This is where you had previously been able to grab a bunch of these (often in a route) and suddenly for whatever reason they seem taken by someone else. You know they are still shopped, b/c you can either see someone else has taken them first (consistently) or you suspect as much.

Just curious...feeling like I'm in that phase. Not sure what to do.

i.) Do you just wait it out - if so, how long?
ii.) Do you ask the scheduler what's happening and/or if you can get the shops "first" or be put on a rotation?
iii.) Do you just move on and stop "sitting around" waiting for them on release dates (since it feels like you're always getting scooped by someone else) and look for other shops and new opportunities?

I feel this has happened to me with three different types of shops I used to do. Two categories were bread and butter types for me, while I don't miss the third as much. I know it just saves a ton of time to take familiar shops and route them, b/c you don't have to learn new guidelines.

So, yeah, pretty annoying.

edited to add: I know we've discussed this topic numerous times on the forum and many do feel it's okay to ask schedulers for shops in advance of them posting. That's a known way that some shoppers can secure shops. I've previously stated that I have only done this when I've been invited to do so. Some schedulers will send out mass emails asking people to feel free to "pre-schedule." I just haven't done it when there's not been an explicit invitation to do so***, b/c I still feel a little weird about it. It's like I'm getting an unfair advantage or something. Without debating that topic, I will say that I currently don't pre-schedule.

***I've done it maybe four or five times total the past two years and each time felt bad about it. So, it's not that I've literally never done it. But, I didn't like the feeling and have stopped and only resorted to signign up on shop release dates.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2020 04:45AM by shoptastic.

re: pre-scheduling

I guess if I KNEW everyone else was doing it (or, at least, lots of folks), then maybe I'd feel compelled to do it too. I mean...why should THEY get that advantage over me and I allow myself to sit at a constant disadvantage for no reason. But, if I knew, on the other hand, that I was only one of a small handful of people doing this and everyone else was waiting like me, then I would feel a bit uneasy about that.

Yep. Last summer someone else took all 300 + of the gas shops I usually do every quarter. Not happy about it, but I did have other things going on that I was able to devote my time and attention to; if I'd had to do the shops, too, I would have been soooooo stressed trying to do everything, so it was really a blessing in disguise. Until payday came around and I had zilch in my bank account. That was NOT a blessing, disguised or otherwise.

From the more than 15 years experience, I always noticed that there is a lot of shopping around and changing MS by clients in February and a downside in January.

Everyone pre-schedules. You are an IC. There is nothing to feel bad. Personally I usually do not pre-schedule, especially for some shops that start with $4 and go to $50 later. I also live in a large metropolitan area that MS have urgent sudden projects that need to be completed in short time and some schedulers prefer to have few people go and do all of them to finish the project quickly and accurate. Sometimes when I know I would have time in a month, or need extra money, I try to pre-schedule a good paying shop in a very distant suburb or neighborhood that I have seen is always bonused at the end of the month and then as the month rolls in I take shops around it, or on the way there in order to create my own bundle and proactively email the scheduler and offer a reasonable bonus to take their shop in that area.

Nope. I have signed up with enough MSCs so that I always have options for shops that I like and that pay commensurate with the work involved. I am not the kind of route shopper that looks for 100+ of the same sort of shop monthly or quarterly. The lack of variety would drive me bonkers.

I wait for bonuses on practically all of my shops. I have learned not to panic when "my" shops suddenly get scooped up by someone else. I assume they are taking them for less, and feel a little sorry for them. Usually the jobs come back around to me later on. At that point I enjoy some time off and/or expand my job search and sccop up someone else's shops.

I'm in an area where many shops are bonused unless they were already pretty good. Several months ago, someone began gobbling up all the shops, and I do mean ALL. Dozens of shops that used to require the Please Help emails are gone in the first week of the month. I can tell when the shopper or shoppers are out of rotation because the shops are available for a month, then gone the next month. It's okay by me. If they are willing to do gas station shops where there must be a picture of every pump from both sides for $6, then they clearly need the money more than I do.

Yes, I find availability fluctuates. I often assume they took me out of rotation as some jobs I've done every time.
I never follow it up, just look for other jobs.

The third option; look for other other shops.

You can't depend on regular shops. Clients could end the program anytime. I'm always signing-up for new MSC's and picking up new shops.

There's nothing wrong with pre-scheduling. It's not like any random shopper can do it. You have to build a good relationship with the MSC/scheduler and prove that you're a reliable and good shopper. I often pre-schedule compliance shops with bonuses. A few of my other shops are pre-scheduled by the scheduler each month automatically. She only assigns those shops ahead of time to reliable shoppers. Those jobs for the most part never hit the job board.