I am wanting to do some Grocery shops in Savannah Ga when I visit my daughter. The fee is only $5.00. The other grocery shops I do pay $18 to $45. Can someone tell me what you are to do for $5.00? Can you tell me if it is worth it?

Beside the 5.00 fee you get either 14.00 or 17.00 reimbursement for groceries, depending on weather or not you have to buy Boars Head Deli.

Do you just shop one department? Are there a lot of questions on the survey or a lengthy narrative?

We shop Produce, Meat, Deli, Grocery and for some stores Boars Head in Deli. Cashier and bagger have easy questions. Report a bit confusing when starting, but there are so many stores close by, worth the time which takes 1 /2 hour max. Sound like more work than is, many do it, many don't care for it. Where i live, they jump off the board.

Thanks!

I love them and do a lot of them they are very easy

They took me ages when I first started, and I found them confusing, and had one disallowed (that was due to my mistake, so no hard feelings). Now I find them easier, but not easy, and I enjoy them, except sometimes the department-specific questions feel unnatural. But there are lots of these stores where I live, and I need the groceries more than I need all the fast food shops that are available!

My first Kroger's was in the summer of 2006; the job paid, as it does now in Ohio, a $5 fee and either $9 or $12 in reimbursement. In addition, the report was considerably shorter. When they phone me, I state a desire for an extra $10 to $20, which they rarely grant. that's business. When one considers the inflation since 2006. that Kroger's is by no means inexpensive and that many shoppers exceed the minimum, it is a sweet deal for all except the shopper.

I'm reviewing the pages and pages of instructions, and even after printing them a 175% of their print view, its still very confusing. I think that I'll need to drop by the store and see what I find, without doing the actual shop. Then maybe I'll do the shop tomorrow.

I did 2 of the shops that are $5 pay and $12 for reimbursement with a Boars Head deli purchase for my first time today. I was a little confused by the forms but I think they are ok. I was never able to find someone in grocery to help me at one store. Have any of you not found anyone to help you?

There have been several times there was not an associate in one of the departments being shopped. Just make sure you check for an associate more than once but not ‘out of sequence’.

If it's your very first time it can be overwhelming. You'll either get $5+($9 food) or $5+ ($12 food) depending on your store type. You'll need to go around the store and count the number of people in each department on their check list and you'll have to get within 7 feet of each person to see if they speak to you or not. You'll then begin to make your interactions with assigned associates. You'll ask a question and write up their response. The report can take 10 minutes or it can take 45 depending on number of associates, interactions, your speed, etc. And the shop can do about the same just depending. You'll engage with up to 5 or 6 associates that you'll need to write about in detail. I usually ask for $10 extra to do the shops as my bare minimum. I've gotten it down to a half hour to 45 minutes total for shop+input.

It all depends on what you need and if you find it worth it. You can buy alcohol and even stamps doing these too. Some folks have a hard time getting to $9 with only 3 items but the limit isn't actually food items so you can grab two cans of wet cat food and buy a book of stamps if you need those, or you can get two cans of dog food and a bottle of wine, or anything really. I could get a bottle of bleach, a dish detergent, dryer sheets, paper towels, tissues, a pack of TP, and maybe a bunch of bananas and be around the reimbursement. It's really about what you're after. Some folks like to do them to tamp down their regular grocery bill.

Sometimes I do them to not feel so put out over an expensive item I've been after... like natural honey for $15 or natural maple syrup or avocado oil at $14 a bottle...

For me -- $5 fee isn't enough, but I'd take $15 ($10 PAD) on them. I do other shops too -- where stores sell grocery items. Big Lots often gets in organic tea for $1 for 20 bags!!! I can take my $5 and get a few useful things there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2018 01:13PM by MountainCacher88.

I think it is all at how you look at it. I don't often get PAD, but I tend to do 5-6 shops for them a weekend. Not a lot of cash, but I get all of our groceries and other things for free and that saves an enormous amount of money. Once you get down the drill I can do these in my sleep. I just keep good notes. Think about not having to pay for groceries! When I have everything I need, then I buy stockpile things. You would be amazed at the savings plus I use my coupons on top of it.

