Shopping Geography?
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You could go to MSPA website and do some digging. I never was curious enough about it as there is plenty of good hunting in my own backyard.
It is my understanding that, due to the special requirements to shop legally there, Nevada has a shortage of shoppers. Quite a few shoppers have found it worth their while to get qualified (Search "Nevada" for "all dates" for discussions of this) and actually fly in, rent a car and shop like crazy a few times a year. SoCal shoppers have an easy drive to LV and do the same.
Major cities where it is very expensive to park appear to struggle to fill all shops. That makes then really happy hunting for shoppers who take parking shops and build a full day around those garage locations. Some even "double-dip" by getting parking bonuses from their non-parking assignments.
Major cities where it is very expensive to park appear to struggle to fill all shops. That makes then really happy hunting for shoppers who take parking shops and build a full day around those garage locations. Some even "double-dip" by getting parking bonuses from their non-parking assignments.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Vegas likes and has a lot of CA shoppers...actually Vegas isn't as easy as it once was due to resort fees.
I actually haven't found a hotel and I've been looking for 3 months which tells me they do have shoppers.
Hotels last for 2 days so it's a struggle to find an inexpensive place to stay, maybe Airbnb's. Personally, I won't drive in Vegas due to traffic on the strip, parking fees and drunk driving. Parking jobs is one way to go as Wales mentioned. I stay on the strip and many hotels have shopping right there and are close to their mall, they have an indoor rail system. which is easy.....that's my preference, I've been trying to get a run together but it's been difficult. Think I'll work on it today.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2018 05:36PM by Irene_L.A..
I actually haven't found a hotel and I've been looking for 3 months which tells me they do have shoppers.
Hotels last for 2 days so it's a struggle to find an inexpensive place to stay, maybe Airbnb's. Personally, I won't drive in Vegas due to traffic on the strip, parking fees and drunk driving. Parking jobs is one way to go as Wales mentioned. I stay on the strip and many hotels have shopping right there and are close to their mall, they have an indoor rail system. which is easy.....that's my preference, I've been trying to get a run together but it's been difficult. Think I'll work on it today.
Live consciously....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2018 05:36PM by Irene_L.A..
I did a hotel shop recently and the resort fee was part of the reimbursement, so no issue for me there. Or - are you referring to paying out of pocket for a hotel in order to do local shops?
Life was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on
Las Vegas has no shortage of shoppers. They have a shortage of GOOD shoppers. It's not pretty.
Don't you think Vegas has changed from the "ole days", shopping wise, use to be easier to get it going.@SoCalMama wrote:
Las Vegas has no shortage of shoppers. They have a shortage of GOOD shoppers. It's not pretty.
Live consciously....
I doubt any trends you might find would be reliable after a month. An MSC might have a severe shortage of shoppers in an area until a project ends. Then you wouldn’t be able to find anything there for six months.
Other places they may struggle to find shoppers simply because the fees are too low. Probably not worth traveling.
Then again, areas that seem to have an over abundance of shoppers can change overnight when a high-volume shopper quits or moves. In those cases, MSC’s might be begging and bonusing like crazy to make up the 100+ shops that one person had been doing each month.
There are also times when MSC’s have an area where they historically can’t find shoppers and they’ll offer travel and hotel reimbursement to a specific shopper or two to do a long route, and those will never make it to a job board.
Anyways, it changes so much and so rapidly that any data would be of historical value only.
Other places they may struggle to find shoppers simply because the fees are too low. Probably not worth traveling.
Then again, areas that seem to have an over abundance of shoppers can change overnight when a high-volume shopper quits or moves. In those cases, MSC’s might be begging and bonusing like crazy to make up the 100+ shops that one person had been doing each month.
There are also times when MSC’s have an area where they historically can’t find shoppers and they’ll offer travel and hotel reimbursement to a specific shopper or two to do a long route, and those will never make it to a job board.
