has anyone done these yet? i was planning on starting tomorrow... took a look at guidelines, and there is no LOA! not feeling too comfortable about that.

LOA? Letter of authority? Two others came to mind too lol. I completed all of mine Sunday. My average on site is about 20 minutes. Sign in at the customer service desk and grab your vendor badge. Most of my locations have the book on the counter so you should see it, bypass the customers and just sign in. Then just alert the customer service rep real quick that you are swapping the cards and you are fine. Most don't care really. I wear my MSC badge too in addition to the Walmart badge. As long as you have your badges, no one says anything to you while you are snapping pics or taking the items back to the claims cages bc you're a vendor and authorized to be there doing work as contracted. I mean just do your normal thing in regards to being mindful of customers when snapping photos and reloading cards and all will be fine.

@Relly wrote:

LOA? Letter of authority? Two others came to mind too lol. I completed all of mine Sunday. My average on site is about 20 minutes. Sign in at the customer service desk and grab your vendor badge. Most of my locations have the book on the counter so you should see it, bypass the customers and just sign in. Then just alert the customer service rep real quick that you are swapping the cards and you are fine. Most don't care really. I wear my MSC badge too in addition to the Walmart badge. As long as you have your badges, no one says anything to you while you are snapping pics or taking the items back to the claims cages bc you're a vendor and authorized to be there doing work as contracted. I mean just do your normal thing in regards to being mindful of customers when snapping photos and reloading cards and all will be fine.

thanks for the information. where do I get the badge?

Curious too, what is an MSC Badge? Also, I could not figure out how to get the Gift Card Cube open to put the extra cards in. Any tips on that?

oh, and i forgot to clarify. LOA means letter of authorization. normally we get one when we need to interact with store personnel.

@jay225 wrote:

thanks for the information. where do I get the badge?

They have full sheets of the stickers with the store number inside the Vendor Binder. Just fill it out with your name and who the vendor is.

@robin1321 wrote:

Curious too, what is an MSC Badge? Also, I could not figure out how to get the Gift Card Cube open to put the extra cards in. Any tips on that?

Badge: For this project, no LOA is needed because we have permission to work on the Netspend displays. There are at least three possibilities for badge. 1. Before you begin your work with the cards, you need to go into the back of the store and sign the vendor log. There, you will find sticky temporary name badges that you can wear while in the store (new badge for each location!) or you will be issued a badge that you will return after you complete your work. These badges will show the store's id # or MAS. 2. In the past, the MSC might have sent you a lanyard with their company card inserted into the clear plastic card section. The lanyard has a black string with a large knot. The company information is mostly orange on one side and mostly white on the other side. You could wear this to identify yourself as a representative of the company. Is that what you meant? 3. Another meaning of badged is that you have the privilege of having a badge or identification that gets you past airport security in order to do mystery shops there. This allows you to shop at airports even if you are not flying. Others know more about that type of badging.

Cube: Look near the inside edge of one side of one side of the cube. The handle should be between the cards and the edge of the cube. You might see or feel a little knob, switch, or handle. It might be difficult to see the handle, which is tiny and about halfway between top and bottom of its side of the cube. Use the little handle to open one side of the cube and access the storage area.

They did not include one this time because they have have already notified Wal-Mart that Netspend Contractors were coming out for this project.

@Robin, I wrote "MSC" badge because I couldn't name the MSC in this case. It's the lanyard they have sent you on prior projects or maybe on this project as well. They should have asked when they asked for your address. To open the cubes at Walmart look carefully at each RIGHT edge. There is going to be one edge that basically latches over unlike the others. Pull it and it will come open for you like a door. One of my stores had one with a small knob on the inside. I pushed it in and it popped open. Most of them you just gently pull outward.

@Relly wrote:

They did not include one this time because they have have already notified Wal-Mart that Netspend Contractors were coming out for this project.

@Robin, I wrote "MSC" badge because I couldn't name the MSC in this case. It's the lanyard they have sent you on prior projects or maybe on this project as well. They should have asked when they asked for your address. To open the cubes at Walmart look carefully at each RIGHT edge. There is going to be one edge that basically latches over unlike the others. Pull it and it will come open for you like a door. One of my stores had one with a small knob on the inside. I pushed it in and it popped open. Most of them you just gently pull outward.

have you found the cards in any secondary areas? i’ve never seen them in any secondary spots doing previous visits.

@jay225 wrote:

@Relly wrote:

have you found the cards in any secondary areas? i’ve never seen them in any secondary spots doing previous visits.

I have located cards in Money Centers within some WalMart stores. All stores do not have a Money Center.

I should add that this project is in different stores, and not all stores have the same system for logging in or checking in with a manager.

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)

I have found a cube in the aisles by the electronics, money center, some in the main aisle in front of the store close to the money center in a stand-alone holder with only about three to four cards in the stand, and I have found some attached to walls in a holder (these wall holders are different than the wall holders they show in the pictures. These hold like 5 cards in each slot).

did a few of these today, not bad at all!

