As far as cancelling, I don't have any scheduled. I'm trying not to schedule any in the near future. As of now, there are no "confirmed" cases of the virus in our county but that could change in an instant. They are opening some drive-thru testing sites in the coming week.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

I did one yesterday as well. The local library here is closed. I've been having issues with my wifi and comcast rescheduled to next week. I will get it done today.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@KSSPete wrote:

I have several shoppers that have cancelled. Most of my shops are in states and cities that have been pretty highly affected, so I understand. For the most part though, shops are getting done.

I did a shop for you today, Pete, and it will be my last shop for this month. The client isn't gong to get much useful information from it, since the 75% of L.A.population is in 'panic mode' and the clerk and I were basically just sharing a laugh about that. So much of the shop is N/A since the client has set forth all these new protocols as of today...

I promise I'll get it submitted tonight, though

If it was one of my shops, and you are who I think you are, I'm not worried at all about it being submitted. Thank you to ALL the shoppers getting things done right now. Real MVP's.

My husband buys and pays for Airborne, which was developed by a 3rd grade school teacher who was tired of getting sick all of the time. I like it and it does work quite well. But, I had bought some Emergen-C Probiotic awhile back when it was on sale for $7 a box (discontinued but not expired) from a grocery store because I a firm believer that your immune system starts in the gut and bolstering it with probiotics and/or prebiotics is super beneficial. It is indeed helpful. With the Ester-C, I get it for free because I am a demo rep for that company and they sent me a good amount of it not long ago. I like all of them, but I love free stuff the best

@kimmiemae wrote:

I recently discovered Ener-C which is like the ones you've mentioned. I found it at my local health food store. Before I was taking Airborne. For some reason, I favored that over Emergen-C but can't remember why right now...lol

@JASFLALMT wrote:

If you have a weakened immune system, consider taking Airborne, Emergen-C, Ester-C, or some other immune bolstering supplement. The 3 that I mentioned are all high in vitamin C and other vitamins, plus herbs. They have powder formulas that you can put in water to drink them. They taste pretty good, too.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

If you have a weakened immune system, consider taking Airborne, Emergen-C, Ester-C, or some other immune bolstering supplement. The 3 that I mentioned are all high in vitamin C and other vitamins, plus herbs. They have powder formulas that you can put in water to drink them. They taste pretty good, too.

I take Airborne daily.

I haven't cancelled anything and I doubt I will. I've never cancelled a shop and I hope not to do so now either.

But I am being cautious about the shops I take.

Limited restaurants, and no restaurant locations that I've never done before. Less regional shops,,,staying close to home for the most part. I'm taking fewer shops overall. Lots of hand sanitizing and steering wheel sanitizing. When I exhaust my sanitizing products I am done adding shops until I find more.

I struggled a lot with the decision, because I have never cancelled before. Ever. But with a son who has autoimmune disease, I cannot take a risk so I cancelled a hotel shop and two large, big city gym tours. I feel bad about it, but it was the right thing to do for my family (my parents are in their 80s, as well.) Family first.

You can make your own hand sanitizer: 1 part Aloe gel to 3 parts rubbing alcohol, at least 70%. You can add fragrance with either tea tree oil or essential oils.

I have a grocery shop tomorrow and have to ask a question such as:
"What kind of “heat and eat” options do you have available in your Home Chef products".
Will be kind of weird when they have nothing left on the shelves. I guess I can ask one of the bakery questions instead. Thinking of cancelling but based on my experiences so far the check out lines later in the day won't be too long as there will be nothing left to buy!

I guess I’ll be cancelling my shops. I’ve been isolated at home:

[www.google.com]

Ohio's governor did us all Ohioans a favor and closed bars and restaurants in Ohio starting tonight at 9 p.m. I really like this guy.

I suspect the MS companies will have to increase bonuses for certain assignments in certain places. I might be tempted to do an assignment based on the bonus on offer. Otherwise, I’m not planning on scheduling anything at the moment- largely because I’m worried about my guest for restaurant shops flaking.

I mostly do phone shops so I don't have to consider canceling anything. I had a dry cleaning shop and the scheduler asked if she could schedule it for 3 weeks later. I have no visits assigned and won't be taking any more.

@JASFLALMT.. I like our governor too. He ordered closure of restaurants and bars for two weeks. He sounds like a very responsible guy.

@kenasch wrote:

I guess I’ll be cancelling my shops. I’ve been isolated at home:

[www.google.com]

It's getting ridiculous the we have to be the ones telling the MSC's that they shouldn't be scheduling shops.....

I have decided to not continue my JIB shops this next week due to the same SoCal panic, and my normal job (teacher) being affected. I had to cancel various shops due to stores being closed...

I emailed Marketforce about restaurants here being closed indefinitely and made reference to an upcoming April shop. They emailed me back to submit it as closed. I was just emailing them to let them know the situation since they have so many restaurant shops on the board in Ohio, and many of them are dine-in. I didn't need instructions on what to do, LOL.

Part of me wants to contact the MSC's and let them know they are not being socially irresponsible by continuing on with this business-as-usual attitude, and the the logical side of me realizes that they are just doing what they have always done...

@SteveSoCal wrote:

Part of me wants to contact the MSC's and let them know they are not being socially irresponsible by continuing on with this business-as-usual attitude, and the the logical side of me realizes that they are just doing what they have always done...

*responsible* typo?

I emailed one scheduler about my Italian restaurant shop on Thursday and explained the situation. She's working on getting it changed to a carryout. Fingers crossed, I love their food!

I've cancelled a few and no longer scheduling certain others. It's not a major source of my income so that's why I can be picky. It's not worth it.

