We can't say, but there are several.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I'd never eat one of those pizzas the way it comes, fresh or 45 minutes old. Most of the time I give it away. But, on the rare occasion I do, some serious renovations have to occur first which involves a reheat to melt the extra cheese, firm up that yukky soggy crust, and warm the addiotional toppings.

Weird. I've never found the crust soggy. But I've heard people on the forums here say they didn't like it.

I dunno. It's not bad to me. Not great, but not bad either.

@kellyot wrote:

I always use a coupon and for example Two 2 topping pizzas for $7.77 each (but you have to order 2) Then I figure out the cost if I had only ordered 1 with no discounts and put that down as my reimbursement that way you almost get 2 free pizzas instead of just 1.

I love their online shops as you can earn rewards too! I can shop 2 locations as I live in 1 delivery zone and work in another. I have also done this shop while out of town as they have so many locations to cut down on vacation expenses.

I was outed several years ago when a different company was handling the shops. I was told it was because I always ordered the same pizza. I was allowed to continue mystery shopping as long as I used a different phone number and address, I used my next door neighbors until the shop company changed.

I also always take the photos in the exact same location, using natural light but not direct sunlight so no shadows (by my front door) with the pizza box on the floor standing directly over the box.

I have never had a shop rejected but I do take LOTs of pictures just in case!

Wow, you receive the cost of a single non discounted pizza in reimbursement? I figured if you use a coupon, they would figure out the discount on that e.g. 2 for 14 would amount to 7 in reimbursement.

If you watch the video, you'll know exactly what to do. The pictures are critical and that is where a lot of people mess up, so make sure you understand the requirements fully before you do the shop.

I've never done Papa John's but what I would do if I had a 23-mile ride is put the pizza in my trunk and photograph it there. It shouldn't be too hard to get a shot from above.

@Madetoshop wrote:

@NinS wrote:

Sorry to repeat the question but I still can't figure out how shoppers are being "outed" on this job. I'm sure I"m missing something but I'd be eager to hear what happened.

...I have done many of these for two MSC's <not at the same time). I figured out that I was outed once I reported an employee was not wearing a PJ hat but rather an ethnic headdress. I did the same location over and over again.

Obviously they were allowing that employee to wear the headdress. I wish they would adjust their guidelines so we don't have to report the same things over and over. I wonder if there would have been a problem if you stopped reporting it.

Hmm. Do you think they planted it to identify a shopper?

(This is for the person outed by a red-stain.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2017 10:40PM by ShopWhisperer.

Sorry for so many questions everyone. Can't help myself.

Has anyone ever straight up called a scheduler without getting one of those emails with shops + bonus offers to see if they had any openings for shops nearby with a bonus?

What I mean is have you ever just called and asked for a bonused shop at some location you wanted to shop, but for which nothing was offered? lol. Would that be wayyyy too aggressive?

Seriously, I wouldn't mind doing these, since I have three PJs near me that are probably worth my while.

U do ask alot of food questions. i still think u r writing a food book or blog.

This is what I do as I live so far away. I keep some tape in the car so the label doesn't fly away.

@sstazz wrote:

After completing a carry out today I drove about a mile away, placed the pizza on the ground to get the pictures. In my opinion this is the best way to get a perfect picture, if there is a shadow showing simply take the pic from the opposite side. It was a little windy so I tucked the receipt form under the pizza to hold it in place.

@shoptastic wrote:

Sorry for so many questions everyone. Can't help myself.

Has anyone ever straight up called a scheduler without getting one of those emails with shops + bonus offers to see if they had any openings for shops nearby with a bonus?

What I mean is have you ever just called and asked for a bonused shop at some location you wanted to shop, but for which nothing was offered? lol. Would that be wayyyy too aggressive?

Seriously, I wouldn't mind doing these, since I have three PJs near me that are probably worth my while.

Yes. I have done that frequently. And later in the month it's more likely I'll get the requested bonus.

@siamese5555 wrote:

@shoptastic wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Yes, I am aware that this client is shopped by different MSCs . I do these shops for 2 of the MSCs currently and in the past with several others that shopped this client. I don't think that it is unintelligent to shop for any of these MSCs.

Do you do shops at the same location, but for two different MSCs?

If so, is it allowed?

Also, do you ever deliver to places not your home or your work? I still wonder about this, because if you're a mystery shopper, then work can be literally anywhere. lol.

I used to deliver to a library where I would pretend to have a meeting. When they changed the rules I asked about it and they said that I could not do the library.

