..and I have to buy something inside with no reimbursement? No thanks!

Not for $7 it ain't worth it! You can get them up to like $18 or so if you wait and try hard enough.

I hate all the shops that are unrevealed but they want a bunch of photos. Anything more than one or two is unreasonable.

They end up being revealed, for the most part. It's not like they don't know you're there.

If this is the one I'm thinking of then it's EASY! I can get the canopy, overall & MID from the same vantage point usually. Park near the farthest (from the building) pumps and snap a pic of one pump as I'm walking in as well as the building. The bathroom is an easy pic...

I'll take the ones I drive by every. darn. day on the way to/ from my kids school for $10ish. If I have to drive out of my way AT ALL I will ask for $12. If it's a route farther from home then I won't go under $15, but most of the time get about $20ish.

With this company it's about reputation, showing the schedulers you won't flake. Build a good relationship with the schedulers and you won't be taking shops for base pay.
BTW I LOVE their schedulers!!

If it is the ones I do they are easy, pull up and take an overall out the car window, drive by the sign, stop and take the canopy and the building, pull up to a pump and take a picture of it, go inside get the bathroom, grab something cheap and check out. Look for trash/dirt/infractions on the way out and take pictures of anything you see. Mine only need six but seven in the third quarter when you had to get the security seal on the pump.

Where I am, the daytime ones are all right but the nighttime ones can be brutal. I live in a semi-urban area and some of the stations for one particular client put attendants outside after dark, you get out of your car to pump the gas, and the attendant is on you like white on rice. Enjoy those nice awkward moments where you stay outside the car to try and spot things the client wants to know about (autopay signage, wiper squeegees, canopy cleanliness etc.) instead of getting back in your car like a non-mystery shopper would do when surprised by an attendant at a location that normally allows self-serve. And of course forget about taking any photos during this time.

Then comes the walk into the store (with attendant walking close beside you of course, forget about the window signage or landscaping photos). Into the bathroom which is your one free moment to take the camera out. Back out into the "store" (which in this area is often a dingy little closet-like space with one rack of chips and a small beer/soda shelf) and two sets of eyes on you.

I've done two of these so far. They've both been approved so I guess the client realizes what you're up against in these locations, but I hate that they guideline you as if you're going to be able to provide what they ask with no problem. I would rather deliver the goods than make good excuses if possible.

I have one more night-timer scheduled and I only signed up because it's on a larger property in a "nicer" area. Hoping I get a chance to do my thing. If I get jumped by another attendant I'm done with nighttime gas shops forever.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2019 10:46AM by KokoBWare.

Not sure which project this is, possibly not in my area, but don't all gas mystery shops provide a LOA for just in case? KokoBware's situation sounds like the right time to whip out one of those letters.

@sestrahelena wrote:

Not sure which project this is, possibly not in my area, but don't all gas mystery shops provide a LOA for just in case? KokoBware's situation sounds like the right time to whip out one of those letters.

Hi sestrahelena, without giving too much away, I'm in the Northeast. Absolutely NO L.O.A. with this client/project.

Again, both of my pathetically incomplete reports got approved so maybe I should just stop whining and roll with it, but it feels like walking into an ambush. Definitely prefer the daytime gas shops.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2019 11:23AM by KokoBWare.

sorry repeat post

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2019 11:22AM by KokoBWare.

I just can't get over having to buy something - it makes the pay $6 at most if taken at base. If the bonus rate gets high enough I might do it but otherwise it is a pass for me.

I'd like to find a c-store with anything in it I can still buy for $1 or less! These reimbursements are horrible. And when they are NOT reimbursing, it's even WORSE.

Marketforce now wants photos of every infraction you find on the MS. Not doable! Not without getting caught. It was OK when you just had to get an overall and the price sign, but how do you take photos inside without getting caught? I use a digital camera, not my iPhone. I guess if you're using the app, you can just walk around and photo away, because everybody carries a phone anymore. Ugh. Employees ASK, why you takin' that photo?

Ever do a Dash In shop?

@Niner wrote:

Ever do a Dash In shop?

Is Dash in a store or a type of shop? I guess I haven't since I don't know what it is.

Dash-In is a convenience store chain. The brand of gas they sell can vary from one store to another, even just a few miles apart.

@callinectes wrote:

@Niner wrote:

Ever do a Dash In shop?

Is Dash in a store or a type of shop? I guess I haven't since I don't know what it is.

Gotcha. We don't have that chain in my neck of the woods.

Your reply made me curious. There are only 60 of them in DE, MD, and VA. [dashin.com]

@callinectes wrote:

Gotcha. We don't have that chain in my neck of the woods.

The photos at the gas stations are easy if the shop is large, like Sheetz, Turkey Hill, or Wawa or something similar.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2019 03:37AM by Niner.

@ceasesmith wrote:

I'd like to find a c-store with anything in it I can still buy for $1 or less! These reimbursements are horrible. And when they are NOT reimbursing, it's even WORSE.

Marketforce now wants photos of every infraction you find on the MS. Not doable! Not without getting caught. It was OK when you just had to get an overall and the price sign, but how do you take photos inside without getting caught? I use a digital camera, not my iPhone. I guess if you're using the app, you can just walk around and photo away, because everybody carries a phone anymore. Ugh. Employees ASK, why you takin' that photo?

Yeah, during daytime I can generally shoot pump-area infractions and maybe window infractions (if you can tell whether the clerk is looking out) but in-shop photos are pretty much a no-go, the "stores" here tend to be quite small, you can't hide in them. The bathroom is easy of course.

Reimbursements on the project I work are usually $5 so not hard to get a small bag of chips for less than that.

If you don't get reimbursed but have to make a purchase sometimes they have some type of suckers or lollipops near the register. Yesterday I did a shop that had no reimbursement so I bought a Tootsie pop for 20 cents.

The one near me is weenie and sells... if I remember this... aspirin and a few dangly air fresheners for the car. Oh, boy!

Cease states--Marketforce now wants photos of every infraction you find on the MS.

Bob comments--As long as shoppers continue to provide more work, including but not limited to multiple and difficult pics, for less money, the companies will increase the load. It is the responsibility of the contractor to set the bar at a level that is acceptable and refuse to lower it.

I completed my first shop where a pic was mentioned approx. 13 years ago. For an extra $5, an optional pic of the building's exterior could be submitted. Since I was already at the location, logic dictated I add the pic to the report and boost the pay.

I have to ask ... did you get a receipt when you asked for one? I have had difficulty getting receipts for purchases of $1 or even $2. I think the very small convenience stores are buying and selling items, but not necessarily reporting the sales. I take a time and date-stamped photo of the item in the car, and then attach the photo with a note explaining what happened. So far, that has sufficed.

@Kathy1296 wrote:

If you don't get reimbursed but have to make a purchase sometimes they have some type of suckers or lollipops near the register. Yesterday I did a shop that had no reimbursement so I bought a Tootsie pop for 20 cents.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2019 04:17PM by myst4au.

One time I asked for a receipt and the guy said that with the sales tax that will now be $1.12 instead of $1.03. That store is now gone they tore it down and built a Quik Trip on the corner.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2019 01:01AM by 2stepps.