Some shops are just not worth doing
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An MSC is looking for two people for on-going, traveling positions to audit a chain of stores in the broad local area. They’re using the per diem and mileage reimbursement when telling you “you’ll make up to $XX a week.”. The hourly breaks down to $10. Minimum wage here is $10.50. Plus it’s the San Francisco Bay Area. The living wage is $20 and with two kids...$44. Good luck to them.
Amen Cricut157 good very part time gig!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2018 05:19PM by Jimbo65.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2018 05:19PM by Jimbo65.
@bgriffin wrote:
@johnb974 wrote:
In the 3 years I've done shops for them, off and on, they only offered one other shop for a hot dog. They don't offer them anymore. In my area, they only offer pizza shops for one company.
From B Griffin
I swear I'm going to regret this.
You do realize this MSC has hundreds of clients? What shops you see is dependent on your rating. It seems you have a poor rating and only see what they consider to be their absolute easiest report. It sounds as if your rating is low because you performed an easy shop poorly.
And here is another quote from JohnB
Another thing this company has to look at. Their shops are staying posted much longer than other pizza shops. It appears many shoppers are not taking them. I know some people, because the reports are so long, will just will just look at the minutes and make up the seconds. I've done that before, even had the editor tell me to just put in the minutes and they would fill in the seconds.
From SandyF
John there seems to be some good advice on this thread about your concerns. Perhaps this pizza shop is not for you but you yourself are admitting to "just filling in numbers" in the above post. You may get away with this approach to mystery shopping sometimes but perhaps the reason you only see a few shops is due to your attitude that the msc does not really need the info they are asking for so it is okay to just fudge. Over time you will be discovered and it seems you have already been discovered by the msc only showing a pizza shop to you. They seem desperate to get these pizza shops done but I am surprised they even are showing you that one if they need to fix up your report often and take the time to scrutinize it due to errors on previous reports.
@guysmom, I see many of the jobs you mentioned, tMerc wrote me a month ago saying they were coming in and would be ready to do the 1st. of May, as promised i got the one and only in my town. I thought of driving and doing a second but it's already gone..they are easy and a pleasant change. I only go to the link they provide me with (shopmetrics). have never looked at the other link...must be very old. Their home office's are in CA, so they always have restaurants to do, as well as other jobs here including a bar audit in my town.
Live consciously....
how do you get an $85 Bank shop. Will the companies I work for only want to pay you 15 to $25
I got a down to the second shop and it was miserable. How am I supposed to pay attention to what the server saying to me or what's going on when I'm staring at my phone the entire time trying to document minutes and seconds. So ridiculous never again
Who do you work for that you can make $200 a day please let us all know the name of this company
It’s not one company... it’s piecing work together from several or establishing yourself with any one of many and being offered routes that pay well.... video helps, too.
@rboggs127 wrote:
Who do you work for that you can make $200 a day please let us all know the name of this company
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
Practice. It’s not that had after you’ve done a few.
@rboggs127 wrote:
I got a down to the second shop and it was miserable. How am I supposed to pay attention to what the server saying to me or what's going on when I'm staring at my phone the entire time trying to document minutes and seconds. So ridiculous never again
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
Johnb974 That sounds just like ACL. Totally agree, not worth doing..... Too many awkward pictures to take, too long reports, and too picky, unreasonable editors....
saruhhhh.......I signed up, then wised up and realized they are paying below minimum wage, plus I will lose my freedom during the workweek. It is a full time job, under minimum wage, plus I had to drive 40-50 miles each way.
@rboggs127 wrote:
I got a down to the second shop and it was miserable. How am I supposed to pay attention to what the server saying to me or what's going on when I'm staring at my phone the entire time trying to document minutes and seconds. So ridiculous never again
It takes doing one a few times to learn where you need to text, observe, record, etc. In future, if you're not good at multitasking, maybe just be prepared to record audio during the time you are ordering entrees. Then you just need to account for what time it happened and you can figure out the time down to the seconds from there. Or if you are shopping with a guest, have them take the notes of the time and greeting and text it to you. It gets easier after the first 2.
It also helps to go when there's no line, and you're the only one being served. I do that with many of my shops. I go when there's no one else in the shop. Phone shop you go when they open.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2018 07:07AM by johnb974.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2018 07:07AM by johnb974.
@rboggs127 wrote:
I got a down to the second shop and it was miserable. How am I supposed to pay attention to what the server saying to me or what's going on when I'm staring at my phone the entire time trying to document minutes and seconds. So ridiculous never again
Also it really helps if you can record during the time you are in the line. My recorder has a running clock so I just wait until I hear my own response on the recorder such as yes mozzarella and I know that I was offered cheese just before my response. The line only takes a few minutes so your recording for that will not be very
long. I have a dedicated audio recorder but there are phone apps you can use. There is at least one thread that talks about different phone apps.
sandy, can I ask which audio recorder you use/recommend? thanks
I love the Shop It app for timing and recording.