One MSC allows only home/work, while the other allows any buisness.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

@shoptastic wrote:

Sorry for so many questions everyone. Can't help myself.

Has anyone ever straight up called a scheduler without getting one of those emails with shops + bonus offers to see if they had any openings for shops nearby with a bonus?

What I mean is have you ever just called and asked for a bonused shop at some location you wanted to shop, but for which nothing was offered? lol. Would that be wayyyy too aggressive?

Seriously, I wouldn't mind doing these, since I have three PJs near me that are probably worth my while.

Yes. I have done that frequently. And later in the month it's more likely I'll get the requested bonus.

Thanks for the perspective, JASFLALMT.

I just worry that I would be doing something potentially unfair and too aggressive, so that's why I asked. I feel like we're not always told the rules and etiquette between shopper and scheduler when first signing up to do mystery shopping. I wouldn't want an unfair advantage over some other shopper who didn't know that we could call schedulers. I think that's where I have this unease in my mind.

Like why don't companies, schedulers, etc. just lay out how things work from the beginning? Some do actually. I know ACL tells us that they have "better" shops they give to proven shoppers. That's good to know.

Actually, the schedulers do, in fact, tell us we can negotiate with them for this PJ's MSC that I work for, but that's with specific offers and not as a broad/general principal. I guess my fear was that I was asking for a bonus for a location that wasn't advertised. In this situation, Scheduler X emailed me about Location A that had a bonus and said we're free to contact him/her to discuss it. But I didn't want to do Location A, but instead Location B, C...and maybe D. So that's why I asked in this thread. But I was also thinking of situations where a scheduler doesn't email you at all with any type of bonused offer and a shopper just calls/emails to request one. That's like another unique situation. I wasn't sure if THAT situation was just too aggressive and/or unfair of an action.

If other shoppers don't know that you can just call up a scheduler and ask for ANY location to be bonused, then would that be unfair to them?

I'm not suggesting we're being intentionally unfair. I know for me, I wasn't thinking "Let me get the upper-hand over others, MUHAHAHA." It was more like: "Hey, I'm going in direction X today and if I could somehow get a shop in the same area at Location Y, then that would be really convenient for me." My thought was more about saving gas money and "routing" some shops to make things more convenient and profitable for myself. I did get the shop I requested, by the way.

But then I have this feeling of unease about it for some reason. It feels like I might have unfairly gotten a shop over others for some reason (even though that wasn't my intent or thought process).

Unfair? Too aggressive? You are now self-employed, a small business owner. Get over the idea of being "too" anything if you want to succeed.

I love doing the PJ shops. They make my car payment every month with the bonuses. I have been outed on two stores. I expected it on the first store. I always did a 3 shop run and was picking up my first pizza at A store and as I was walking into the store, an employee from B store was coming out. Of course, by the time I got to B store, that employee was running all over the store whispering in each employee's ear. So when I was outed on that one I was not shocked. But recently I was not getting any emails or shops at all. I emailed my favorite scheduler at the MSC with whom I've developed a rapport to find out what was wrong. She called me the next day and said in looking at it, she could not see any reason I was outed on the second store. At any rate I still get about 9 shops a month as I get 2 carry out shops and 1 delivery and all are bonused. The only PJ shop I hated was the infamous one where you had to "cut" the pizza - I did one of those and then never again. Like JASFLAMT, I pretty much take my pics in the same place. I use a dim light and take at least 4 pics of the top view using the flash as the instructions say to do. For the paper work pics. I've found with my camera I can't use the flash but I can get good pics of them where there is good lighting.
She also explained that when you are outed, you can go back to shopping those stores after 18 mos.

Shoptastic, I don't worry about having an upper hand and I probably do a little because I've been working at this for 16 years trying to find more ways to be profitable. I don't know many shoppers in my area, but no need for me to feel guilty when I get shops that I want. Not my problem if the other shoppers weren't fast enough, didn't know something I know to get more and better paying shops, or if I write better reports and am more reliable than someone else so I get the shops instead. You think shoppers who don't know you think twice about how you feel if they get the shops and you don't? Unlikely. Also, schedulers try to get the shops filled at the base rate, so they aren't going to tell new shoppers to ask for bonuses. You were resourceful enough to find this forum and learn things to help you with you MS career. That means you have a well deserved edge. No need for guilt.

Maybe they have a "BOUNTY" on us shoppers. I was outted and the outting puts you out of shopping for 1.5 years! I am back in now and more careful.

