It is touted as an "easy grocery shop!". Yeah right. Gotta ask two questions, check bathroom, check 5 full food sections of food for periodicity, rotten food/ stock levels, how neatly each section is arranged etc and get name of each item they are out of in each section, note messy sections, remember employee names, convoluted way to count number of people in line and more and more. They can not be serious about checking all items in the milk, bread, produce and milk sections and all sorts of minutiae. NEVER AGAIN! What they want is an FULL BLOWN AUDIT on the cheap..........for a whoppin' $4 fee and $5 reimbursement. It is going to take you waaayyy more time than the minimum of 20 minutes that is required. Uggggh. Be warned.

Unless you love these shops -- then more power to you.

Live and learn. I guess this MSC gets so many newbies they can fill these shops regularly, but after I read the guidelines a few years back, I cancelled right away. And I love Aldi, shop there every week.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2018 12:24AM by PaulinMI.

Same here but I at least did do one shop and they are a PITA. Not again unless I can get a 10x multiplier for the fee.

I also Shop Aldi's every week and also would never consider that assignment. In 2005, the MSC was paying $10; I completed a few with the logic I was there, but they were much simpler 13 years ago.

I have managed to get a bonus of $50 and $75 on these and at $50, they are worth it. They're probably worth it, really, at $25 since I've done a few now but I like to ask for $50 and just skip it if I don't get it. I feel the same with Ingles, but I'll usually do an Ingles for $25.

Any shop which is advertised as "easy" is likely not to be easy. The only other lie that schedulers tell more often is describing a shop as "fun."

@catlassy wrote:

It is touted as an "easy grocery shop!". Yeah right. Gotta ask two questions, check bathroom, check 5 full food sections of food for periodicity, rotten food/ stock levels, how neatly each section is arranged etc and get name of each item they are out of in each section, note messy sections, remember employee names, convoluted way to count number of people in line and more and more. They can not be serious about checking all items in the milk, bread, produce and milk sections and all sorts of minutiae. NEVER AGAIN! What they want is an FULL BLOWN AUDIT on the cheap..........for a whoppin' $4 fee and $5 reimbursement. It is going to take you waaayyy more time than the minimum of 20 minutes that is required. Uggggh. Be warned.

Unless you love these shops -- then more power to you.

I signed up for that shop once and dropped it, because it was too much work & confusing when I saw the guidelines.

I was so used to two other MSC's grocery shops by then that doing a very unintuitive one for me (plus, I'm not familiar with Aldi - I never shop there) made it too hard to memorize by the next day's shop. I panicked and cancelled, but am not sad that I did. It's all about Kroger and Harris Teeter for me. I want to try Lidl too now that we have them in my area.

No Aldi for me. Unless it's $25.

Completely ridiculous.

I did one or two a few years ago. I was not at all impressed with the Aldi near me. And yes, the shop was a PITA, if I remember correctly.

I did that shop multiple times. I enjoyed it. It was my regular grocery store, so I knew the layout. For me, the fee was a coupon.

Doing the report is just as bad. After an hour in the shop I realized I had been suckered. NEVER AGAIN. Just a portion of what is expected is to check all expiration dates for all fresh meat, all milk, all bread and all produce. An oh yeah right down each item that is missing if they are out of any item in the store.. and that is not the half of it there is more too ..............I had to give up and give it a more cursory look or otherwise I was going to go crazy. I do not know how the MS can possibly buy off on this being a viable shop for a $4 fee !! They want an AUDIT for $4 !!! Forget it. Never again.

The MS should either make this a $40 audit OR knock it way back to just a quick check (ie pick 2 items out of bread to check) instead of this overblown monstrosity of a shop. .... Learned my lesson on this one.

Wow...thanks for the warning!

Sounds like the one I tried out in Salt Lake City. I tried 3 different times, never got it right, never got paid for any of the shops. And boy, did I try! First time, customer service wasn't open, and i was required to complete a transaction at customer service. Couldn't reach the scheduler, guidelines didn't address what to do if it was closed. So I asked someone for the hours for customer service, and put the response in my report. Rejected. Second attempt, I could not find a single one of the items I was required to buy -- the store was in the process of changing store brands, and the "old" brand, that I was required to buy, was no longer available. I bought the "new" brand. Nope. Not allowed. And customer service was closed AGAIN.

The third try, customer service was open Yippee! Pretty comprehensive customer service desk. Unfortunately, I didn't need or want a bus ticket; I didn't take any dry cleaning with me; they didn't have newspapers or stamps. So I spent a dollar and bought a money order.
Report kicked back, with the question "Why did you buy a money order?" Well, because that was the only thing I COULD buy; I listed all the options of what you could get at the customer service desk. They kicked the report back to me yet again, with more questions.

