Then and now

In April of 2006, I applied for and completed my first shop where a picture was mentioned; it was optional and I received an extra $5. I merely snapped a photo of the exterior of the sandwich shop and verified the company rep. was present for a total of $20 + a fiver for food.

Today, some assignments REQUIRE a dozen or more pics for $12.

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I started the same year as you and do not remember one single shop that required a photo. Smartphones have changed everything.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

I started in 2001 and no photos were required. Back then I was sent paper forms that I filled out and mailed back. The Internet changed everything.

I started in 2005 and was doing video by the end of that year, before I ever had to do a required still photo.

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.

Yes, when I started, we copied everything and mailed it in.

No Geoverify, no location photos.

Remember the ones that use to mail in on yellow postcards?

@ceasesmith wrote:

Yes, when I started, we copied everything and mailed it in.

No Geoverify, no location photos.

@CANADAMOMMY wrote:

Remember the ones that use to mail in on yellow postcards?

@ceasesmith wrote:

Yes, when I started, we copied everything and mailed it in.

No Geoverify, no location photos.

I started with Maritz over 30 years ago. My first shop was a gas station audit. I had to do it on paper and mail it in along with the invoice. We have come a long way. I now do most of my Maritz shops on my phone at the station and love it, drive away and it is done, except for the invoice. :-)

Pegleg2000 - wow...30 years in mystery shopping...impressive!

@racdsmith wrote:

Pegleg2000 - wow...30 years in mystery shopping...impressive!

Thanks

I started in 2000. It was before smartphones so a digital camera was required. A real pane and almost impossible to get a photo unobserved. Also before Yelp. I remember once in the mall being told by security I couldn’t take a picture of a store front.

I am waiting for someone to tell us they put in a shop over a rotary phone, that would just make my night. LOL Then we can all discuss walking uphill both ways, in the snow, with no shoes.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

Oh, I had paper shoes. LOL.

oteixeira,

Several years ago DSG required reports, at least for the only client for whom I completed work, to be dictated, as opposed to being either written or typed. As I have used my Western Electric corded rotary phone since it was lent to me by Ohio Bell in April of 1965. I did indeed use it to "file" the outcome of the shop. In addition, there was another MSC, Datatron, and they also had me dictate the job results.

Bob, you sir have made my night. Thank you.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

Yes! DSG! I talked, they typed. Still had to think/write it out first, though, for myself - so my words would sound right.

I started when schedulers could only assign shops by phone. Reports were done on quadruple copy forms - using carbon paper (not even NCR paper). Then they had to be snail mailed back with the receipt. It was awful!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 04:00PM by Monk-N-Nut.

@sestrahelena wrote:

Yes! DSG! I talked, they typed. Still had to think/write it out first, though, for myself - so my words would sound right.

I actually enjoyed the DSG dictated reports. It seemed less work for me and they could get cralification if need be without having to follow up latter.

Shop N Chek (Marketforce) used to let you call in the report as well.

Grocery stores required 3 interactions max and you got $12 + $5 I think? Easy peasy.
Organic grocery was $25.
Business verifications were $20-$25 always.
Cell phone shops were usually $15 too (starting rate).

I hated mailing the invoice and receipts to Maritz. What a waste. I wonder where all of that paperwork is now?

It seems like almost all my shops require a photo now: Cell shops, Smoothie Shops, Drive in shops, Direct TV shops, and the list goes on....whereas before, none of them required a photo.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

It seems like almost all my shops require a photo now: Cell shops, Smoothie Shops, Drive in shops, Direct TV shops, and the list goes on....whereas before, none of them required a photo.

Because a few fakers, those who falsified vists/reports, ruined it for the many.
And because it's easier for us to take the pic and submit than for them to scour the dreaded video surveillance they are always threatening us with.

The phone call which they asked if you could do a shop as there were no job boards back then. Mailed receipts, forms, etc. Sometimes I would have to swat pterodactyls out of the way during a shop.

"swat pterodactyls." Hahahaha

@eveb wrote:

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

It seems like almost all my shops require a photo now: Cell shops, Smoothie Shops, Drive in shops, Direct TV shops, and the list goes on....whereas before, none of them required a photo.

Because a few fakers, those who falsified vists/reports, ruined it for the many.
And because it's easier for us to take the pic and submit than for them to scour the dreaded video surveillance they are always threatening us with.

They use Photo DNA now so it's easier to see the shoppers who grab a picture off the internet.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Yes, when I started, we copied everything and mailed it in.

No Geoverify, no location photos.

Yes! Back in 1985, I did some high end retail stores in Atlanta. I had to TYPE the reports and mail them in! Gosh, they were 20 pages, and required a trip to the post office each time. Ahh, Neiman Marcus cashmere sweaters, designer boots... Too bad I had to evaluate the return process as well.

I remember getting my first fax machine. I was so excited that I didn't have to make copies & mail them! Later, I became one of the first adopters of mobile computing. For $125 Sprint sold me an adapter so I could plug my laptop into my cellphone (1 step above a brick). They charged me by the minute to upload files to the company's fax modem. I used this fancy new word processing program called Word, and it usually cost me about 15 minutes on average. I slowly talked one company at a time into taking reports this way, even offering to write up fill-in-the blank Word versions of the reports for others to use.

Then I got my phone bill.

Don't you sometimes still talk to one if you answer the phone when Maritz calls?

@FrugalCat wrote:

The phone call which they asked if you could do a shop as there were no job boards back then. Mailed receipts, forms, etc. Sometimes I would have to swat pterodactyls out of the way during a shop.

Last week, I received a shop notice for a Medicare supplement presentation paying $30 and specifying NO MILEAGE. In addition, if one were not successful in having an individual sit down with an agent, a second meeting would be necessary. If, though, we roll back the clock an even 10 years, the same MSC paid me $55 + mileage for a straight group meeting. When a decade of inflation is factored, the mileage pay is eliminated and the possibility of a non-paying second visit is considered, those jobs have the greatest fee drop I have encountered.

Who told?

@oteixeira wrote:

I am waiting for someone to tell us they put in a shop over a rotary phone, that would just make my night. LOL Then we can all discuss walking uphill both ways, in the snow, with no shoes.

Not me, but my parents did in the 1960s.They used to do mystery shops for Wilmark Service Systems based in New York City. Most were reported on paper (multiple copies using carbon paper!) and mailed in, but some required a quick summary by phone. They did gas stations, movie theaters, underwear, campers, and some others. Bonuses were granted by allowing payment for larger numbers of miles than were actually driven (yes, they were paid for mileage at the then IRS rate ($0.07 per mile in 1965)). To be clear, only rotary phones existed then.

@oteixeira wrote:

I am waiting for someone to tell us they put in a shop over a rotary phone, that would just make my night. LOL Then we can all discuss walking uphill both ways, in the snow, with no shoes.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

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