I have a question...or two

Hi. I am sort of new at mystery shopping and I am wondering what you think is an appropriate amount of time to keep photos from a shop? And.how do you keep them? On your hard drive or thumb drives?

I'm asking because I did a shop that was approved but an Editor wrote me and asked if I had an additional photo. Once the job was approved, i deleted the photos. Is that ok or do you just keep them? (The job was approved 2 weeks ago).
Thanks for any input in advance.

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I backup my reports/receipts/photos to a external USB hard drive that is attached to my computer. I don't have any paper trail.

MSC's will often tell you to hold all documents for 6 months. I generally hold digital copies of everything until I am paid for the jobs.

Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.

I keep them until I get paid.

Edited to add that there have been a few times after a shop was approved that I was later asked for a photo (before I got paid). Keep receipts or scanned copies of them that long as well.

I have an external hard drive I use to transfer photos and scanned images. Some people use the cloud (or both).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2019 12:11AM by JASFLALMT.

My photos are kept in files on my computer. I recently deleted the ones from 2014 and earlier.

LOL.

I really don't think the "files" take up much memory or space or whatever you call it on the computer.

I keep files (pics and receipts) until I get paid, unless an MSC requests otherwise.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I use an external hard drive on my computer because it ran low on memory.

@ceasesmith wrote:

I really don't think the "files" take up much memory or space or whatever you call it on the computer.

I have an external drive and keep everything. I have all of my photos dating back to at least 2009. Overkill? Maybe. But with a 1T drive, I can save stuff all day and still have plenty of room.

Here is what I've been doing:
In a file dated "2019"
1) Every 3 months, I copy my "Mystery Shop" folder and paste it into my external hard drive.
2) I copy my entire "recycle bin" folder and paste it into my external hard drive.
3) I do this 4 times (every 3 months or quarter).

At the beginning of the new year, I discard my file from 2 years ago (2017).

But, I keep all my paper files for at least 7 years. These are the worksheets with my receipts and notes for each shop performed.

I have them back to 2003. Older ones are on a computer stored in the closet, but they're there if I want them. I sometimes go back and look to see where I've been, just out of curiosity if I meet someone and they tell me they're from some town.. I go back and look to see if I've been there before.

I stay in my own town to shop and keep photos I use for at least a year. I also keep the decent extras that I took for the shop but did not use for several months and at a minimum until I get paid. My receipt copies I keep for years, not for the msc but in case I get audited by the IRS. I have a folder for each msc where I keep the older ones. If it is a higher end restaurant that I do occasionally I keep at least one old receipt so I can go back and see how much they charge for things like wine and dessert as those prices often are not on the online menus.

I keep the paper receipts, sorted by the day I did the job, for about 2 or 3 months, or until the folder is too thick to add more. I keep the scanned copies of all of the paperwork and a word document of any narratives I may have written, on my computer for a minimum of 6 months.

It doesn't cost you anything to keep backups, so why would you not do it?

I keep all pictures and other shop documents/reports for 6 months. That seems to be the most common length of time specified by MSC's.

I have Amazon prime and save all my pictures to prime photos. I keep them forever. I have shopped for ten years and just deleted the ones from 2008. I dont feel a need to keep them that long it's just takes a long time to delete them.

@chzbabe wrote:

Hi. I am sort of new at mystery shopping and I am wondering what you think is an appropriate amount of time to keep photos from a shop? And.how do you keep them? On your hard drive or thumb drives?

I'm asking because I did a shop that was approved but an Editor wrote me and asked if I had an additional photo. Once the job was approved, i deleted the photos. Is that ok or do you just keep them? (The job was approved 2 weeks ago).
Thanks for any input in advance.

I keep all photos for shops for the previous year and all receipts (scanned in) for current year-7.

So, I have all my photos for 2018 and 2019 and all my receipts for 2012-2019

I use Dropbox to store all of my photos. That way I can easily access them from wherever I happen to be and whatever laptop/computer platform I have on hand. I'm paying $99 per year but never face the threat of running out of storage and/or everything disappearing. I have my smartphone set up so that it's an easy photo transfer once I'm done shopping for a particular day. I edit the file name so that it looks something like this: 2019-04-10 (name of place shopped) photo 1,2,3, and so on. That way, the photo collection still shows up in the folder in date/time order; otherwise the photo you're looking for soon becomes the proverbial needle in the haystack. I hope this helps you!

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