@Dongjuan wrote:

As much as I like $10 in free toilet paper, but not getting a fee...

Not me, I stand by the expressway entrance with a sign hanging around my neck that says "Wiil work for toilet paper".

Im not tryiing to direct shoppers, and I doubt anyone else us, but expressing opinion and frustration is allowed and warranted. Same with overseas jobs, it cheapens us all, destroys towns, industries and even whole cities like Detroit.

I don't wait for bonuses, I pick up what is fair to myself and the MSCs. I always ask for bonuses if the location has not been shopped and is out of my way. I usually ask for three shops with bonuses in the same city.

What is fair to the MSCs?

Some of you have expressed chronic dissatisfaction with this industry. You are as free to leave the industry as you are to work in it. What would be the best and worst outcomes for you if you left this industry?

Everyone shops for different reasons. I will give you 2 examples of taking the "Low hanging fruit"

1- I work a full time job. If there is a shop on my way home, like a FF shop, I will take it for low pay. I go right by that location anyway, so why not? I am not out anything additional mileage wise. I get a quick meal and some money and I don't have to do dishes!

2- I live in a very rural area. My aunt lives in a big town 1 hour away. I take reimbursement only restaurant shops when I go visit her. She and I get to chat and have a nice meal. This is something we enjoy doing together. ACL shops are fairly easy, so why not take one? I am already going there to see my aunt and eat.

I understand that people take shops for their own reasons, but I thought that I would share my story to let those folks who don't understand why others take the lower pay or reimbursement only shops.

What would be the best and worst outcomes for you if you just let people vent and didn't bother to read it?

@Shop-et-al wrote:

What would be the best and worst outcomes for you if you left this industry?

Some of you have expressed chronic dissatisfaction with posts in this forum. You are as free to leave the forum as you are to post in it. What would be the best and worst outcomes for you if you left this forum?

lisastl & i cross posted.

The underlying issue is overcontrol.

Why do some posters take the position that their businesses are so damnably important that they can, under the guises of curiosity and venting. all but demand that other shoppers make certain business decisions in order to support someone else's ambitions? At best, the base attitude is self-serving. At worst, it puts unique free agents and individuals on the defensive without cause and without authority. Bullying does the same thing.

Is bullying-like behavior the best we can do?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2017 09:10AM by Shop-et-al.

is always playing the victim your thing? forum members are allowed to disagree w/each other. no one is bullying anyone.

I believe most folks like to vent because at the end of the day, it seems kinda frustrating that the industry they're working in is being beaten down to less than minimum wage pay... for some assignment types. If a person is hard up for cash, though, they may find it worth it. I'm in a fortunate place these days to be a bit more selective but I still love a good venting session from time to time.

I couldn't imagine $5 oil changes but perhaps the narrative isn't bad and the people need the oil change and save $75 on a 15 quart diesel. I dunno. I could go grab a Fram Filter and some SAE 5W30 , probably coupon and get it all for $10 (seriously, coupons can be amazing depending on time of year and rebate apps) and spend time with my husband under the SUV... but I like to grab shops that cover my oil change and pay me $75 to sit and sip coffee and write a little more narrative heavy report later

A few years ago, I would have been happy to sit for an hour or two or three to get that free oil change and even just do it for free oil because in college, I was broke as a joke. I can see both sides. It depends on where you are in life, your business or your bills, and so forth. Venting doesn't so much bother me, it's the sheeite people on here (they're few and far between) that tend to make me want to use my unladylike language.

I've never seen a decent bonused shop in my area ($2 bonus doesn't do it for me) except for dealership services for vehicles I don't have. So, I've never picked up a bonused shop. That makes me sad.

@Tarah2222 wrote:

I've never seen a decent bonused shop in my area ($2 bonus doesn't do it for me) except for dealership services for vehicles I don't have. So, I've never picked up a bonused shop. That makes me sad.

My area, be it small, tends to never get above $20-$25 for oil but if I am willing to drive about 45 minutes I can get a nice bonus most of the time. They do get snagged up occasionally at base but after an experience of waiting almost 4 hours once -- I just can't imagine taking any of the $5 pay ones.

In four hours time, I could have shopped a drive thru, a burger place, a drive in, a sweets store, a shoe store, a cell phone store, another cell phone store, a tablet shop, and threw in a few pizza joints and post offices and gotten the reports completed (could be a stretch but it's possible).

