I have done a number of these when they were on my route AND when the pay was acceptable. I have given lots of food away.
IMO, these are not worth doing unless the pay is $12 or greater. I really only want to do them at $15, but it seems to really upset the scheduler to be asked for that, even if the offer is to handle several in an area.
Here are MY reasons:
1. I don't really care for the food.
2. You can't order what you might want or what's really appropriate for the time of day.
3. I do this work to make a living, not clog my arteries.
4.The lowest price meal you can get is the Jumbo Jack, fries and glass of (free) water. That runs anywhere from $4.09 to $4.50 at the places I've been. So at $7 you only net $2.50 and at $9, net $4.50, IF you get the absolute cheapest possible meal.
5. This is more than just an outside photo and go. You have to time it just right to snap the inside menu board photo and not be caught and wait if someone is in the bathroom. They have cameras trained on the outside menu boards, but the only way to get a decent photo of the board is to get out of your car or be far away from the board. If you are even just five more inches than usual away from the board, the clerk inside gets angry and yells at you that they can't hear you. Then you have to go find a place to park, unwrap food, snap more pics.
6.The fastest I have ever completed one of these was 12 minutes on location and another 15 minutes finishing photos and the report. At $7 pay, that's $5 an hour not including driving/gas expense (which I do consider) or the money float.
7. The above scenario happened exactly once. Most of the time, it takes longer, or they forget your receipt, say it was in the bag when you ask, then you have to park or drive back and go in to get it. At night, there have been several times when the time on location was over 30 minutes, then I still had to finish the report. And when the website is being cranky, the report can take another 30 minutes. In general, when these pay less than $12-15, I would really be making $2-4 an hour, then counting gas, doing it at a loss.
8. One night, at two different stores, the time just in the drive-through lane was 45 minutes at each place!!! Very frustrating and no I didn't get hazard pay.
The report isn't hard and doesn't take as long as most shops as long as the MSC's website is working properly (plenty of times when it wasn't and had to wait long times for the photos to upload). And the website times out much faster than the supposed 30 minutes - making it a pain to try to do while on location because you have to keep signing in or saving the report and reopening during a 25-minute shop. It would be better if they used one of the apps like MobiAudit, GoSpotCheck or Presto (though Presto can also be temperamental).
These shops are probably fairly paid at $15, but they rarely get there in areas within a 45-mile radius of me because plenty of people must take them at $8-$10.