I wish i could overlay this post over yours and show, as if on a map, just how variable each person's mystery shopping can be. There are demographics and demographic requirements, preferences, and interests. As shoppers age, they may undergo personal changes (or their family members might experience these). At the very least, they will age out of and into eligibility for various assignment types. I can compare me with known professional shoppers. My trajectory went from interested to avid to super avid to 'oh, this is too much' to 'next year, I will do the big bucks' times a few years to 'M'kay. In 2020, I will be a caregiver and occasional IC worker. I will not make the big bucks, but I will do a little something'. This is very different from the people who started small and worked up and up and up and still love this enough to do it year after year. (I wouldn't change a thing because along the way I learned, had some fun, and explored assorted parts of my region. I found an abiding interest in Nature and a need for changes in at least one job type in order that more workers may be included. None of these things would have happened if I had not been a somewhat active and engaged IC for a few years.)
@rothers27 wrote:
Secret Shopping is not a normal job, as many people point out. You are an independent consultant, not an employee. The legal ramifications are gigantic. Secret shoppers do not get any of the benefits that people get a any job, from McDonald's to Google. So secret shopping is not like any job at all. It's very very different. That's why it's so chaotic, and why you have such a huge range of experiences. There is absolutely no HR. None. Working for minimum wage somewhere gives you rights and access to HR. Not with Mystery Shopping. If you are treated unfairly, there is absolutely no recourse for you.
So, am I saying not to Mystery Shop? NO! Not at all. But don't do it thinking you'll be making a good living. There is no unemployment, no workers comp, and if you are sick and can't do a shop you get docked in points. Given that we live in a super expensive country, we should all think about whether we want people to legally exploit us. Because it is legal doesn't make it right.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