I did mine last week. No problems at all in any of the stores. the very last store that I did I ran into a rep. from Anderson, in my area they are the ones that take care of the racks. She told me that they had a question on their call form about whether or not the change out had been completed yet. All my stores had the cube. The cubes were all located at the front of the store by the registers. A few had a display for Christmas, but it only had gift cards on it. The few stores that did have a money center did not have any racks in them, except for 1 store and the money center wasn't open yet as they were just putting it in. That store had a small floor rack that had the netspend on. My stores the claims clerk wouldn't take the cards from me, they told me to "go toss them in the trash compacter myself." The neighborhood market stores were the fastest to do about 10 minutes in & out. the superstores took about 20 minutes to do.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2018 11:08PM by sueac101.

@jay225 wrote:

did a few of these today, not bad at all!

See! That is great to hear!

I just did 17 in one day. These are easily my favorite merchandising assignment.

I've done a few of these in Walmart and other grocery stores. In my Walmarts 1) no one at Customer Service knows anything about this but gives me the vendor log. 2) I have my own badge issued by the MSC so TG I don't have to find a name tag. 3) Floor managers have only vague ideas about where the cards are. No one else has a clue. 4) the claims department can be a nightmare. For me, they have taken much longer than the 20 minutes suggested, so the pay has been less than efficient. I'm doing another one next week for $30 and it's 1.5 hours away. If I pick up a couple of shops in the same town or on the way, it will be worth it.

@kryswyn916 wrote:

Floor managers have only vague ideas about where the cards are.

Card cube can be by the checkouts, in CS, electronics, or stationary. There may also be small (one row) racks in the money center, or else a 3x4 -ish freestanding rack in the money center. If you don't find any of the three then check endcaps for a 3-sided display.

@kryswyn916 wrote:

claims department can be a nightmare. For me, they have taken much longer than the 20 minutes suggested

I just leave the cards with CS and tell them to send them to claims.

I've done lots of these in the past but it's been one problem after another this go around with both Walmart and 7-11. From here on out they are on my 10-foot pole list.

The ones in my area are now at $30.

If only I could use an app.....

@ceasesmith wrote:

The ones in my area are now at $30.

If only I could use an app.....

You can! You can use an app! The one for these assignments is easy. It even has a tutorial that you can use before each report, if you would like that. You do not need to remember anything about using this app because it provides the tutorial for each assignment that you have. All you need to do is download the app, do the tutorial as many times as needed and wala! you can use an app.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

and wala! you can use an app.

Just so you'll know, it's "voila!" NOT wala!

@guysmom wrote:

@Shop-et-al wrote:

and wala! you can use an app.

Just so you'll know, it's "voila!" NOT wala!

It is both, depending upon who/when/where... but thank you. Merci. Gracias. Spasiba.

Hey, ceasesmith: are you feeling better about using an app?

Not when I can't use it because the stupid (oops, I mean Smart) phone says "Cannot connect to data network"....which just happens all too often out in the boonies. The guys at Verizon tell me it's just because my phone's old.

Well, I'm old, too -- just throw ME away and try to get a new one, LOL!!!

@Shop-et-al wrote:

@guysmom wrote:

@Shop-et-al wrote:

and wala! you can use an app.

Just so you'll know, it's "voila!" NOT wala!

It is both, depending upon who/when/where... but thank you. Merci. Gracias. Spasiba.

Sorry, but......no. From: "A Way With Words" .....

Voilà vs. Walla
Posted by Grant Barrett on August 11, 2012 ·

Voilà (not spelled wallah or vwala or walla) is a good example of a borrowed word. Though French for “there it is,” Americans often use it as a simple utterance, akin to presto or ta-da. This is part of a complete episode.

@whiterosie wrote:

I've done lots of these in the past but it's been one problem after another this go around with both Walmart and 7-11. From here on out they are on my 10-foot pole list.

i’m curious as to what went so wrong? i haven’t encountered many issues myself.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Not when I can't use it because the stupid (oops, I mean Smart) phone says "Cannot connect to data network"....which just happens all too often out in the boonies. The guys at Verizon tell me it's just because my phone's old.

Well, I'm old, too -- just throw ME away and try to get a new one, LOL!!!

They should make an app for old phones that enables apps.

@kryswyn916 wrote:

I've done a few of these in Walmart and other grocery stores. In my Walmarts 1) no one at Customer Service knows anything about this but gives me the vendor log. 2) I have my own badge issued by the MSC so TG I don't have to find a name tag. 3) Floor managers have only vague ideas about where the cards are. No one else has a clue. 4) the claims department can be a nightmare. For me, they have taken much longer than the 20 minutes suggested, so the pay has been less than efficient. I'm doing another one next week for $30 and it's 1.5 hours away. If I pick up a couple of shops in the same town or on the way, it will be worth it.

You are so right. The folks at CS don't know or care.

However, you are supposed to get an ok to go ahead with work - MSC says to get and record a name. It's a huge time waster and I've had managers tell me "Most reps just come in and do their work. We don't need to talk to you."

