Thoughts on this?

eta: I think the thing I hear usually is that they are shops for people who just happen to be driving by a place. Fair enough, but a lot of times no one JUST HAPPENS to be driving to these locations. Instead, we have to intentionally route shops. That takes time. Does anyone pay us for the time it takes to route things - which requires surfing around 10's of MSCs and scoping them out constantly (a big time suck) in the hopes of stringing together three or four shops for a profitable outing? And, then, sometimes you just can't, because you have to compete with other shoppers. So, now, that time has gone to waste with no reimbursement.

Also, I remember a poster who had a post from years ago (I searched the forum for Sonic once and found this old post), who said he had knowledge that we save a lot of companies LOTS of money by working so cheaply for them. They don't have to have their district managers doing this inspection type of work. We even add some things a DM cannot, due to our anonymity.

In the past, they'd have to pay a DM $200,000/year (or something like that) to go around to all the district franchises to inspect them for quality control. On top of salary, they'd have to pay for this DM to fly, drive, live in hotels, eat meals, etc. And the DM is known. A mystery shopper is doing work that is probably worth $100-300/shop sometimes for the company. We are anonymous and can test components that the DM cannot. We use our own gas and car...do our own scheduling...get no health insurance benefits or pension plans, etc.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2019 04:27AM by shoptastic.

Oh, yes.

You see, DM is an EMPLOYEE. Pizza delivery guy is an EMPLOYEE.

We are NOT.

Up to us to set our minimum fees and make a profit.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Oh, yes.

You see, DM is an EMPLOYEE. Pizza delivery guy is an EMPLOYEE.

We are NOT.

Up to us to set our minimum fees and make a profit.

Thanks for the reminder/motivation, cs. I really need to start upping my asking prices.

Gotta cover mileage better!!!!!!!!

Or see if you can get a job as a DM. Let us know what you think if you do. I am pretty sure they must have other things to do in their job than what we do though. I can imagine they do training, counseling , perhaps hiring of local managers, checking that everything is up to snuff in the location, not just whether you are greeted with a smile and a whole host of other things.

@sandyf wrote:

Or see if you can get a job as a DM. Let us know what you think if you do. I am pretty sure they must have other things to do in their job than what we do though. I can imagine they do training, counseling , perhaps hiring of local managers, checking that everything is up to snuff in the location, not just whether you are greeted with a smile and a whole host of other things.

We have a family friend who was a DM for Wendy's. I'll ask around. They DO do some of what we do. Or...did in the past.

Yes, they do quality control. And many, many other things!

MSCs, and MSPA in particular, have been given dire warnings by their legal teams that paying mileage will likely change the legal relationship to one of employer/employee. Source: statements by MSC AND MSPA reps attending MSer sessions at shopper conferences, over many years.

A pizza driver is not allowed to eat the food he/she is delivering. A mystery shopper is required to report on taste, temperature, etc.

In terms of employee vs contractor there is another discussion from a few months ago talking about the effort from the state of California surveying shoppers for ACL. Last week there were two very long articles in the LA Times explaining what is currently happening in California and several other states in this regard. I am not sure which states are looking into this but I remember reading about New York as well. This and other states are looking carefully into the distinction between the two categories (employee and contractor) partially spurred on by claims of Uber drivers and other contractors of the gig economy that they should be treated the same as employees in other jobs. Part of the article said that one of the plans under consideration is to create a third form of employment specifically for workers in the gig economy that might offer some of the benefits of an employee but not all the full spectrum. It did not sound like they were specifically targeting mystery shoppers but they were sampling the work experiences of all parts of the gig economy. Whether mystery shopping will eventually fall under the rules for gig economy work and whether employers will be told to cover some or all of the benefits to "gig" workers remains to be seen.
There are plusses and minuses on both sides of the issue and also plusses and minuses in the minds of the people working at gig jobs. It might bring more benefits but along with it also more restrictions for everyone.

I just wish that we could get reduced health insurance like certain groups of employees and certain ICs can get.

@Jenny Cassada wrote:

I just wish that we could get reduced health insurance like certain groups of employees and certain ICs can get.

I discovered this year that we can deduct the cost of health insurance. That helps quite a bit. Also keep in mind that most employees do not get benefits from their companies unless they are working full or almost full time. My company gave prorated benefits to those of us working more than 20 hours a week but that was a very rare thing, at least in California.

Sandy, this is the first time in 20 years that I don't have benefits through work because I've always had a part or full time gig that had either reduced or free insurance (still kicking myself for leaving the job with free insurance). Luckily, my boyfriend has awesome insurance and his company lets me be on it. It cost a lot of money, but it is definitely worth it as I racked up about $2,000 worth of bills literally the week after I left my last "regular" job and my out of pocket was less than $100. He gets a credit on his taxes, but it is still an awful lot out of pocket.