I really, really wanted to do this shop. It was literally one block out of the way for me, reimbursement was a generous $19, with $25 fee. The 3 required purchases were things I considered staples, and would buy anyway. I wanted to do this shop every week, if they'd let me.

The third time they kicked the report back, I gave up. I politely told them I was sorry, but I wasn't willing to put any more time in on the report, and they should just get another shopper for that store.

Each of my three separate tries, I took the guidelines in with me, and went over them in the restroom so I was sure I didn't miss anything. I was in the store more than an hour for each attempt. I spent hours on the reports.

I never tried it again. I consider myself a competent shopper, but this mess literally left me in tears.

I feel your pain!!!

@ceasesmith wrote:

Sounds like the one I tried out in Salt Lake City. I tried 3 different times, never got it right, never got paid for any of the shops. And boy, did I try! First time, customer service wasn't open, and i was required to complete a transaction at customer service. Couldn't reach the scheduler, guidelines didn't address what to do if it was closed. So I asked someone for the hours for customer service, and put the response in my report. Rejected. Second attempt, I could not find a single one of the items I was required to buy -- the store was in the process of changing store brands, and the "old" brand, that I was required to buy, was no longer available. I bought the "new" brand. Nope. Not allowed. And customer service was closed AGAIN.

The third try, customer service was open Yippee! Pretty comprehensive customer service desk. Unfortunately, I didn't need or want a bus ticket; I didn't take any dry cleaning with me; they didn't have newspapers or stamps. So I spent a dollar and bought a money order.
Report kicked back, with the question "Why did you buy a money order?" Well, because that was the only thing I COULD buy; I listed all the options of what you could get at the customer service desk. They kicked the report back to me yet again, with more questions.

I really, really wanted to do this shop. It was literally one block out of the way for me, reimbursement was a generous $19, with $25 fee. The 3 required purchases were things I considered staples, and would buy anyway. I wanted to do this shop every week, if they'd let me.

The third time they kicked the report back, I gave up. I politely told them I was sorry, but I wasn't willing to put any more time in on the report, and they should just get another shopper for that store.

Each of my three separate tries, I took the guidelines in with me, and went over them in the restroom so I was sure I didn't miss anything. I was in the store more than an hour for each attempt. I spent hours on the reports.

I never tried it again. I consider myself a competent shopper, but this mess literally left me in tears.

I feel your pain!!!

I have see posted several times that "old people" like to do shops for free or low fees, because it gives them something to do. Otherwise, it is said, they get lonely and don't have much human interaction.

When discussing why fees are so low and why people still do these shops, this reason is often mentioned in previous older threads.

I wonder if this is one where a senior, who is just looking for something to do, is taking them?

Oh that sucks, cease. In my area they do not have a customer service desk...no drycleaning, no bus tickets, no money orders.

My stores here are so small it doesn't take much time to do the shop at all. It's check for expired or OS items (most of the time there are none), visit the restroom, select some groceries, checkout and leave. I do them for a small bonus because yeah, I buy groceries there anyway, so like Honny wrote, I look at it as a coupon. Takes me about 20-25 minutes to do the shop, y'all.

I agree that this shop requires too much for the base fee. Since all Aldi stores are at least 20 minutes away from my house, I would only do this shop if the base fee is at least doubled. As for time spending in the store, no problem for me since I LOVE to browse the store for new, discounted, or great finds. Last month when I did a shop there, I brought some Aldi brand frozen fruit bars (pineapple) since they were half priced, and these were the best frozen fruit bars I ever had - even better than Dole's.

Do don't do it. I will and I do! No complaints. Money is money.

I love Aldi and have done the shops in the past, but my location is not large. Scouting a few expiration dates and checking the bathroom is all I remember about it. Someone around here loves them as I haven't seen them for ages. But I would do them. I like to get a route of grocery stores and come home with a trunk full of free groceries.

None of my Aldi stores have customer service or any other separate departments. I will do them for a bonus, as I shop there anyway. I don't think that the MSC that has this expects us to check every single package of meat or every carton of milk for expiration dates. What I do is check a sample of 5 or so in dairy, 5 in meat, etc. I carry a list, and casually jot down any OOS sections. I don't mind for a bonus, but not at the base fee....no way!!

I bought some Japanese maple trees there one year for $5 each that would have gone for $15 or more at Lowe's or a garden center. That was about 5 years ago and they have held up through harsh winters, looking lovely and growing larger each year!

