Oh.."

Sadly, geography seems to be going by the wayside in schools, just like grammar and spelling. It makes you wonder if the scheduler actually lives in North America at all. These days, you just can't tell.

I like when they use as the crow flies miles. But I use a road to get to the coast. I have to drive to another state then cross the border back into my state and cross a mountain range twice.

Funny fact, I used to sleep though those classes in school, and always aced the course. Same thing with economics.

@hutch4549 wrote:

Sadly, geography seems to be going by the wayside in schools, just like grammar and spelling. It makes you wonder if the scheduler actually lives in North America at all. These days, you just can't tell.

Interesting. Maps and miles are not the only thing... In my world, there are "summer" and "winter" shops. In summer, on a bright warm day I can travel far, do multiple shops, and get home in time for work the next day. In winter, the same shops may not be accessible due to roads closed somewhere between here and there. If ever I can get to and from one distant shop on a frigid wintry day, that may be all of the shopping for that day. Mind you, I love the variety of views in my region and I am not complaining. I will go as far as I can in every direction in every season. But because so many shoppers in this broad region are affected by storms and road closures, there are many shops that are hard to fill. This factoid leads into my whine and want for more and more and more and more shoppers in my region. I believe that if people are willing to go where they can in the winter, even if it is just to nearby shops that are not glamorous or extremely well paid, all shops can be completed. But who knows what shoppers want to do or are able to do at any time...

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

I was getting 3-5 daily emails from one Sassie company. Granted I can quickly scroll to the bottom and check if my city was available. But why would I want to clean my email that way daily, AND the shop notifier app? They seem to only have one client in my area, so I opted out of emails from that MSC, which is a first for me. Normally, I'm fine with the desperate auto-emails from other companies, but that company was a little excessive. The other clients aren't even in my province (Canadian prairies).

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