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Using coupons makes it worthwhile. I also pick up allergy pills and booze as well as groceries. Reports go by quickly, and I always see a grocer for questions, my shops have many employees, + I shop there anyway, so know where everything is....they recently remolded, and it's #1 in that brand, so had to figure it out, but since I go there anyway, would be stupid not to do shops. They have their sale Wed/Friday, prices much lower with great bargains. I don't look at it as a 5.00 fee, as I spend the money anyway, why not count reimbersement's. I shop 2 of their other clients as well, great payoff for me.

I'm doing my first one Wednesday. It's a location I'm not familiar with and it looks daunting. I hope it goes okay.

There aren't any close to me -- the one that was -- I was outted after they did a camera check/round up a while back. I knew something odd was up when I walked in, anyway. There are usually 5-7 employees max within eyeshot. There were over 30 that day. Daunting report, and my last one for the local location. Everything else is 45 minutes each direction but for some distance pay and picking up other things... I might do a couple a month. I do like competitor shops best since they don't have most of the departments. There's also places like Aldi & Ingles that are an easier report although less pay. I can usually get $20 for an Ingles since no one shops around here.

Also... Savannah... 0_o good lawd. My MIL works in the area as a case manager for HUD and that 16 lane business is intense.

I just finished inputting my first grocery shop. I was there for 1 hour and 22 min. I simply COULD NOT find associates in all the depts they wanted me in. I wrote "Dept was void of associates" for each dept where it was a ghost town. Then have to go back to more depts and engage employees. That took FOREVER, again cus there just wasn't alot of folks to ask questions to. I also didn't care for the mandatory questions - they are old so would prob out a shopper. I had to do my regular shopping, so I was fine attempting this. But it was really tedious and if I was being followed by security, I'm sure I was heck of suspicious, wandering all over the huge store multiple times like I was lost.

It is not uncommon to find no employees. It depends on the time of day. I had one Friday. They sent me an email and there truly wasn't anyone in the meat department. They clarified and went on. Once you do them a few times it is a lot easier. I usually can do the store evaluation in 35 minutes. One lap for counts, one lap for questions. Take good notes.

Once you get used to a certain store -- you can actually remember associates names, descriptions, etc. and that takes some stress off. I get my phone out and message myself to my social media messaging or my email to take my notes. You can duck in an aisle like organic cereal where there isn't a ton of traffic and spend a moment "texting" and send yourself your notes. If you don't find someone, you're only required to check a second time. If you get pulled to a shorter lane, no biggie either. There's an option for that, too.

My first shop I took forever as well, plus it didn't help that it was one of the huge Krogers. Now I get 6-7 done a week on average and pay a minimal amount to feed a family of 4 a month so I am glad that I kept with it.

You realize you don’t have to find associates in all of the departments? You have to make two attempts. If they aren’t there they aren’t there. I do these in my sleep and am never in the store more than 20-25 minutes and input the shop before my next shop. I can do that in 5-7 minutes. Well worth it.

Liz

I love to do the shops but the questions you have to ask in some of the departments seem odd for a 72 year old. Such as how do you cook a roast or what is the best cooking apple. I guess it may just me but I feel foolish asking these type of questions.

I agree, I have to pick a question that doesn't sound wonky. They wanted us to ask about bison.....not eating it. I agree some of the questions are too elementary but I try to pick one that isn't silly....and some are.

The instructions, which I read two times and took notes the second time, said for me to case the following departments - there were 17 of them! Then in the Part 2 for Friendliness, not including the cashier/bagger, there were 9 departments. And I agree - the questions were dumb. How to cook a roast...really?

I agree that the choices of questions we have to ask are weird. The one about the ripe banana kills me. But I like getting my groceries either free of close to free. When there is really nothing I need or is on sale, I'll buy garbage bags, paper towels etc., things I hate to spend the money on. Or I get myself a treat, like cooked shrimp at the seafood counter or a pkg of smoked salmon. My biggest peeve: the deli counters are often so busy that I stand there for 10 minutes or longer.

Mod note: Post removed as it breached the Forum guideline which states, "Do not reveal the clients of mystery shopping companies". Additionally, it is usually an ICA violation to name both the MSC and client.

You are asked to count staff, evaluate several departments and ask questions. It is a lot of work and time for $5.00. If you decided to do the grocery shops be very specific asking and responding to the focus questions.

Cricut157 - maybe omit the MSC from your post, as the client has been mentioned in this thread multiple times