Shoptastic wrote: "I have see posted several times that "old people" like to do shops for free or low fees, because it gives them something to do. Otherwise, it is said, they get lonely and don't have much human interaction.

When discussing why fees are so low and why people still do these shops, this reason is often mentioned in previous older threads.

I wonder if this is one where a senior, who is just looking for something to do, is taking them?"

I'm 73. Is that "old"? I don't think a $25 fee and $19 reimbursement is "free or low fees". And I sure as hell don't do this for a social life.

I would suggest that anybody who has done more than about a dozen shops has found out the hard way that the compensation offered is not always even close to worth the trouble of doing the shop... Yes, I've done a few stinkers.

No cease, 73 is not old. My dearly departed mother worked until she was 88 and the only reason she stopped working is because she got a kidney infection and died. She drove her car, worked in her garden, baked cookies for the neighborhood kids, volunteered, and went on journeys with me. If she hadn't gotten that kidney infection she'd still be doing all of the above.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Shoptastic wrote: "I have see posted several times that "old people" like to do shops for free or low fees, because it gives them something to do. Otherwise, it is said, they get lonely and don't have much human interaction.

When discussing why fees are so low and why people still do these shops, this reason is often mentioned in previous older threads.

I wonder if this is one where a senior, who is just looking for something to do, is taking them?"

I'm 73. Is that "old"? I don't think a $25 fee and $19 reimbursement is "free or low fees". And I sure as hell don't do this for a social life.

Sorry, cease, I was writing very quickly and realize I should have said "elderly" or a less potentially offensive sounding word.

a.) Age is just a number and in reality means having more experience in life. If not for physical changes, which no one can control, we're all human beings inside.

b.) Even the world "old" is all relative.

If it came off as offensive, I wanted to apologize. I do honestly wonder about that theory sometimes, though. When I see very low fee jobs that require a lot of work and seemingly get taken all the time, I think one of four things:

1.) maybe someone is desperate
2.) maybe it's a "convenience" shop for them
3.) maybe to them it's actually an easy shop
4.) the lonely or bored senior theory that has often been brought up in threads

For $25/$19, I would probably do Aldi too! I never see bonuses, nor get them when I ask for grocery shops though.

I think the Aldi fee is low,, but the shop is not difficult. Asking two questions-eh. Looking for moldy fruit- I'm doing that anyway (I might be buying produce for personal use). Checking stock and dates- easy for me as I used to stock shelves when I was in college. I look at it as a discount. But in my area, there are a ton more Publix shops than Aldi. Same MSC.

Lol, to each his own I guess. I find this shop to be one of the easier ones I do. I shop Aldi at least a few times a week, as a regular customer. I rarely take these for the base fee, but I usually grab it if it goes up a little. I find repeat shops to be much easier then new shops. I am there already anyways, and checking what the shop requires usually only takes five extra minutes of my time. I like checking out their Special Buys, especially when they reduce them, so that eats up some of my required time. I usually spend about 10 minutes on the report. So, to me, these are a no brainer.

@FrugalCat wrote:

I think the Aldi fee is low,, but the shop is not difficult. Asking two questions-eh. Looking for moldy fruit- I'm doing that anyway (I might be buying produce for personal use). Checking stock and dates- easy for me as I used to stock shelves when I was in college. I look at it as a discount. But in my area, there are a ton more Publix shops than Aldi. Same MSC.

I didn't save a copy of my guidelines after I declined a shop I took a few months ago. Do you know if it's checking dates on ALL items in a particular area? Or, is it just scanning for dates on a single (self selected?) item, such as milk? When catlassy said "full audit," it sounded like doing it for like an entire section (i.e., all the items there).

Since there is a regular app-based mini audit for the same fee, that usually only requires a few pictures and some checkboxes, I skip the regular audits here. We have the tiny stores here (about 4-5 aisles, no CS or other departments) so it wouldn't take long, but my reporting time is worth more than that.

One shopper's pita is another shopper's fry bread. Or not. Bad puns aside, I wonder about us. Do some of us define hard work, or much work, differently than others do? Do some people experience activity, including work, in unique ways?

@Shop-et-al wrote:

One shopper's pita is another shopper's fry bread. Or not. Bad puns aside, I wonder about us. Do some of us define hard work, or much work, differently than others do? Do some people experience activity, including work, in unique ways?

Definitely! I consider frustrating instructions & reports to be much more work, even at spectacular pay rates, than an all-day retail reset for average pay, for example. I know others who would rather write a long report than move dozens of 25# bags of dog food. It's all subjective.