Yes you are right! the software will reject the smaller sized receipt even if the receipt is HUGE and clear and easy to see. My guess is the software for the close-up receipt is unreasonably rejecting perfectly good pictures because even though the software tells me it is too small- the software will still let you submit the pictures and I have been submitting "supposedly" too small close-up receipts for almost 40 shops now and I have never been rejected. I think the close-up receipt size requirements are off/wrong in the PJ software. I just cut the needed area off the larger receipt and use it for my close up receipt...........so I am only actually taking a picture of the whole receipt- then cropping it for my small receipt too. No problems in over 40 shops.

Me too. Last time I put it on the ironing board and stood ever it in a chair

Remember when we used to have to cut them and turn them over remember those days

you can NEVER EVER have too many photos .. make sure it's before you take a bite!!

You are of course correct. Be honest. The MSC that I do them for now usually suggests in the guidelines to varying your order. And they allow more than one pizza.
I noticed the last shop I did they allowed coupons, so long as the pizza requirement is met. 2 for 1? Fine, as long as one meets the requirement.

Those were the days!

@shoptastic wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

@shoptastic wrote:

Sorry for so many questions everyone. Can't help myself.

Has anyone ever straight up called a scheduler without getting one of those emails with shops + bonus offers to see if they had any openings for shops nearby with a bonus?

Shoptastic I think you need to answer this question based on your experience with the msc and seeing how they would react after trying it. Since there is more than one Papa John's msc it is difficult to answer about your specific company. For the msc I do PJ for since their normal fee is zero which puts me out of pocket in my area I see nothing wrong with calling them. I have mostly emailed back with a counter offer but they have almost never agreed to it. Then if they cannot fill the job (i assume) a few days later I get another email with a larger offer. But I do not think that email is specific to me. They constantly beg me to do jobs out of my delivery area even though they know which location I can get delivery from. In my market bonus money is few and far between so I would not call and ask for a bonus just for any old job. Maybe I should but most jobs seem to be filled without bonuses. This particular job seems to need to be bonused as do many of the other jobs from this msc even in my never bonused area. Therefore since I know they have trouble filling these jobs and trouble coming up with more than $3 I have no trouble calling them. For other msc where I have to hit the job openings within 2 minutes of them being advertised I would not bother themselves or myself with a call asking for a bonus.

oy vey

No it is not necessarily odd.....but if you have it delivered to a law firm and you are in flip flops and shorts ....................well...............and if you have it delivered to a wield plance like a bowling alley or farm stand or front of Kroger's........it COULD be weird .......if the location makes "sense" and you look the part it will be less noticeable. But be very careful if delivering to a business.

I remember when one MSC tried to convince you to meet delivery in the parking lot. We see how that worked out!@

I feel like I have a different experience than all of you.

In my area there is only 1 MSC that does PJ (I've checked with the other MSC and they have never had any on the boards in my area), and it requires 6 super easy photos. I've never had a photo rejected or even had a problem, my photos aren't even that good normally. There was one time I got an email from the editor and they asked me if I uploaded the right photos because the ID was wrong, I emailed them back with the correct pictures and they apologized saying they just misread the ID and my original photos were good. The downside is though that if I don't take the shop off the board at base price another shopper will, so no bonuses besides the $2-5 if the scheduler emails me the shop before it's on the board.

Also I always order the same exact pizza and take the picture in the same spot right in front of my door and I have never been outed.

I guess I'm both unlucky and lucky.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2017 12:16AM by JohnieQ.

For those of you who use coupons while performing PJ shops. How do you report the cost of just one pizza? e.g. I see there are two 3 topping, large pizzas for $9.99 EACH on the website now for online orders. Say I mention that coupon while placing a delivery order and they honor it. Are you saying, you pay $9.99 for the extra pizza, do the report, hope for $9.99 reimbursement plus tip and call it a day? If it were me, I'd rather just pony up the $20 for two pizzas and skip the report and pictures but at the same time, I am not willing to pay $10 for an extra PJ pizza and do the report for $10 reimbursement. Am I making sense? LOL, I order from Dominoes or Pizza Hut now and pay.

@ShopWhisperer wrote:

@Madetoshop wrote:

@NinS wrote:

Sorry to repeat the question but I still can't figure out how shoppers are being "outed" on this job. I'm sure I"m missing something but I'd be eager to hear what happened.

...I have done many of these for two MSC's <not at the same time). I figured out that I was outed once I reported an employee was not wearing a PJ hat but rather an ethnic headdress. I did the same location over and over again.

Obviously they were allowing that employee to wear the headdress. I wish they would adjust their guidelines so we don't have to report the same things over and over. I wonder if there would have been a problem if you stopped reporting it.