Always check your guidelines -- ALWAYS!

Just a hint to you from me for the holiday season.

This month I've been knocking out hardware store shops, one right after the other.

I did one yesterday, have another one scheduled for today.

Just for kicks and giggles, I pulled up the guidelines -- and the guidelines totally changed just since yesterday. Brand-spanking new scenario, questions, alternatives, etc.

I've been shopping 10 years; I keep relearning that old lesson "never assume".

Great shopping to you all!

And don't forget to at least glance at those guidelines!

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If they change should they text you or e-mail you saying the guidelines have changed?

I was assigned a shop a few weeks ago. About two days before the day of the soap, they send a e-mail saying that there was a slight change in the guidleines and they mention what it was.. It also said that if you had any other questions just to ask

No. It's our job to check the guidelines.

But it was really nice of them to advise you of the change!

True, just did a grocery store I've been doing for ages, and decided to check...many changes, one dept. that stayed the same forever, was removed, while another that wasn't evaluated now had to be...yes, always check your instructions.....

Live consciously....

I also think that it's a shopper's responsibility to check guidelines....but it's so nice when a scheduler gives a heads up that they changed. Especially for shoppers who have done multiple

I also think that it's a shopper's responsibility to check guidelines....but it's so nice when a scheduler gives a heads up that they changed. Especially for shoppers who have done multiple rounds of the particular shop that had changed guidelines

Yikes!

I'm guilty of reviewing the guidelines as soon as I sign up for the shop, which might be weeks before the actual due date, but don't usually review them before I head out.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

It was a shop that I have never done before. I also review the guidelines as soon as I am assign the shop and I make a few notes.. But I also never look at them before I head out.

I guess I better start just in case they do a last minute change

There is a shop that I have done several times over the past year or so. A few months ago they changed part of the guidelines. When they changed it, they send out a e-mail to all the shoppers who have completed that shop in the past.
It it still mentioned in the e-mail everytime they send out sayng that you can apply

There are a few companies that date their guidelines. Those are the ones I like the best. I put the date of the guidelines I read at the bottom of my cheat sheet and althou I quickly review all guidelines before a shop I read them more carefully when I see a new date on the guidelines. It also helps that some companies highlight just the new parts....hooray for the companies that do these two things...dates on guidelines and highlighting changes.

Yes, I've noticed lately on some Alta shops "Guidelines last updated XXX/XXX/XXXX". Very helpful! Of course, you have to LOOK at them to find that date, LOL!

I have a different take on this.

Yes, we should always check our guidelines. However, the MSC also has a duty to notify us in a timely manner if the MSC made material changes to the guidelines.

There are two aspects to this topic. When the guidelines change after you've completed a round and are about to start a new one, it is your responsibility to check guidelines. However when a company changes guidelines to a job you've already been assigned, they are making changes to a contract. When one party makes revisions to a contract of any sort, the other party needs to be notified. One way around this that some MSCs get by with is writing in as part of the contract that you must check the guidelines within a certain number of hours / days before performing the assignment.

The bottom line is that everyone involved WANTS to have the shops completed successfully. We want to do a good job and get paid as shoppers. MSCs want to impress their clients. Schedulers want to get those shops off the boards asap, and editors want to have the shops submitted in a timely manner...

So with that said, EVERYONE has a responsibility to make sure that they are done correctly and guidelines are followed.

Now, the onus may fall on the shopper more often, because we are the ones out there in the field...BUT, if ANYONE in that "line of command" wants to keep their jobs/clients/good rep., etc...they should pitch in to make sure that things are done correctly. That means communicating with shoppers. OTOH, the schedulers' jobs are not "necessarily" to update shoppers on things; their "jobs" are to get the shops scheduled...but for the success of the whole company, it's great when everyone pitches in 101% to go a smidgen above and beyond...

I've had guidelines changed on me the morning of doing the job. Like; there was no way for me to know the guidelines had changed. Thankfully it was minor enough that they "excused" it. But yes; if you are talking about changing the guidelines after you've been assigned that particular shop there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for an MSC to not notify you that the guidelines changed. But if you are talking about these guidelines changed for this shop (before it was assigned to you) specifically; then yes; that's why its always good to always, at the very least, glance at the guidelines. Even if you've done the shop 10 times before.

Yes, Isaiah, good schedulers do that. They alert you about changes. Also, their guidelines highlight the change so you do not miss them. Not all do that.

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Always check your guidelines -- ALWAYS!

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