Does your phone have a stopwach? One tap per event with the lap feature shows you exactly how much tme has elapsed between events. You only need to remember the order of events. During a required or optional restrom visit, you can make notes for all other details, if necessary. As othes have said, it becomes easier over time to remember details and reduce your need for assistance tools.
"Empathy is teachable. Our kids are hard-wired to care...." (Michele Borba)
I was getting A LOT of phone calls from DSG to do $10 on-site jobs. I've since changed my settings to not receive phone calls from them anymore. Being offered a $2 bonus with the $10 to drive 40 miles one-way was insulting enough.
@Eric in Tampa wrote:
I was getting A LOT of phone calls from DSG to do $10 on-site jobs. I've since changed my settings to not receive phone calls from them anymore. Being offered a $2 bonus with the $10 to drive 40 miles one-way was insulting enough.
They love to call me in the morning when I am doing things like pouring acid for God's sake. I have the ringer up loud in case my kids need me. I have told them numerous times that there is only one account I will do for them. I quit being polite awhile ago.
I bought a cheapy sport watch that I keep in my coat pocket. It has a big button for lap time so it's easy to push it for each new timing and no one's the wiser. As someone else said, the hardest part is remembering which lap was what timing, but it isn't that bad.
Although I think I may be doing things the hard way, I write down those timings and use this website: [www.easysurf.cc] when needed. I'm pretty new at mystery shopping so I'm paranoid about my timings being right.
I guess I'll have to change things up when it warms up enough that I won't be wearing a coat lol.
Although I think I may be doing things the hard way, I write down those timings and use this website: [www.easysurf.cc] when needed. I'm pretty new at mystery shopping so I'm paranoid about my timings being right.
I guess I'll have to change things up when it warms up enough that I won't be wearing a coat lol.
Just out shopping around...
Don't you get a bad shopper rating when you cancel?
I try to never cancel, because I have found it to be sooo detrimental. I think part of the problem is that we mystery shoppers are strangers on the other side of a screen who are working for pretty low pay, and they do not know us and do not always respect us. (not always the case, but often it seems like that)
Once, years ago, I cancelled two shops for Intelli because I got into a car accident while doing the shops. I got two "flake" citations. Those were the only shops I ever cancelled! I have since picked up shops in which they were desperate for a shopper to pick up, and have said, "if I take this shop, will you remove the "flake" citation?" They say that they will remove it, but it never goes away....waaaah!! :'(
When I see that particular scheduler, though, I never take the shops, no matter what they are.
I try to never cancel, because I have found it to be sooo detrimental. I think part of the problem is that we mystery shoppers are strangers on the other side of a screen who are working for pretty low pay, and they do not know us and do not always respect us. (not always the case, but often it seems like that)
Once, years ago, I cancelled two shops for Intelli because I got into a car accident while doing the shops. I got two "flake" citations. Those were the only shops I ever cancelled! I have since picked up shops in which they were desperate for a shopper to pick up, and have said, "if I take this shop, will you remove the "flake" citation?" They say that they will remove it, but it never goes away....waaaah!! :'(
When I see that particular scheduler, though, I never take the shops, no matter what they are.
Most elapsed timers should let you do that, Some will not let you back out into something else and those should be gotten rid of.
@Dandydew wrote:
Spicy1, where can I find Mystery Stopwatch? It is not available in the iPhone app store. I tried using the stopwatch app which came with the iPhone, but the screen shows as it is counting time. Dead giveaway. I do not know how to hide the screen and still be able to hit a lap counter at the appropriate time.
@spicy1 wrote:
Its the AT&T, same ss Cricket, 15-25 in store and do audit on tablet while you're there. Let the price go up.
It is a month later but the same shops have been reduced by $2.00 since it came out the first of the month. used to be that toward the end of the month you could get it for $20.00 guess they decided to beat us at our own game.
@SoCalMama wrote:
@Eric in Tampa wrote:
I was getting A LOT of phone calls from DSG to do $10 on-site jobs. I've since changed my settings to not receive phone calls from them anymore. Being offered a $2 bonus with the $10 to drive 40 miles one-way was insulting enough.
They love to call me in the morning when I am doing things like pouring acid for God's sake. I have the ringer up loud in case my kids need me. I have told them numerous times that there is only one account I will do for them. I quit being polite awhile ago.
I just signed up with a DSG took a couple of Credit union shops if this is the same outfit!!
Maybe the client had someone on their list with your same name.
Going back to original topic....if most mystery shops aren't worth doing, then perhaps, mystery shopping is not worth for you period. Yes, north of 80% of shops are low pay time drainers, but that's the game -- you piece together a bunch of jobs no one else is willing to do, and hopefully you end up with an extra $8000 in your pocket by years end. Thats been the formula for me.
@jlovesnyc wrote:
Going back to original topic....if most mystery shops aren't worth doing, then perhaps, mystery shopping is not worth for you period. Yes, north of 80% of shops are low pay time drainers, but that's the game -- you piece together a bunch of jobs no one else is willing to do, and hopefully you end up with an extra $8000 in your pocket by years end. Thats been the formula for me.
$8000? Try more like $3000 BEORE taxes and expenses.
Some of us had a better year than others.
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