But it's all a balancing act for each of us. If you need an oil change and your car uses full synthetic and more than 5 quarts, or you have a diesel/luxury car they can definitely be worth the payout of free oil. We just brought home a BMW (used!!! but still) so my tune may change about express oil changes at $5-$25. Had an online friend get one for $50 and she said the narrative on that type of shop was easy peasy but the wait ended up being two hours just because they were backed up.

Yes, my Dodge dealer's ExPrESS oil chane took almost 3 hours! Forget that! They did a folkow up call to ask about my satisfaction, omg. I told her it took WAY toi long snd she said ok, thank you. It was like talking to the ex, oblivious.

Nobody is telling other shoppers how to run their businesses because those other shoppers are not even on this forum. And if someone was, so what. It is not like anyone here is your mother who can call you 100 times a day to tell you what you are doing wrong. It is a thread on an internet forum that can be ignored and should be ignored by people who rarely shop and are not interested in building a business.

If you think this thread is so awful, maybe you haven't read all the threads from new and veteran shoppers who weren't aware fees increase or can be negotiated. They start threads to thank the contributors who opened up a whole new world for them. I remember well my days of working with Shop'n Check/Market Force and CORI for piddly rates. Finding another forum and reading what others were able to accomplish gave me a whole new perspective for which I am forever grateful.

Despite very part-time involvement, I have been able to reduce my need for income from this industry. It is more efficient and enjoyable to work part-time at another job. A third job is on the back burner.

I, like some others, need not treat this industry as significant income. We are free to take it or leave it. We may or may not be wealthy, but we have an array of work options. This is another difference in perspective.

Not everyone has an array of work options. Some of us have been blackballed and do not have many choices to pick from.

Were you blackballed, slapp?

I would have done it for $600...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2017 11:15PM by gmcarr1.

wow.what do u have to do to be blackballed.

I blackballed two assignments, two different MSCs so far. One where an employee kept a very special card of mine and it cost me $95 to have it replaced. I asked for a box for my popcorn and the morons they hired snickered to each other and kept the card. The other was an apt complex where the employee followed me to my car and blicked me from closing my door. I called the cops on that one after the MSC called me saying they determined it was my fault. My attorney sent a letter and the Mgmt. company settled for $4,800 the next day.

ummmm....Norwich, Connecticut?

Yes mam! I so agree. I have single mom friends who have children. No matter how small the fee or if reimbursement the need it almost weekly to supplement their income. I referred them for that reason

Not everyone has an array of work options. Some of us have been blackballed and do not have many choices to pick from.

Hi Slapp, do you know DavePi?

What about the taxes? Some folks get into mystery shopping and treat it like cash income. Granted, showing a loss in the business can be okay for awhile. After that they risk having their business declared a hobby and losing the deductions.

@Mrs.M wrote:

Yes mam! I so agree. I have single mom friends who have children. No matter how small the fee or if reimbursement the need it almost weekly to supplement their income. I referred them for that reason

I've been shopping for 15 years and this comes up all the time. I don't think you will ever convince shoppers to wait for bonuses or to ignore $5 shops --- and in all fairness, we don't know why they take the "low-hanging" fruit. I am fairly picky on what I will take, but if that $5 shop is next door to a $30 lunch at the mall, I might just take it because I am already going to be there.
This does not just happen in mystery shopping. I am a Realtor...sometimes I will cut my commissions, generally I do not. But when there are extenuating circumstances and it fits into my business plan, I sometimes will.
It's hard to know what is in someone else's mind.

@spicy1 wrote:

I always hope they take the "bird in the hand". Inevitably, they realize the stupidity of it and burn out and then I get the texts and phone calls. I fill my schedule with flakes and burn-outs! It would be better, of course, if instead of paying me $100 for that one assignment to spread it out to $17 per assignment but MSC try to get the most for the least, always, and they succeed.

I hope you are not calling me stupid here... I take what shops are convenient for me. I have been shopping for almost 10 years and have not burned out yet. I also don't flake unless perhaps hurricanes hit and then I reach out to my schedulers ASAP. If I go to get groceries at one store, I see no problem dropping next door to earn $8. I'm already out and the small paying ones are quick and easy. I will agree that there are many shoppers who come in expecting everything to be high pay with free electronics and little work. Once they realize how much work MSing is, they usually move to the side. To make it work for you is the true test of intelligence.

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

I will agree that there are many shoppers who come in expecting everything to be high pay with free electronics and little work. Once they realize how much work MSing is, they usually move to the side. To make it work for you is the true test of intelligence.

i love that last sentence.