So glad I have another income

Oh OK. I got it now. Spicy has had enough user names to string together it blows my mind...lol

Kim

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More About Mystery Shopping Taxes

It is getting to be a real talent to recite them all; a little like reciting "The House That Jack Built."

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.

Some of them might be the same person...it's possible that Book and You'llneverknow are the same person, also possible that both of them are SobrokeIgottadothis. Isn't it funny how they like each others posts? Could be that when sobroke got banned he/she took a page from spicy1's "book" LOL.

I can understand the frustration with the pay being offered. Some jobs, the pay is insulting. They show how little the care about mystery shoppers.

The book store shop for $5 is really insulting. They want you to go to 3 different departments, to see if you get help. Than ask about an out of print book, than ask someone else to help find a current book. Go to the magazine rack, take a picture. Buy an item (you can return it later if you want) Go to the coffee shop and order a small drink (no reimbursement) and than take a picture of the store.

All this for $5. LOL It just shows you how little they think of mystery shoppers.

Funny how trolls all stick together , total giveaway.....you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time...

Live consciously....

I never would have known what that shop entails because once I saw that it only paid $5, I would move on and not "paid" attention to it. That's the key here. When you browse job boards and skim them, if nothing pays good enough to suit your needs, close it and move on. Same thing with email notices of shops. Open, skim, and delete if nothing interests you. I don't take offense to the low pay because I don't do them, and I don't think twice about it. But I certainly would have no idea what they want you to do for only $5, that's a waste of valuable time reading the guidelines when you could be looking for higher paying jobs.

@johnb974 wrote:

I can understand the frustration with the pay being offered. Some jobs, the pay is insulting. They show how little the care about mystery shoppers.

The book store shop for $5 is really insulting. They want you to go to 3 different departments, to see if you get help. Than ask about an out of print book, than ask someone else to help find a current book. Go to the magazine rack, take a picture. Buy an item (you can return it later if you want) Go to the coffee shop and order a small drink (no reimbursement) and than take a picture of the store.

All this for $5. LOL It just shows you how little they think of mystery shoppers.

I agree, just delete the 5.00 jobs, no need to read through them, nothing is worth leaving the house and driving for 5 bucks...they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine...sorry, need my coffee. Those that do them are either desperate or will give a desperate report...actually I haven't seen a 5.00 email, why I'm fussy about who I work for.

Live consciously....

It's an insult to mystery shoppers to even offer that kind of pay.

@JASFLALMT..Wow, I just went through their menu and saw peanuts. I was only kidding about working for peanuts but just found out they do offer free peanuts. This was my first visit to Five Guys. I would gladly scoop some the next time.

I had a scheduler call me today about driving over 50 miles on a toll road, so over 100 miles round trip, figure about $20 gas and an $8.20 toll, so it would cost me $30, take three hours (driving plus time at the shop) and another hour for the write up, and then all of the questions that this company always asks, all for $50. Four plus hours of my time for $20. Nope. She did not understand why this was a problem either!

I don't see it that way. I don't understand why it bothers you if you aren't doing the shops.

@johnb974 wrote:

It's an insult to mystery shoppers to even offer that kind of pay.

I think I know which MSC he is referring to...they generally only send out Samantha emails or you have to browse their job boards. If I see a $5 shop I don't bother looking at it any further, but it never bothers me. That's why I was curious how he knew so much about a $5 shop. That would mean he actually opened the shop to look at the details or actually did one. Then someone could be irritated about it, but mainly be irritated with themselves for wasting their own time. Speaking of wasting time, I have to stop wasting my time discussing this and start to get moving to go do my shops I have lined up for the afternoon.

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

I agree, just delete the 5.00 jobs, no need to read through them, nothing is worth leaving the house and driving for 5 bucks...they can stick it where the sun doesn't shine...sorry, need my coffee. Those that do them are either desperate or will give a desperate report...actually I haven't seen a 5.00 email, why I'm fussy about who I work for.

The shop is clearly posted on the MSC web site. They should be embarrassed to even post that kind of pay.

Okay, John, I just looked on their website. There are some $5 retail shops showing. It does NOT state what you have to do for the shop. That means you actually opened it and looked at it to see the requirements or you have actually done one of these. So that is a waste of time and you only have yourself to blame for being insulted or frustrated about the pay. I don't understand your mindset at all. Have a good day, gotta go!

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Okay, John, I just looked on their website. There are some $5 retail shops showing. It does NOT state what you have to do for the shop. That means you actually opened it and looked at it to see the requirements or you have actually done one of these. So that is a waste of time and you only have yourself to blame for being insulted or frustrated about the pay. I don't understand your mindset at all. Have a good day, gotta go!

Many shops you don't know what they require until AFTER you open the shop requirements. No matter what you say, it's still an insult to even offer this kind of shop for $5, It shows you their mind set toward mystery shoppers.

I can't believe that I am WASTING my time on this, LOL. But, just to humor you, John, I opened up the shop requirements. It does not give many details other than that it's a bookstore and you have to visit the cafe, restroom, etc. It doesn't describe any of the details you gave in your post on what you have to do during the shop regarding an out of print book, etc. I would never have bothered looking if you hadn't been griping so much about it. So, that tells me you did the shop, and now you are pissed at the MSC because you felt it was too much work for the amount of pay ($5 wouldn't have gotten my car out of the garage). But your anger is misdirected, my friend. We are all subject to taking responsibility for our own actions. When I make mistakes (such as taking a shop that requires too much work for the amount of pay) I own up that I made an error and I won't repeat it again. I don't bother lamenting and blaming the MSC. It's like when you go to the convenience store and you see something on the shelf that you know is a much better deal at another retailer, but you buy it anyway. You have only yourself to blame. You can't blame the retailer if you knew better than to do it.

