Calculating time, expenses, and payment

Would you say $20 is a fair pay for a Storage unit shop 16 miles one way?

This job will take about 2 hrs total

Time breakdown.10 min for the call
.20 min for the visit.30 min for the report
1 hour driving time (round trip (.30 min each to and from)
(.30 minutes more if there's heavy traffic)

If you are looking at a shop that pays you $20 and the gas for the trip is $6 then you will get paid $14 after expenses.

This means if the pay is $20.After expenses $14 Minus the expenses then it is about $7.00 an hour for this job.

Let's say the visit takes 15 minutes and the call only takes 5 minutes, your a fast typer and you create a quick report with the basic details that takes only 15-20 minutes (36 questions). You make your visit during the least traffic hours and cut 10 minutes off your Driving time

This means you will make $11 hr. for this job .

Time Breakdown
Driving time .40
Report & call and visit .40
expense $6.00
1 hour and 20 minutes.

Is it worth your time?

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I always judge a shop like this on whether or not there are other shops in the area (to and from) that I can schedule for the same day. If you can make a mini route than it could be worth it.

If my car had that kind of gas mileage, no - probably not worth my time to spend that much time driving and that much money on gas. I do my best to schedule shops that don't take me far out of my way (e.g. something close by on the way home from work) or string together a few in the same area. That said, I'm not doing this as my main source of income, so I don't mind passing up an opportunity even if it's technically profitable. If you're in a pinch, go for it. Money is money. Otherwise, meh.

Also, depends on the type of report. If this is the one I'm thinking of from IntelliShop, I'd be hesitant. Their reports tend to be longer than other sites I've worked for. I'd rather do a 1.5-hour shop w/ a 30-minute report than a 1-hour shop with a 1-hour report.

Becca,

My compliments on your logical approach to the assignment. I would not remotely consider the shop you used as an example. If, though, you are financially in need, that could factor into your decision.

Bob - not even if you could string several other shops together as a circuit with this one? I find self assign companies like Market Force and The Source are good for making routes to compliment other shops that I wouldn’t do alone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2019 11:36PM by kenasch.

Ken,

Seven dollars an hour does not interest me at this point in my life, as I have not the slightest need for money. If the shop is the one of which I am thinking and for the MSC with whom I completed my first job in 2006, I weekly drive within a few miles of the storage facility. That would greatly increase my net, but it still would not be enough money for me. That is why I mentioned Becca possibly being in need.

A few years ago, one of the three people to whom I suggested they consider shopping, shared she was completing Trendsource grocery stores paying $5 + $9. Her response to my query of why, was that she was raising a baby on her own; that work provided diapers and helped with the jars of food.

Bob - but my point is that it can be far more than $7 an hour if you can create a mini route. I don’t ever consider driving over 10 miles unless I can string several shops together.

You didn't have to break it down for me to say no. I personally wouldn't do it for less than $45, and that's only if I had enough time to build shops around it or on the way there and back.

@Becca2018 wrote:

Would you say $20 is a fair pay for a Storage unit shop 16 miles one way?

This job will take about 2 hrs total

Time breakdown.10 min for the call
.20 min for the visit.30 min for the report
1 hour driving time (round trip (.30 min each to and from)
(.30 minutes more if there's heavy traffic)

If you are looking at a shop that pays you $20 and the gas for the trip is $6 then you will get paid $14 after expenses.

This means if the pay is $20.After expenses $14 Minus the expenses then it is about $7.00 an hour for this job.

Let's say the visit takes 15 minutes and the call only takes 5 minutes, your a fast typer and you create a quick report with the basic details that takes only 15-20 minutes (36 questions). You make your visit during the least traffic hours and cut 10 minutes off your Driving time

This means you will make $11 hr. for this job .

Time Breakdown
Driving time .40
Report & call and visit .40
expense $6.00
1 hour and 20 minutes.

Is it worth your time?

If you're in an area where it takes 30 minutes to go 16 miles, i.e. not in the boondocks, and there are no other shops within 3 or 4 miles of the route you travel to get there, then you may not be signed up with enough companies. As for whether it's worth it, only you can say.

Even if I don't take gas and other expenses (?) into consideration, 2 hours of work for $20 is less than minimum wage where I live.

Not interested.

Minimum wage is currently not really a living wage.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2019 03:03AM by ceasesmith.

No, Becca. What Bob said. I don't do routes but If you do, it may be a consideration.

I don't have to look any further than $20 and 2 hours to say no, unless it is part of a route.

$11 an hour? Maybe. You need to factor in the mileage deduction. Also, that is a lot of time and gas to go 16 miles each way. For another shopper who is nearer, gas might be as little as a dollar, and drive time 10 minutes round trip. That's why we each need to take time to figure out what works for us, including factoring in route work.

I do really well with this gig without having to go far from home. No point in doing anything like this without a big incentive. I was paid $175 for doing a cell phone shop that was 5 miles from home two months ago. That one was a purchase and return type of shop, so a bit more involved than most, but still. I did some of those other cell phone shops (that normally pay $6) for $25-$30 not long ago, again, not having to travel very far (less than 10 miles from my house). The longest I have had to drive from home over the past month was a car dealership shop that was 56 miles round trip, but it paid $150. And the best thing is, I am always able to find more shops near or on the route to and from the locations that are furthest away (because driving more than 25 miles from home isn't something I normally do). That just sweetens the pot. But, I will do $7 convenience stores as a part of a miniroute close to home because I can do 4-5 of them in an hour (including report time) and report them on an app, so nothing to report when I get home. The closest of that chain is within a mile from home and I just go from there.

If this is an isolated shop, then my answer is an emphatic NO. 16 miles at the IRS mileage rate this year is 16 miles x $0.58 / mile = $9.28 each way, or $18.56 for the round trip. You are then working 2 hours for $1.44

IMHO, calculating just gas ignores oil changes, repairs, depreciation, etc. This is not logical. Eventually, your aging car will catch up with you, and you will have no money for a new one. the logical approach is to take the $0.58 per mile and put it into a separate account. Use if to pay for shopping gas (not all your gas) and a proportionate share of tires, repairs, etc. Too complicated? Probably. So leave every penny of the $0.58 in the account, and use if for your next car downpayment.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

I always find other shops to make a route, even if you are not leaving town. It is rarely worth the effort or expense to leave home for only one shop. That being said, yes, $20 is a fair wage for most storage shops, but I would do them as part of a route with other shops.

Storage shops are easy to get bonuses on if you hold out. Because they have small staff (some locations have only 1-2 employees), it's not something that the same shopper can repeat very often without being suspect. After all the other shoppers in my area have done the location, I can usually get a $20 or higher bonus. And that's for the locations that are within 15 miles of me. Same thing goes for some cell phone stores and banks.

"If this is an isolated shop, then my answer is an emphatic NO. 16 miles at the IRS mileage rate this year is 16 miles x $0.58 / mile = $9.28 each way, or $18.56 for the round trip. You are then working 2 hours for $1.44"

Nope, not the way it works.

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