Any California shoppers over 65 out there. What are you doing about the Governor asking 65+ folks to self isolate. Some thoughts please in a quandry.

For those of us who can afford to not shop during this upcoming COVID19 wave, I'd encourage everyone to consider just entirely sitting it out. One major thing (just talked about in the first question of tonight's CNN Democratic debate) that health officials and experts fear is the overwhelming of our hospital system and not having enough beds/ICU units/ventilators, etc. for the anticipated/estimated number of people SOON needing that care.

If the numbers are right, this is taking place in weeks. Italy just went from 1,400-ish to 1,800 deaths overnight. If they start having 1,000 die a day, that would be hard to watch. The U.S. is tracking Italy's case growth curve with a lag. So, unless the curve is flattened, we may end up like Italy soon.

If people who can afford to stay home just stay home and we self-isolate, practice social distancing, and good hygiene/sanitation, we can perhaps flatten the curve enough to NOT have the feared scenario of sick people overwhelming our healthcare facilities.

COVID19 has a much LOWER death/fatality rate than SARS. But, it transmits at a much higher rate. The concern should not be death, but rather hospitalization in most of the severe cases. BUT, if we don't have the room and we strain our health systems, I worry there could be some who don't get the best treatment we could offer and unnecessarily die.

For those who have to go out and work, it's totally understandable. I know it must be tough too. No one wants to put themselves in the line of the virus' attack, but many may simply need to for the pay. I do hope the Trump administration and Congress can do more than just push guaranteed COVID19 sick leave pay. That means many still have to work until sick. I'd prefer a lockdown with guaranteed income for all during this crisis.

Nonetheless, for those of us who can afford to not shop, do consider helping society by limiting human contact during this time. And for those who must shop, stay safe and do call (before showing up) your local doctor/urgent care center if symptoms develop. Hopefully, Congress makes it so all COVID19 medical debt is waived (as proposed by Biden/Sanders both tonight and, I believe, Trump previously, as well).

Stay vigilant and safe everyone!

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2020 02:14AM by shoptastic.

Why are they irresponsible? So many of you on here are caught up in the panic, but plenty of people and businesses see no reason to succumb to hysteria. No one is forcing you to take shops or visit restaurants or live a normal life. Do what you like but don’t criticize others for not living in fear.

What's the quandry, @ewalsh? If you are over 65, stay inside for a few weeks.

No mystery shop is worth risking your life for!

@roxy1 wrote:

Why are they irresponsible?

Please read Shoptastic's post just above yours. That pretty much lays out the social responsibility for not MSing. It's not a panic. It's being considerate of society, and understanding that social distancing is the best solution we have right now...

Every single business I work with outside of MSing has taken a thoughtful leadership position on proactively dealing with this.

@roxy1 wrote:

Why are they irresponsible? So many of you on here are caught up in the panic, but plenty of people and businesses see no reason to succumb to hysteria. No one is forcing you to take shops or visit restaurants or live a normal life. Do what you like but don’t criticize others for not living in fear.

Yeah, I wouldn't go so far as to say irresponsible. I don't know what's in their hearts.

I do think we should try as best as we can as a society to avoid the worst case scenarios that could develop with COVID19. That, to me, seems to require an orchestrated lockdown across the country that is not happening.

Only a minority of states are even shutting down K-12 right now. Much more probably needs to be done to tame this.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2020 02:03AM by shoptastic.

My governor closed our bars and restauarants and only delivery or carryouts are allowed, no one is allowed to eat in. I have a shop on Thursday I want to do it but it's dine-in. If my scheduler can get it changed for me it would be great. I am not in a panic.

@roxy1 wrote:

Why are they irresponsible? So many of you on here are caught up in the panic, but plenty of people and businesses see no reason to succumb to hysteria. No one is forcing you to take shops or visit restaurants or live a normal life. Do what you like but don’t criticize others for not living in fear.

Panicking and being simply responsible in an effort to keep those at risk safe are two different things. I'm sitting quietly and calmly at home. Like they just said, this virus is coming at us whether you're a Democrat or Republican or Independent. Businesses are closing by the hour with the exception of grocery stores.

Yeah, it's a good point to not panic.

That, too, can lead to bad consequences (crazy hoarding stories, for example). But, being aware and trying to do our role to produce the best outcome for everyone is important.

@shoptastic wrote:

Yeah, I wouldn't go so far as to say irresponsible. I don't know what's in their hearts.

I don't think social responsibility comes from the heart, though. I feel like it's just poor leadership when you allow schedulers to keep pushing for assignments to be filled. That's logic. It's their heads that are in the wrong place.

To me, the lack of communication from MSC leadership demonstrates a specific lack of responsibility.

Restaurant clients that I shop are emailing me about the protocols they are setting in place. I should not have to inform a MSC that their client has voluntarily shut down service....

Living in King County, WA..... Things are largely shutting down here out of necessity. However, to what degree we should stop mystery shopping is an interesting question.

Of course, we all need to participate in the effort to kill COVID-19. People are dying. At the same time, most families in this country live paycheck-to-paycheck and I would venture a guess that the same goes for most mystery shoppers. If somebody is feeling healthy and needs to provide food for his/her children, asking that person to stop mystery shopping is going to be a tall order.

I would suggest that a better approach is to only conduct shops where you can maintain proper safety protocols. Clearly, conducting phone and internet shops will not be an issue... Gas stations should be fine - just stay six feet away from folks, such as the cashier/attendant. Car washes should be okay... Refuse to shake hands if offered.... Keep a bit more distance between yourselves... Wash and sanitize hands....