@johnb974 wrote:

I can understand the frustration with the pay being offered. Some jobs, the pay is insulting. They show how little the care about mystery shoppers.

The book store shop for $5 is really insulting. They want you to go to 3 different departments, to see if you get help. Than ask about an out of print book, than ask someone else to help find a current book. Go to the magazine rack, take a picture. Buy an item (you can return it later if you want) Go to the coffee shop and order a small drink (no reimbursement) and than take a picture of the store.

All this for $5. LOL It just shows you how little they think of mystery shoppers.

I did that bookstore shop. $20 bonus though, and I was in the area doing other work.

$5 doesn't even cover mileage.

I sometimes wonder if the fee makers are laughing when they come up with them. LOL.

eta: Studying shop guidelines and reporting are probably already worth 1 hour of min. wage alone.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2019 06:25PM by shoptastic.

JASFLALMT comments--I can't believe that I am WASTING my time on this, LOL. But, just to humor you, John, I opened up the shop requirements. It does not give many details other than that it's a bookstore and you have to visit the cafe, restroom, etc. It doesn't describe any of the details you gave in your post on what you have to do during the shop regarding an out of print book, etc. I would never have bothered looking if you hadn't been griping so much about it. So, that tells me you did the shop, and now you are pissed at the MSC because you felt it was too much work for the amount of pay ($5 wouldn't have gotten my car out of the garage). But your anger is misdirected, my friend. We are all subject to taking responsibility for our own actions. When I make mistakes (such as taking a shop that requires too much work for the amount of pay) I own up that I made an error and I won't repeat it again. I don't bother lamenting and blaming the MSC. It's like when you go to the convenience store and you see something on the shelf that you know is a much better deal at another retailer, but you buy it anyway. You have only yourself to blame. You can't blame the retailer if you knew better than to do it.

Bob's opinion--That says it all!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2019 12:26PM by shopperbob.

I did too.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I did that bookstore shop. $20 bonus though, and I was in the area doing other work.

Kim

I can understand being offended or frustrated by low payments offered by MSCs for jobs that are a lot of work. It feels like they don't value your time and are trying to put something over on you. But look at it from the company's perspective:

They *ARE* trying to put something over on you.

It's a company. They want to make money. The most money they can to operate as efficiently as they can so that they have more money to expand and make even more money.

Just like it's in your best interest to try to make as much money as you can for the least amount of time and effort so that you can do more shops (if you want), it's in their best interest to try to offer as little money as they can to get them done for peanuts until they have to start offering bonuses. It's not personal. That's how I avoid being offended when I see jobs I won't enjoy being offered for low fees.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

I guess one lesson is to start asking for more and not accept the ridunkulous fees.

$5 LOL...I'm still laughing.

Only downside is that it wastes a lot of time. If they KNOW no one accepts them for $5 and they get lots of messages asking for more, then that also takes a person/artificial intelligence to negotiate. And that takes money on the MSCs part.

Maybe they've got it down to a science and $5 is taken JUST enough to make it a profitable balance of a barrage of emails asking for more...not sure.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2019 06:39PM by shoptastic.

@Mum wrote:

@JASFLALMT..Wow, I just went through their menu and saw peanuts. I was only kidding about working for peanuts but just found out they do offer free peanuts. This was my first visit to Five Guys. I would gladly scoop some the next time.

The only time I ever did a 5G the manager encouraged me to take home as many peanuts as I wanted. He even handed me an empty bag to fill up. So I felt I got my fee in peanuts which is my fave nut anyway.

@kimmiemae wrote:

I did too.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I did that bookstore shop. $20 bonus though, and I was in the area doing other work.

I love skimming through bookstores, but there is NO WAY I would do that shop for less than a $20 Bonus, either!

If you don't want the shop, don't take the shop. There is no need to be a complete (_!_) about it.

I did it for a nice bonus a few years ago? I too was doing other shops in the area. I don't remember having to take a photo of a magazine rack and don't really remember much else about it, don't remember the out-of-print book part, either.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I did that bookstore shop. $20 bonus though, and I was in the area doing other work.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2019 09:15PM by JASFLALMT.

Or start completely useless threads complaining that reimbursement amount doesn't cover it. Or start threads about similar low paying shops and then complain about not making a lot mystery shopping. Duh!

@panama18 wrote:

If you don't want the shop, don't take the shop. There is no need to be a complete (_!_) about it.

Kim

I did this shop for a $15 bonus a few months ago as well. I was newer to shopping then and I still think that $15/$20 is still too little for this shop. Now I see it on the board at base price and move on, lesson learned.

That's crazy Sandy! Every shop I've been to for 5Guys says not to take the peanuts out because of allergies. One of my problems is peanuts in the shell. I will eat 17 of those boats if you let me and I will put them loose in my purse if I have to lol.

@sandyf wrote:

@Mum wrote:

@JASFLALMT..Wow, I just went through their menu and saw peanuts. I was only kidding about working for peanuts but just found out they do offer free peanuts. This was my first visit to Five Guys. I would gladly scoop some the next time.

The only time I ever did a 5G the manager encouraged me to take home as many peanuts as I wanted. He even handed me an empty bag to fill up. So I felt I got my fee in peanuts which is my fave nut anyway.

Shopping the South Jersey Shore

@panama18 wrote:

If you don't want the shop, don't take the shop. There is no need to be a complete (_!_) about it.

I personally think it's a fair gripe. I agree that no one forces us to take these shops. I wouldn't do them for $5.

To me, it's still fine to point out the embarrassing fee. LOL. Some of them are so low it's actually somewhat funny.

eta: It's definitely a useful reminder, though, that we ought to ask for more if we find them rates inadequate. It takes more work, but you never know if you may get the bonus or not.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2019 10:40PM by shoptastic.

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