Anyways, it changes so much and so rapidly that any data would be of historical value only.
@Irene_L.A. wrote:
Don't you think Vegas has changed from the "ole days", shopping wise, use to be easier to get it going.@SoCalMama wrote:
Las Vegas has no shortage of shoppers. They have a shortage of GOOD shoppers. It's not pretty.
I've only shopped in Vegas since 2008.
My family came from the East Coast to "start-up" Vegas way back when. I have been going there since I was a child. You might enjoy the neon museum (AKA the boneyard). I did.
Anyway, for various reasons, I have met many shoppers that work in Vegas. I don't know how they get many of the complicated shops completed.
I think your interest is fair, but I think you would have to be more multi-faceted in your approach. Let's say the Los Angeles DMA has lots of shops (and from this forum perspective, lots of shoppers). There is no shortage of shops you could do all day long, but there are still many shops that go untaken. Why is that? Well, there are many, but one example is discounted grocery store fuel is well over $3 a gallon. Almost no shop reimburse for the overhead travel, so how do you make money on such high expenses to do a shop? You can't on many normal shops. There is probably a tipping point somewhere unless there are shoppers out there who keep taking shops just to build up rankings or have a low threshold for the value of their time (for doing the shop or report).
So, where is that sweet spot of low overhead costs, but sufficient demand? Maybe some parts of Texas or other traditionally low COL states.
So, where is that sweet spot of low overhead costs, but sufficient demand? Maybe some parts of Texas or other traditionally low COL states.
The DC metro area is certainly not a low cost of living area, and there are plenty of well compensated shops here for the taking. The key, with any urban area with traffic congestion (which is huge here) is to put together a city route that is compact, with reimbursed parking at key locations and other shops within easy walking distance from those locations. In NYC, the same may be accomplished using public transit if necessary, but there are tons of valet parking shops there as well. And, of course, unless you ask you will never know how many schedulers will come up with parking reimbursements to get their center city shops done. When possible, take a center city hotel shop and get 2 days of shopping into one round trip. That hotel scheduler will probably extend the report deadline when you explain that you will be on a route. (Works for me every time.) The way to get to low overhead per shop costs in cities is to make every trip into the city count; more shops per trip, fewer overhead costs per shop. Simple math; not low cost of living, is the answer for shopping in urban areas.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
I don't know what the MSPA does with the dues they receive, but these stats, and others, could / should be part of what they do.
MSPA is organized to serve the MSCs, not the shoppers. Encouraging or doing anything to assist shoppers with negotiating bonuses is NOT part of their mandate. From what I hear, it is also not taught at their "shopper-focused" conferences. I know that it is part of the training at IMSC conferences because I frequently lead one of the two (or more) workshops at their conferences that help shoppers to plan and execute profitable routes, even the one day urban routes that I wrote about above.
MSPA dues mainly go towards lobbying Congress to ease up on IC definitions because they need/want to be able to treat their schedulers and editors as ICs while still maintaining the sorts of controls that scream "employment relationship." You may have noticed the frequent MSPA blast emails to shoppers asking us to rise up to defend "our" IC status by lobbying our members of Congress to give them the breaks that they want to keep the editors and scheduler "legal." It is NOT about shoppers.
MSPA is good at what they are designed to do; but they were not designed to work on behalf of shoppers.
MSPA dues mainly go towards lobbying Congress to ease up on IC definitions because they need/want to be able to treat their schedulers and editors as ICs while still maintaining the sorts of controls that scream "employment relationship." You may have noticed the frequent MSPA blast emails to shoppers asking us to rise up to defend "our" IC status by lobbying our members of Congress to give them the breaks that they want to keep the editors and scheduler "legal." It is NOT about shoppers.
MSPA is good at what they are designed to do; but they were not designed to work on behalf of shoppers.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Speaking of IC status, is there a particular reason the state of Nevada mandates that shoppers instead be employees versus ICers?
