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A US based scheduler told me that the shopping week for Five Guys is Wednesday until Tuesday. If this is true, shops on Mondays and Tuesdays should be easier to get bonuses/MAO on.

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This week

@sstsau wrote:

@HonnyBrown Are you looking at the dates in November, not this week? I know the shops for this week are up to $15 now (in my area), but I was looking at the shops later next month that are not bonused yet. I've never seen a non-bonused shop or starting fee of $15.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

Phone are the best.

Yep, just got a phone shop with $60 fee...

@Tanischri87 wrote:

Phone are the best.

Sorry, I agree with the earlier poster that online shops are the best. That way you pay when you order, don't have to speak to anyone to place the order or pay when you get there. Phone shops are second best, since both of them do not require you to eat in person.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2021 05:29AM by MisterBill.

Phone shops (and curbside pickup shops) also can be problematic when they're not answering their phones or if the lines are busy. For phone shops, I believe the shopper is only supposed to try calling three times. They don't answer? $3 fee. I have had phone and curbside pickup shops where I was calling from the parking lot. The restaurants were open for business but they just weren't answering calls. Very frustrating.

@wrosie wrote:

A US based scheduler told me that the shopping week for Five Guys is Wednesday until Tuesday. If this is true, shops on Mondays and Tuesdays should be easier to get bonuses/MAO on.

Yes, this is definitely true (and should be obvious from looking at shops on the website). Anything left by Monday is a hard to fill shop. I'm actually doing a shop today, which I was offered $25 for and accepted since it's my usual price for that location. They actually called me on Monday, and I was surprised to be offered it since I had not seen it when I looked earlier, just the dinner shop and did not receive a Samantha offer for the lunch. Someone must have flaked on them. Wasn't going to do the shop on Tuesday since we had a major storm. Someone must have finally taken the dinner for that day.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2021 05:33AM by MisterBill.

@wrosie wrote:

I did a delivery shop yesterday. It says right in the guidelines that some locations require at least a $15 order for delivery. The website won't let you order unless the pre-tax amount is over $15 so with tax, it automatically exceeds the reimbursement. I had to order a bacon burger, regular fries and a bottle of Coke that came to $15.77 with an additional $1.34 tax.

While the FG website may not allow you to place an order for less than $15, third-party delivery services like DoorDash typically will (and while the guidelines may say that they prefer that you order from FG, you should prefer not to have to order extra unreimbursed stuff to do the shop). And the prices seem to be the same as on the FG site. So order through a delivery service rather than direct with FG. The delivery fees may be higher, but that part of the reimbursement typically is not a problem.

And yes, it's ridiculous that they did not increase the delivery shop's reimbursement level when they raised the in-store shop.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2021 07:00PM by MisterBill.

This Monday night got call from scheduler. She offered me shop for $19 and due till Wednesday this week. I said that I am going to get COVID vaccine and I am not sure how I will fell after.

After call ended I went to website to check that location. I was not surprise seen that shop is available for $25 and they were willing to negotiate my offer.

That is call prove me one more time do not accept any offers by phone.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2021 10:04PM by gene.

@gene wrote:

This Monday night got call from scheduler. She offered me shop for $19 and due till Wednesday this week. I said that I am going to get COVID vaccine and I am not sure how I will fell after.

After call ended I went to website to check that location. I was not surprise seen that shop is available for $25 and they were willing to negotiate my offer.

That is call prove me one more time do not accept any offers by phone.

This happens to me as well. I would check the board and see a higher price than what was offered through the phone calls. I even had to ask them nicely several times to not call anymore because I know I'm better off checking the board myself. But they keep calling...

Check the board while you are on the phone with them and tell them politely what the fee is. They will have to check but I've gotten the fee listed on the board every time but one. I don't know why they didn't give me the fee that time so I declined.

@LindaS wrote:

Check the board while you are on the phone with them and tell them politely what the fee is. They will have to check but I've gotten the fee listed on the board every time but one. I don't know why they didn't give me the fee that time so I declined.

I've also experienced this, but generally accept $25 offers without checking. I should start looking all the time.

So it seems like they changed (not necessarily fixed) the rotation rules for in-person/delivery shops today. As of last night, I was seeing delivery shops for a location I just did in person this week and also my local restaurant. Today, I no longer see those shops, but I do see the in-person shops for my local place, which had not returned when it should have a couple of weeks ago, apparently because I had done a delivery shop as well after that.

I was actually going to take the November delivery shop since it has a shake and they'd raised the price to $10, but I'd rather get the in-person for $25.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2021 08:05PM by MisterBill.

So not surprisingly, I got the usual $25 for my local FG. They called me Friday for a different location and offered $25 for it, but would not give me more than $18 for the other location. Told them I'd be happy to take it when they offered $25. They called today and were willing to take my request and send it for approval, and it was.

I don't understand why their schedulers can't be more savvy about knowing what they will eventually need to pay to get the shop done. I could have told them that no one was going to take it, and they could have saved themselves another call (and who knows how many others they called before me) and just had it booked on Friday. I guess it's probably management making them do it that way.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2021 05:27AM by MisterBill.

They sent me a Samantha offer yesterday for $23, and I decided to take it since they were offering Monday and I figured it was easier than waiting for a call. But they never responded, and the shops went on MAO this morning. Put in for $25 and got it. Their delay in processing Samantha responses cost them $2 and got me the price I actually wanted.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2021 09:35PM by MisterBill.

You must have some kind of magic @MisterBill. I got a call last week asking me to do a shop at a location that I have never done before. They offered me $6. six.

@sigh wrote:

You must have some kind of magic @MisterBill. I got a call last week asking me to do a shop at a location that I have never done before. They offered me $6. six.

