Mystery Shopper Regional Collaboration to Improve Fees?

If you are basing your opinion on a single thread or your brief membership in the forum, you need to spend more time reading because you will find out how wrong you are. Shoppers here advocate for each other all the time. There is a difference between advocating and supporting unrealistic ideas.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

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You have only posted under this name for a month. Perhaps you had another user name or just read without registering?

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Shoppersouthwest, since you are in Vegas are you going to the conference in November?

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I did not ask why you were here nor did I ask for your credentials. You made a statement about the forum in general. It is not unreasonable to ask if the assumption was based on one thread or limited reading.

@Shoppersouthwest wrote:

No shopper is a company in Vegas. In Vegas, all are paid a decent fee. In Vegas, you cannot be paid less than minimum wage. In Vegas, there are no independent contractors. I looked it up and assumed what I've said is how it's done. All States should adopt the Vegas way as far as I'm concerned. Most especially the "shops" that border on company espionage "take a picture of the electronic access gate",

Well clearly you have not shopped for A Closer Look in Nevada then. (Nor have I, since I take much higher paying jobs when I am there.)

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Maybe your problems with other forums was because you prefer to pontificate with no pushback or discussion then resort to name calling when it doesn't work out that way.

Hey Shoptastic, I understand where you are coming from, and I completely feel for you. I think a lot of mystery shoppers at one time or another are a bit shocked at the fees offered for some gigs. However, since we are all independent contractors, the only thing I feel I can do to possibly make a change is not accept ridiculously low paying shops. I also have noticed a lot of shops that have been paying very low lately aren't being picked up on one of the shopping boards I frequent, and am expecting either a price increase or some sort of change. However, there are some shops for me personally that are so easy to do, and since I drive by then anyway, I take them even though they pay hardly anything. I'm trying to pay off a loan I have so every penny counts for me right now. I'm always grateful these shops are available for me to grab lol. So I see both sides of the coin on this.

Mystery shopper, Merchandiser and part time mortgage loan underwriter & processor

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@Shoppersouthwest wrote:

There is no way that I would tell a company, when negotiating for a bonus, that I am doing other shops in that area so that I can go ahead and take less money from them because I will be getting money from some other company. Negotiating the shop based on the shop is what we need to do. Suggesting that someone tell a company that they already have shops in a travel area so they do not need the entire possible bonus is being an advocate for the company and is irresponsible to the shopper and to threads like this. The shopper didn't "take" $500, the shopper "negotiated" $500. To say a "shopper", which according to some people here the "shopper" is a "business", must tell a msc about their other shops and the bonus they will receive for those shops is being a mystery shopping company advocate. I don't really expect shoppers on this forum to constantly put down the idea of appropriate fees for the shopper, yet I have seen that consistently. Even other's, who obviously work on both sides of this industry, jump on the band wagon to shut down the idea of appropriate fees and negotiating requirements.

If I'm a printing company and I've already set up the strikes for company A, then I am required to give company B a discount on setting up strikes? No, no I am not. When company B pays to set up the strikes, that's actually where my profit begins. Suggesting that I should give up some money at the beginning of the profit point is ludicrous.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. If I tell a scheduler my route will take me within about 100 miles of her shop, I'm negotiating a bonus/PAD/travel pay for that 200 miles, not for the entire route. (The 200 miles is the round trip mileage, of course.)

If I then call Scheduler B because she has a hard to fill fast food shop in that same town, and she tells me she can get me $35 for it, terrific. I'll either say "I can pick it up for that, great, thanks", or "I'm sorry, I can't fit it in."

Just as MSCs must maximize their profits, it's up to me to maximize MY profits. I would NEVER tell a company what bonuses another company is giving me. I don't tell them the other companies I'm shopping for. I don't think an ethical scheduler would even ask. (Although I have had a few who said "OMG, who's paying you that much to do a shop?" -- and I don't tell them.) I WILL tell them "I don't do that for less than $XXXXX."

@Shoppersouthwest wrote:

I finally finished my shops and reports. I looked to see where I called someone a name and couldn't find it. I'll just have to choose who and what I speak to better in the future.

Maybe it was this:
This is not my first forum or rodeo with clowns and jokers disguised in king's cloth

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Metaphorically speaking, who is the pig? You or those on the forum? Who is trying to teach who? Two wrongs do not make a right and calling names is never right. JMO

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First, the little quotes and jokes appear in my signature line which is on everything I post. The one about the pig has actually been there the longest, probably several years by now. Even though you did not ask, it came from a sign at my favorite local market called The Smokehouse. Because it always makes me chuckle, I chose to share it here.

Second, you seem to be quite offended over a simple, non-controversial question. I will repeat what I said earlier. You made sweeping generalizations about the forum. The question was to determine if your opinion was derived from just one thread or if there were actually other times you felt forum members were supporting MSCs over shoppers. .

Third, I have no idea what it is you think I am trying to do. Whether you posted under another user name or simply have spent the last few years reading is neither here nor there. It piqued my curiosity which you seemed to have taken as an insult. The only references to newbies and lurkers was made by you, not me.

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When I have quoted someone, it nevers quotes their signature line as well, so I did not realize it was someone else's. What does this mean? "Second, I advocate for the shopper, you and others for the companies because you're on both sides." Who are you advocating for and who are you doing it with?

I have only so far read thru the first page and a half of this thread but a thought just popped into my head. I know many of you keep your mystery shopping a big secret due to not wanting to increase competition for jobs. The low paying jobs serve those of you who feel that way as a real buffer against more competition in your area. Any new shopper who signs up who is potential competition for you down the road as they gain experience will see at first all these terribly low paying jobs. For the most part they will quit pretty much as soon as they start. Raise the starting pay to something much closer to minimum wage and you will find it much harder to plan your wonderful shopping days where you can earn big bonuses, plan routes that are worthy of your wonderful planning, writing and negotiating skills etc.
I myself have been a victim in a large city with few bonuses of some of my favorite easy to get, enjoyable and decent pay shops from smaller companies changing into a war of who can claim them first when the small company either gets swallowed up by a larger one or starts using a scheduling company. In both scenarios the shopper pool to draw from increases dramatically. So don't wish for something that might turn out badly...higher pay will mean lots of competition and less bonus opportunities.

What about luck? Once in awhile,I get lucky and get a huge bonus or a few well-paid shops on the fly for an impromptu route.

Gardening is how I relax. It is another form of creating and playing with colors. - Oscar de la Renta

been meaining to reply to this thread, but very busy

I did see that Amazon was shamed into raising its' worker wages to $15.00/hour.

Can we shame MSCs into paying more than $3.00 a shop sometimes?

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

We should probably start paying Market Force to do their jobs.Each month it seems the pay goes lower and lower.

The lowering of fees is more concerning that raising fees. With negotiation and other shopper tactics, we sometimes can increase the effectiveness of fees or small bonuses. So my concern is: Why are the fees lowered? Are the clients and/or the MSCs facing or anticipating any financial changes? Are there significant, corresponding, changes in the work which make the work commensurate with the lowered fees?

Gardening is how I relax. It is another form of creating and playing with colors. - Oscar de la Renta

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