@roxy1 wrote:
Troy hit the nail on the head. People like to say how much their time is worth and how much they average per hour. But they never average in the hours sitting at home doing nothing because they feel $10 shops are beneath them. If you make $60 in two hours then sit at home for three hours watching tv, then you made $12/hr not $30/hr.
I do feel bad sometimes. Some of these people work on commission with sales jobs. so you cost them an opportunity to make money. Most places work on the "up system" so salesperson goes to the bottom of the list when you walk in the door. They may only get 1 or 2 opportunities a day to sell something and make money.@4muppets wrote:
Does anyone have sympathy for the employees at the places you are shopping? I had a guy show me all of the parts of a really pricy sofa sleeper (fabric types and delivery info). The poor guy was sweating bullets on the sale and then I had to say sorry I will have to check with my husband. Poor guy hoped for a nice sale. Lengthy lengthy detailed report on that one and lots of narraative for 10 plus 10 in reimbursement. Never again. Lesson learned! LOL
I do agree about the freedom to choose.. I love that. I own my own business and make really good money. I do this for a little chunk change I probably do 3 shops a week with companies I like. I have not done jack, keep getting begs to do ceasers pizza( gag, I drop that off at a homeless shelter if I do it) It just really blew me away yesterday to do a shop for $15 and I had to purchase something for 20! Cheap cheap cheap!!! I find Mystery Shopping very interesting and sometimes when I want a bite to eat it's great that you can do a quick report and get paid for your meal. I really miss my grocery stores@Irene_L.A. wrote:
Roxy1, remember most have day jobs, couldn't survive on MS'ing alone (except the few) that do long tiresome routes. Personally, it's a part time gig for reimbursement as well as supplement of income, but lately it's about food 70% of the time. The greatness of MS'ing is your free to do what you need, pick and choose, I love that,
so for those that prefer doing whatever, and not pushing the shops...good for you, for those that need the work, it's there, the diversity of this is what to look at.....freedom remains, at least in this industry.
Troy, no eating Cheetos and cat videos here. If I had a lot of free time, maybe I would do $5 shops, but owning a couple business's keeps u on ur toes. I'm selective... I made $499 today working 10-4, then dog park. Sorry, ain't gonna do any $5 shop... Now sitting on couch eating blueberries and trail mix. Ready for some nice cannabis. Gotta love California@TroyHawkins wrote:
My time is worth $300 an hour. But... since I didn’t go to law school, I take what I can get. If the only thing I can find is a $5 shop, I’ll take it as long as I’m getting paid. My goal is to find enough shops that pay decent enough for me to live on, and I don’t need to take too many low paying shops. If the only thing I can find is a $5, that’s my incentive to find other streams of income. But then, I’m not so prideful that I’ll say “it’s not worth my time” and just sit around eating Cheetos and surfing cat videos.
when I adopted 2 minpins, that's when down time is at dog park with them. Without them, I had more free time to shop. Life is now crazy busy. They're my kids.@TroyHawkins wrote:
I didn’t mean to imply in my last post that there’s no value in down time or relaxing. There certainly is. For me to earn a living as a mystery shopper, I have to bring home a minimum amount each month. Although I can, I’m not comfortable dipping into savings to cover a short month if I can avoid it. I’ll work more and take shops for low pay if that’s what’s necessary to meet my goal. Part of building my business is figuring out how to exceed my goal without working myself to death.