I got a call today for another location offering me $6. They must think we are idiots, since they're listed for $20 on the website! I wasn't interested in the location, so I didn't bother arguing over the price.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2021 03:40PM by MisterBill.

Wow, this week's shops are up to $25 already on the website! They're so inconsistent from week to week.

@sstsau wrote:

So I was scrolling through the job board this evening and noticed that for the week of 11/11-11/14, the lunch shops are those that require shakes (reimbursement is $19.70). But the job fee is listed as $5 instead of the $9 that is normally.

This still hasn't been fixed. I guess it won't be until they bonus the shops.

Update - both the shake and non-shake shops for this week are now up to $12.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2021 05:34PM by MisterBill.

I did my shake shop today and much to my surprise, someone else had also ordered a drink and shake. I thought it was a crazy thing to do. Funny thing, I was thinking about how crazy it was to even get a shake today since the temps were in the 40s. But two other people also had shakes, so I guess I was wrong on that, too.

The same location has had the same three light bulbs in the restaurant not working for a couple of months now, one of them doesn't even have a bulb. I guess they don't care about all the negative marks they get for that in the shop report. Too bad I can't say that they are STILL not fixed, since I can't reference previous visits.

Now that the question about the soda fountain is back I’m writing much more critical reports. On average maybe one in five stores actually replace the missing flavor(s) while I’m there.

Yesterday and today I got a call from the overseas people. The shop was on the board for $25. Each time they offered me $15. I said it was on the board for more. They jumped their offer to $25, so apparently they can see what's on the board.

I said that's not enough. I had a shop at this location pay me $34 before so that's what I asked for. Both times they countered with $33. I told them I needed the $34 and they said that they could see that's what I had been paid the last time and would submit a request. I guess they didn't approve it because I haven't gotten an e-mail. My offer was to do it tonight, 4:30-9:15 or whatever dinner is.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2021 02:01AM by wrosie.

For me at least, it has been more difficult these past couple months to get higher fees on any shop (not just Five Guys) from this MSC. In my area, Five Guys has always been rather popular, with most shops taken right after they reach $12 fee on the job board. But I used to be able to get nice bonuses on a fast food shop by this MSC, which no longer seems to be the case. I'm not sure if another shopper has moved into my area and is taking all these shops at a lower fee, or if this MSC has just decided they no longer want to negotiate to the higher fees I used to get on the fast food shops. I used to do around 10-15 relatively-highly bonused shops each month for this client/MSC, but the last two months, I've only done 2-4 shops per month. I'm also receiving fewer calls nowadays, and of course when I do get called they offer the job board price or even lower...

For Five Guys, I wish the "norm" for me was $25 like some of you get. I rarely see any location near me reach $15, and almost never see $25. Surprisingly, I did get a Samantha offer for $17 last week, but although I replied with the date I could do the shop, they must have assigned it to someone else. It is what it is, I guess.

@sstsau wrote:

For Five Guys, I wish the "norm" for me was $25 like some of you get. I rarely see any location near me reach $15, and almost never see $25. Surprisingly, I did get a Samantha offer for $17 last week, but although I replied with the date I could do the shop, they must have assigned it to someone else. It is what it is, I guess.

Sorry you're having trouble getting the big bucks. In my area, there seem to be a limited number of shoppers, and even though there are some who are foolish enough to take them at the base price weeks before the shop (i saw some weeks with only a single shop available, and not the week when it's an all-day shop), I can always be sure that there will be one for me at the price I want.

I had a Samantha for $30 for a location that was still left over from last week. Didn't take it, too far for me to go.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2021 02:47AM by MisterBill.

Wow! Y’all get great pay. I must have some competition. I rarely get big bonuses. If I don’t grab things when they first come out, they’re gone. I like the make an offer feature some have direct without the scheduler. I also had good luck on the phone with SCM when asking for bonuses for things, but they don’t have much work by me. Time to leave CA for TX? Or FL?

@sstsau wrote:

I'm also receiving fewer calls nowadays, and of course when I do get called they offer the job board price or even lower...

Ah yes the lowball tactic, I know it well. I've found the best strategy with schedulers is to let the call go to voicemail (some leave messages, some don't, but you can call back regardless), which gives you time to get to the job board and see what the offered board rate is. Then when you have the scheduler, if they lowball, tell them what's on the board, then demand a few bucks more.

No go? Too bad, but you don't have to take the assignment. But sometimes they say yes, which I've found raises what they're willing to pay you at the given location going forward.

Of course, if you are in an area where bottom-feeders keep grabbing shops at base or near that, I sympathize. They're undercutting your negotiating power and that sucks.

I've gotten to where my standard fee is $25 on a Friday or Saturday or $30 on a Sunday/Monday when they're feeling the heat to get shops done. May seem small taters to some here but I'm in the NYC area which is crawling with shoppers, so I'm OK with it.

Good luck, hope this has been some kind of (small) help.

Some offers of mine for my usual high fees were rejected on Friday evening but accepted on Saturday morning.

Today I had a phone shop where an automated system answered the phone and took my order. It worked well except it could only do ASAP orders, not schedule pickup for a later time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2021 04:40AM by NinS.

@NinS wrote:

Some offers of mine for my usual high fees were rejected on Friday evening but accepted on Saturday morning.

Did you resubmit the same offers? I thought you needed to go $3 less on your rebid?

For the second week in a row, I got my $25 offer accepted on Friday.

At my last two Five Guys shops the register was manned by a 'black shirt'. My last two orders haven't been entirely correct. I'm guessing the managers are filling in because of a lack of workers and either are stressed out because of overwork or don't remember how to operate the front of the house.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

All the five guys seem to have disappeared from my open shop list. Is this happening to anyone else?

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