Question about Scheduler Jobs

Good morning! I was wondering if anyone out here has ever had any experience being employed as a scheduler and/or editor? I see some of the MSCs I work with are hiring and wondering if this is a good opportunity or if it's better to just keep mystery shopping. Thanks!

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My personal take on scheduling is it a matter of personal taste. I worked in scheduling daily for three months, now I only help out once in awhile. It was not for me.(My direct line boss said she did not like shopping but loves scheduling) If you have young children at home or that you want to get on an off the bus then maybe the job is for you. I don't have kids so no reason to be here if I do not want. I was frustrated at shoppers who would flake on a shop, you signed up for it so complete. I get emergencies but just not doing it? No. You have to be willing to call and text shoppers almost daily and send out emails as necessary. Also, let us say shopper x takes your shop, you as a scheduler get paid $4 for the shop. Shopper x flakes and shopper y takes the shop. The scheduler still only gets $4 for the shop. Even if you spent 2 hours the first time and 3 hours the second time scheduling the shop, you still get $4. I prefer and make more money shopping, with a lot less stress.

Thank you so much for your reply. From all the research I've done on this forum (I love this forum by the way) your perspective seems to be the general consensus. Now that I know a little bit more about the jobs, it seems shopping will be best for me. It seems you have more freedom with shopping and less stress. I'm pretty sure I would get annoyed as an editor with a lot of the reports that come in (I can only imagine what some people submit) and as a scheduler I would probably be frustrated by the flakes. Thanks again for your response. Everyone is so helpful here

@wozswoman wrote:

My personal take on scheduling is it a matter of personal taste. I worked in scheduling daily for three months, now I only help out once in awhile. It was not for me.(My direct line boss said she did not like shopping but loves scheduling) If you have young children at home or that you want to get on an off the bus then maybe the job is for you. I don't have kids so no reason to be here if I do not want. I was frustrated at shoppers who would flake on a shop, you signed up for it so complete. I get emergencies but just not doing it? No. You have to be willing to call and text shoppers almost daily and send out emails as necessary. Also, let us say shopper x takes your shop, you as a scheduler get paid $4 for the shop. Shopper x flakes and shopper y takes the shop. The scheduler still only gets $4 for the shop. Even if you spent 2 hours the first time and 3 hours the second time scheduling the shop, you still get $4. I prefer and make more money shopping, with a lot less stress.

Wow!

You spend two to three hours scheduling a single shop and get paid only $4 for that?

I'm guessing that's a rare case and that schedulers make more than $2/hour?

I am unsure how all companies work I can only speak for the one I scheduled for. The shop pays the scheduler depending on how difficult it is to schedule. So shop x that flies off the board may only pay $3 per location. While shop y which is a pain to fill pays $6 per location. If all locations are filled then you may get a bonus. The most a shop paid that I ever scheduled was $8 including the bonus. And if you flake, I have to fill it again for that same original $8 nothing more.

walesmaven, any input?

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I'm probably wrong, but if you get paid $3 per location, don't you have a LOT of locations and don't many of them fly off the board or get scheduled immediately? Otherwise, who would do that job? I'd love to be a scheduler and see hundreds of jobs leaving the boards, even knowing I'd have to work to get the last few done.

@wozswoman wrote:

I am unsure how all companies work I can only speak for the one I scheduled for. The shop pays the scheduler depending on how difficult it is to schedule. So shop x that flies off the board may only pay $3 per location. While shop y which is a pain to fill pays $6 per location. If all locations are filled then you may get a bonus. The most a shop paid that I ever scheduled was $8 including the bonus. And if you flake, I have to fill it again for that same original $8 nothing more.

Depending on how the account is split up between schedulers will depend on how many shops you have in an area.

I scheduled for awhile and although it can be almost fun, it just wasn't for me. The key is yes a bunch of shops might fly off the board easily and then be completed on time netting what looks like a great hour of work (and well it is). The problem are those hard to schedule shops that you can spend hours for and for the same 3.00 (or whatever). I decided to quit when I spent one entire New Years Eve trying to get shops finished up across the country (and you can imagine how well that went) and then of course the MSC decides its fine to wait a few more weeks to complete the project. They want 100% completion and honestly that can be very hard to accomplish without bonus money. I might have been able to bonus a couple of dollars but more than once I personally bonused far more than I was getting on that one shop to get it done.

This all said, there are people who just click with this and can get them all scheduled. Most of those have been long time schedulers who have worked up a great network of shoppers they can count on.

For me, I'd rather shop.

Liz

@Traveliz wrote:

I scheduled for awhile and although it can be almost fun, it just wasn't for me. The key is yes a bunch of shops might fly off the board easily and then be completed on time netting what looks like a great hour of work (and well it is). The problem are those hard to schedule shops that you can spend hours for and for the same 3.00 (or whatever). I decided to quit when I spent one entire New Years Eve trying to get shops finished up across the country (and you can imagine how well that went) and then of course the MSC decides its fine to wait a few more weeks to complete the project. They want 100% completion and honestly that can be very hard to accomplish without bonus money. I might have been able to bonus a couple of dollars but more than once I personally bonused far more than I was getting on that one shop to get it done.

This all said, there are people who just click with this and can get them all scheduled. Most of those have been long time schedulers who have worked up a great network of shoppers they can count on.

For me, I'd rather shop.

Liz

Is there a penalty if schedulers don't fill all the shops?

I've always wondered why mystery shopping companies and/or the client don't just exclude those hard to fill locations. If it takes a huge bonus to fill them, why not just save the money?

In any case, I NOW can sympathize a lot more with schedulers and have a greater appreciation of them.

@shoptastic wrote:

I've always wondered why mystery shopping companies and/or the client don't just exclude those hard to fill locations. If it takes a huge bonus to fill them, why not just save the money?

I've answered this question for you once already. The client does not pay more for hard to fill locations. They pay a flat fee per. They really couldn't care less how hard they are to fill. They want every location shopped. The MSC can either bid the contract or not. It's up to them to make enough on the easy ones to cover the hard ones.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

That would be like hiring a house painter and when they're almost done saying hrm I'm not painting the eaves those are hard, just gonna exclude them. You don't care how hard the eaves are to paint, you want your whole house painted.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

@bgriffin wrote:

That would be like hiring a house painter and when they're almost done saying hrm I'm not painting the eaves those are hard, just gonna exclude them. You don't care how hard the eaves are to paint, you want your whole house painted.

Sounds like your explaining something to a 3rd grader...just sayin in my snarky way!!!!!

Live consciously....

Editing is great. I've been doing it for a few years now. As long as I meet the deadlines I can pretty much work when I want to. There is endless work as well. The only downside is that you have no human interaction.

If you don't mind me asking, how is your pay structure? I know it varies from company to company, but do you get an annual salary, hourly salary or paid per job (or a combination thereof)?

I am paid per edit. The fee ranges depending on how difficult the form is. I am an IC so am responsible for my own taxes.

Thank you so much for sharing

Do you shop also, and if so, what do you like better ? Thanks for sharing.

@yogajunkie wrote:

I am paid per edit. The fee ranges depending on how difficult the form is. I am an IC so am responsible for my own taxes.

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