I've looked into other routes of getting paid to rate & review & report for the hospitality industry and notice that companies like AAA do this via employees.
I've looked into other routes of getting paid to rate & review & report for the hospitality industry and notice that companies like AAA do this via employees.
Life was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on
Here is a related question. Does the need for shoppers increase or decrease during peak tourist seasons?
My garden in England is full of eating-out places, for heat waves, warm September evenings, or lunch on a chilly Christmas morning. (Mary Quant)
@Shop-et-al wrote:
Does the need for shoppers increase or decrease during peak tourist seasons?
In tourist-centric areas, a lot of clients don't allow shops during the busy times, and have no problem filling assignments when they are offered. In areas that people flee during certain seasons...more shops will be available.
End result: Phoenix and Miami have more available shops during the summer. Locations in the north have more available shops during the winter.
Steve,
I was told that the Nevada situation for shoppers stems from the peculiar history of the gaming industry and its affiliated hospitality services as targets of MS activities. . This was in a conversation with an (unnamed) official of the State agency that issues the work cards. Apparently both management and labor wanted the extra layer of what they view as professionalism. The result was a compromise.
I was told that the Nevada situation for shoppers stems from the peculiar history of the gaming industry and its affiliated hospitality services as targets of MS activities. . This was in a conversation with an (unnamed) official of the State agency that issues the work cards. Apparently both management and labor wanted the extra layer of what they view as professionalism. The result was a compromise.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
@walesmaven wrote:
I was told that the Nevada situation for shoppers stems from the peculiar history of the gaming industry and its affiliated hospitality services as targets of MS activities.
Yes, that's my understanding of how it developed as well. An extra layer of protection when reporting on targets in any service industry...since so much in Nevada revolves around gaming, involves unions, money, etc.
It is also why I find the oft stated proposition that "This could happen in any state," highly doubtful. It is not simply because of unions. Strong unions in catering and hospitality sectors in a ton of places have contracts that require due process for employees accused of, say, cash fraud. In the unique case of NV, BOTH unions and management, each for their own reasons, wanted that law. I do a ton of cash integrity and risk management shops in parking, hotels, on Amtrak, and in other industries, across many states. And, I respect the need for due process for accused employees. I have yet to see credible evidence of a strong push in those states for a NV-type approach to MS.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
This is interesting.......maybe corporations and local authorities want what comes with an employee vs.an IC, more complicated vetting, closer ties, etc...in case of any questions..
Life was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on
There a background check performed by the PILB and you are working as an employee of the PI firm....so definitely a more secure relationship and vetting.
I also do work in CA for casinos through the PI firm in Vegas. Clients outside of Nevada have the option to employ PI firms for their own reasons too....
I also do work in CA for casinos through the PI firm in Vegas. Clients outside of Nevada have the option to employ PI firms for their own reasons too....
Depends on where in the North. In NE Ohio, I have just as many available shops in the warm months, if not more, than in the winter.
@SteveSoCal wrote:
End result: Phoenix and Miami have more available shops during the summer. Locations in the north have more available shops during the winter.
"...you are working as an employee of the PI firm".
I must have been mistaken. I thought that in Nevada, the shoppers are employed by the MSCs authorized to do business there.
I must have been mistaken. I thought that in Nevada, the shoppers are employed by the MSCs authorized to do business there.
Life was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on
The shoppers become employees of the 4-5 MSCs that have PI licenses in Nevada and therefore can legally schedule and conduct MS in NV. All other MSCs wanting shops done in NV contract with those that have the PI licences to use those shopper employees . So, Steve is also correct. Just a technical issue as to who actually IS the PI firm in question. To confuse things even more, the is at least on NV PI firm that does not otherwise to MS but handles a few clients' NV shops. At least that is inferred from some obscure references that I have seen or heard over the years. The bottom line is the the shopper must be employed by an entity with a PI NV license aND hold an ID card issued by the PV PI licensing board that allows a PI firm to hire the shopper.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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