Were up to $16 this morning (Saturday). Most are still available near me. I’m not going to do any unless the one close to me gets up to $19 tomorrow. It just seems like they are trying to play hardball.....waiting for us all to give up on a good bonus. They used to be $21 on Saturdays. Then $19 on Saturdays. Then $17.....

I noticed that the shops are available for 10 days instead of 7.

Weird week — 10 days, 2 per week... interesting

16.00 - I picked up a run of 41 shops tomorrow... as good as it will get this week I suspect...

I have my eye on 7 shops. 5 locations, as 2 are doubles.
I can hold out until Monday. If I don't take them, the rate will be $16 if somebody else takes them. I'm hoping to see at least the locations that need 2 more shops go to $19 or higher. Once somebody does them cheap, the emails come with the cheap fees.
Curious to see if anyone programmed the computer to auto-raise the fees in the morning.

I have 2 today and 6 tomorrow. There are 10 locations still listed, not in the best neighborhood but, I pass by most of them daily. I will grab them when the fee goes up.

Fee went to $17 early this morning.

Down the 12.00...

If no one was taking them at 17.00, why would people take them now that they are at 12.00 again... this MSC confuses me at every turn...

@my1958vw wrote:

Down the 12.00...

If no one was taking them at 17.00, why would people take them now that they are at 12.00 again... this MSC confuses me at every turn...

We both posted the same thing on different threads. They’ll catch shoppers who weren’t following the fee increase over the weekend.

There are two locations that nobody ever picks up, that I will be driving past 10 times this week. If they don’t go over $17, I won’t be the one doing them.

They are likely hoping to make the statement that the top fee will be $17.00 (or whatever) to try to force the hand of folks who are holding out for a higher fee to do them at that number. It's a game of "chicken."

I'm not interested at doing them below a certain dollar amount - I can generally make as much (or more) doing other shops, and without stinking up my car. If my asking price is not there, I simply won't bite. I'd even rather take the day off. If somebody else finds the lower fee to his/her liking and takes them, I'm fine with that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2020 07:38PM by MFJohnston.

The other thing that strikes me is that we don't know the details of the contract between the MSC and the client. My guess is that it has multiple layers with multiple financial benchmarks for the MSC. In other words, it likely has details along these lines:
* Every store will be shopped at least XX times per quarter in order for the MSC to make the contract.
* No store will be shopped more than XX times per quarter.
* Stores can be shopped more than the minimum number of times (up to the max) for an additional $XX per visit.
* XX% of stores will be shopped each week.
* XX% of stores will be shopped each month.
*At least XX% of visits will occur during each of the meal periods (breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night).
* Etc.

Such a variety of factors will lead to different pricing at different stores (and in different regions) from week-to-week. The MSC has all this data and almost certainly a computerized algorithm that dictates how much compensation should be offered so as to maximize their profits, based on their progress in fulfilling their contract with the client and reaching various desired benchmarks... As a result, sometimes, a store will be available to be shopped several days in a row. Other times, it will be off-the-board after a single shop. A couple of people doing routes of them twice a week could significantly depress the compensation offered in a specific region. A bunch of people routing with them could depress the market nationwide. Etc. These factors, combined with the MSC's adjustment of pricing so as to entice shoppers into doing them could easily create a pattern of changing payment amounts that make it very difficult for shoppers to truly plan around and take advantage of.

Yesterday, some of the shops around me got to $20, a little higher than what folks in other areas are reporting. Today, those same shops are down to $14 - which is higher than where they started last week.

Great post!

Some shoppers (like myself) seem to make JIB their primary source of mystery shopping business and are willing to take lower fees overall to get the quantity of shops that we need to make a route work. For example, my goal is to make 10.00 per shop for any shop where I am not going to actually eat (just taste) the food. I did 40 shops yesterday, and my profit, less gas was 468.40, or 422.40 with fuel in the tank. When the shops are below 15.00 (16.50), I can not do my profit threshold, and therefore will only do local (less fuel expense), and free meal (meals I actually eat) shops. When shoppers are picking up routes for 12.00 or 14.00 per shop is does seem to lower that threshold, and drop the shop fees overall.

I have been in communication with the schedulers on an ongoing basis with offers, and they have been saying for the last week that the budget is down, and they are way over budget. I would assume they have a certain total dollar amount in the pool, with one of the reasons you stated above. Like you, MFJohnson, I think that there is a threshold I will not do a route under, and I have to stick to my guns or I will never make my minimum profit margin...

I find that I look at the JIB visits as an "option," but not a primary part of my MS income. When they hit my threshold, I grab them. Otherwise, I make my money with other shops. I seem to find myself doing a route of them about once a month.....

They just increased the fees.

@MFJohnston wrote:

It's a game of "chicken."

Yes. And for some reason this whole pricing thing is very interesting to me. The last one I did was on 2/16 (when they had the higher Sunday prices) but I'm looking at the fee every day! Thanks for the additional info MFJ.

I’m just guessing, but I bet that they bid these (low ballers) at $25 each flat fee. So they’re hoping to get a good portion done at $10 or less.

As for their game of chicken, if they really need these done by the end of the month, I don’t think they’ll get 100% completion. There were five shops at two locations available in Santa Barbara last night. It doesn’t look like their little experiment worked.

“Sunday” prices are up now.

Interesting....they are at the Sunday prices around me, too. But the rural ones are only a couple of dollars more, still $6-8 below their usual maximum price.