Freddy's NEW requirement

In the past, I, and I assume others, have been guilty of either applying for or self assigning a job that was completed on several prior occasions, without checking for any changes. This month's Freddy's requires a SmartPhone, which, of course, is a deal breaker for some shoppers.

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It's not a big deal.... and if anything, it's an incentive, as you're able to accrue rewards from the shop too, which equals additional partial "income" when you do enough shops to eventually redeem for a meal.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

@shopperbob wrote:

In the past, I, and I assume others, have been guilty of either applying for or self assigning a job that was completed on several prior occasions, without checking for any changes. This month's Freddy's requires a SmartPhone, which, of course, is a deal breaker for some shoppers.

Probably easy for them to do this considering more than 80 percent of cell phone users have a smart phone nowadays.

CEO The Mystery Shoppers Depot
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The requirement for a smart phone actually started a few months ago. I did the first one requiring a smart phone in September 2019. It's really easy - you down load the App. When checking out, the cashier is supposed to ask if you are a Loyalty customer. Whether they ask or not, you are supposed to log in on the App and show them the number to get loyalty points. Very easy and you earn points for future visits. Warning - on the receipt it will print "Loyalty customer" with your name. Be sure to cover or scratch that out, the MSC doesn't want your name visible.

Several other companies have gone to Apps. Ardent's burger chain has been using apps on their shops for several months and I love it - it cuts down on the number of interactions, I don't have to stand in the cashier line, and it makes an easier report. A lot of fast foods and fast casuals now use apps. It's probably only a matter of time before they start to require that those apps be used by mystery shoppers at least part of the time.

TrendSource has an app that lets the mystery shopper clock in when he enters a client location and clock out when he leaves - simplifies the report. I like it. I started using Geoverify just recently and discovered I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would.

I recently got a smart phone but it was out of necessity for me to optimize my rewards. i have noticed several msc I shop for that recently have requested that photos be taken only by a smart phone. As I have a smart phone now I am able to do the app shops for Ardent but they have non app shops for the same client so it does not cut out all shoppers without smart phones. I do think that requirements to use a smart phone when there are valid ways to do a shop without one will negatively affect some shoppers who either choose not to or feel they cannot afford a smart phone. Then there are those who are dinosaurs when it comes to technology. It takes me a very long time to figure out how to download this and that as I am a new and infrequent user. All for a mere $8-12 an hour shop in a state where the minimal income to be able to live here is $60,000 a year. And in my city much higher.
I think these requirements that a smart phone be used should be optional in many cases.
I will also ask, as a new smartphone owner, do shoppers often write off their smartphones and printers/scanners/copiers? I know it is just non professional advice here but I use my smart phone and new printer 90% for shops. I will definitely check out irs rules myself but just taking a poll.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2020 09:13AM by sandyf.

@sandyf wrote:

I will also ask, as a new smartphone owner, do shoppers often write off their smartphones and printers/scanners/copiers? I know it is just non professional advice here but I use my smart phone and new printer 90% for shops. I will definitely check out irs rules myself but just taking a poll.

Yes, you just write off the percentage you use it for shopping. Ex - pay $500 for phone 90% shopping use, write off $400 ($500*90%)

Glad I saw this!

I did one that had a smartphone requirement back in September or October. I had never had Freddy's before and wanted to give it a try. I thought the food was pretty good, but not great...not great enough for me to do it again and have to wait 3 months to get paid. If they ever get bonused I might do one, though. It would take a larger incentive for me to wait for payment.

If I remember correctly, shopperbob does not have a smartphone.

After you load the smartphone with all of the apps are you actually going to be doing anything else but use the smartphone for anything but the apps. Now that I am on the disabled list I can't afford all of the stuff that is needed to clog up a smartphone.

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