Vendor Book: If they have the log on the desk, it's awesome. But sometimes it's behind the desk and you have to wait until the three people there get tired of chatting with each other to make eye contact with you (or the big line of customers recedes so the one clerk can speak with you).
Other times, you have to walk to some area near the loading dock to sign in and in other stores, it's at or behind the podium and you can't access it until a human comes back to the podium.

Badge: I always wear the generic MSC-provided badge (always wonder if store people roll their eyes because it doesn't even have my name on it. Anyone could have printed this out and put it on a plain black rope.) Some WalMarts are sticklers about vendors also wearing either the clip-on or sticker WM badge. Every WM I've been to gets upset when vendors don't sign back out (apparently some people don't so the person at the log complains about it).

The "Cube" or "4 Way" as WM refers to it: Every store I've been to has it. Always in a different location, but somewhere near the front in the walkway before a person gets to the registers. And that little silver knob can be hard to pull out to get the darned thing open, and the door can be "sticky" plus whoever stocks the gift cards overfills the peg next to the knob, so it's easy to have cards fall off when opening the door.

Finding wall mount and free-standing displays: Most of the stores I went to haven't had the wall mount display in years. Unfortunately, if you are doing the job the way the MSC says to do it, then you are searching the entire HUGE store, then trying to find an employee who will confirm no such thing exists to put in your report as you are required to ask and get a name. Oh and a picture to prove a negative - i.e that something doesn't exist (which is just stupid because if a person won't look for it and is willing to lie about it, why would a picture matter?)

If they have a separate Money Center they usually have the free-standing display. But if they don't same, then it's the same PITA process to prove something doesn't exist.
The worst part of this is that when employees don't know, rather than saying no or they don't know, they send you to other places where it also does exist, and when you get there the Electronics person says "NetSpend and prepaid cards? Why would we have those here? We just have phone service and gaming. When they called, I thought they said Net10." Or you find cardboard displays with no prepaid cards and only gift cards.

Most Claims cages are in the back, directly behind Shoes, but not always. And there is almost never a person there to help or a claims bucket labeled for prepaid cards. Some have you put them in the electronics bucket, but the two claims people I spoke with who were friendly said since these are "scan to sell" items, they just send them back to the company. When they get enough to fill up a box, they ship them back. So they wanted me to just leave them on the Claims Desk. (I used the boxes to leave the old backstock, which these stores seemed to really like, but there won't always be boxes available to reuse this way. I have used plastic bags before too.)

I do the job the way the MSC says to do it and that just takes more time that they say it does. especially when you have to run around a huge store at least twice. The only one that went fast for me was at the Neighborhood store because I only had two bundles for that store, a person was at CS with no customers in line and actually had knowledge of the store, and the person in claims took the old back stock right away and was nice about it.

I'm sure there are people that have done lots of these and have tricks for making it go quicker than the process provided by the MSC. I'd love to learn those because I don't find these jobs to pay fairly for the time/work.

I have done more than a few and thankfully I move quickly despite not having full use of both arms.

For anyone new to doing these though, there is a learning process so hopefully, they find forums like this to learn rather than stumbling through it like I did last year.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2018 10:21PM by Pro Evals-Audits.

@stormraven73 wrote:

I just did 17 in one day. These are easily my favorite merchandising assignment.

Can you please share your tricks? I'm not likely "competing" in your same area.

I like the assignments and don't mind the work, but find that the pay is way too low for the actual time involved to complete them.

I just sign the log without comment, and consider a smile or nod from the CS person as approval. I have been merchandising at WM for years and they are perfectly fine with this. As for confirming the non-existent displays and claims, I solve all of this in one go by dropping claims at customer service, labeled as claims with a sharpie, and while telling him/her they go to claims I also get their name, and say something like, "the cube is the only location with reloadable cards, right?" I have never had a CS not know.

I have rarely had a superstore take more than 15 min. Neighborhood Markets run about 10. In the comments about what steps I took to confirm there are no wall displays, etc. I just put "no display in money center or customer service, confirmed by csm."

@jay225 wrote:

@whiterosie wrote:

I've done lots of these in the past but it's been one problem after another this go around with both Walmart and 7-11. From here on out they are on my 10-foot pole list.

i’m curious as to what went so wrong? i haven’t encountered many issues myself.

I liked 7Eleven WAY better than the other two Netspend jobs. I wish I'd picked up a lot more of those than the others. (Of course, if I had, maybe I would have seen more issues).

At least the stores are small and the time to complete was much closer to the MSC's estimate for how long it supposedly takes.

The issues I had at 7Eleven were:
1)Wait time: always a line of customers before I could talk to anyone
2)Resistance and frustration: the managers most definitely did NOT want these displays
3)Placement: the space above the regular card display was full at every store except one, so had to negotiate placement and none of them wanted anything else on their front counter. One completely refused the display. I actually felt bad for these managers. Their stores are jammed with cardboards displays they are constantly trying to work around. In some stores, there was barely room for customers to move through aisles.
4)Replenishing: when they had any back stock to use to refill the display, it was a jumbled mess of loose cards to sort through and find what you needed.