Of course, by the time the new program begins, it could look very different from the beta testing.

However, as things stand, the new program is not a good thing. I have no problem feeding the food to my dogs or the ravens and coyotes. I toss far more drinks than I consume, probably 98 percent. I think JITB fries are the most disgusting in the fast food world.

But . . . I only see really bad things happening if I have to order a shake or churros. For some reason, the only food item I will eat at JITB is the tacos, not that I consider them to be real tacos.

And, this is not nearly as conducive to many shops in a day unless I can concentrate on lunch shops where less has changed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2020 12:54PM by whiterosie.

I see these posted for today. The reimbursement amounts seem to be too low for my area in Southern California. I'll pass unless the fee is raised. I'm guessing they will have a hard time filling the late night shops.

I priced out breakfast, lunch, and late night and there was enough reimbursement to cover the cost. Dinner was short by about $3. I'm in SoCal.

Dinner:
$1.29 for tacos
$5.39 for jumbo jack/sm fries/sm drink
$1.59? for churros
------
$8.27 before tax... works with Texas prices!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2020 05:08PM by boridi.

I guess it depends on whether you sub the churros for the milkshake. I also assume a combo is allowed if it covers the required items.

What kind of photo requirements are there for these shops? I've read other posts about the photos being too difficult/too timely to get.

@RhiaB wrote:

What kind of photo requirements are there for these shops? I've read other posts about the photos being too difficult/too timely to get.

Same photos as per the new requirements that changed a few months back. The pictures are not too difficult once you get the requirements understood.

Far too much food to throw away.

I guess people eat like that? Not my style.

I like milkshakes, you can throw them out in my direction. I will let you know when my freezer is full. I doubt I could get any picture, let alone of good one while in the drive thru lane. Cell phone cameras and I are not good friends yet.

What about the 60 minute submission requirement? It's been awhile since I did a regular JIB, but I never met that requirement and had the report accepted.

I asked once and was told that as long as the report was done that same day all was good. I live in the country and when I do a route there is no way I can get them done within 60 minutes.

whiterosie, if you are this disgusted by the food and pay, why do you do the shops?

Jack isn't in my area, so I don't know what the reports are like. I'm not fond of Sonic, but I find something on the menu that works for me including water.

@whiterosie wrote:

Of course, by the time the new program begins, it could look very different from the beta testing.

However, as things stand, the new program is not a good thing. I have no problem feeding the food to my dogs or the ravens and coyotes. I toss far more drinks than I consume, probably 98 percent. I think JITB fries are the most disgusting in the fast food world.

But . . . I only see really bad things happening if I have to order a shake or churros. For some reason, the only food item I will eat at JITB is the tacos, not that I consider them to be real tacos.

And, this is not nearly as conducive to many shops in a day unless I can concentrate on lunch shops where less has changed.

Because I clear $1500 to $2000 a month with them. There are a gazillion in my area. I wait until they are $20-25 each. The cost of the food is $5.81. They take 20 minutes max to complete including the report. Can do them in the early hours while it's still dark and cool. I'm a night owl so I can sleep during the day. I don't have to get out of my car. And most importantly, my dogs love the meat. They should because it tastes like fried Alpo.

!!!!

Wow, okay, since you can net that amount per month, the food can taste like crap (when I lived in LA, we called them Crap in the Box, but the fries were great hangover food). Keep doing the shops and venting here!

@whiterosie wrote:

Because I clear $1500 to $2000 a month with them. There are a gazillion in my area. I wait until they are $20-25 each. The cost of the food is $5.81. They take 20 minutes max to complete including the report. Can do them in the early hours while it's still dark and cool. I'm a night owl so I can sleep during the day. I don't have to get out of my car. And most importantly, my dogs love the meat. They should because it tastes like fried Alpo.

Somebody in my area (not you) is taking them all, these last three rounds, at under $15. I think that they might be doing them at $12?! I'm waiting for them to realize that gas is $3 a gallon still. Hence, no free food for the dogs.

They don't hit $25 near me. I have seen one at $20, but nobody took it. Nobody in their right mind takes anything by the beach when you have to drive down the canyon to get there (think Malibu, Santa Monica, etc).

I do quite well with these too — I’d net around 2 grand if I spent every weekend on them — but I’m happy doing a large route every few weeks... plus it seems every third week or so is when they “bump the max price up” and they hit 25. So I make around 800-1k for a couple days sitting in my car and a few hours taking notes and entering the reports in the evening.

We will see how the new shops mess with the pricing — since they are now dayparted again it will be harder to create routes. This may make the prices go up in general... we shall see.

I had them down to a science with the current format

Wow. I wish I could net that amount. There are 5 I can usually do in my area as in the range of $21-$25. I usually do them on a Sunday. I am thinking about doing other locations on a Saturday if the price is right. It would involve some driving so I would have to figure in gas. For those who gross amounts would you be so kind to break it down on how you do it. I think I am doing something wrong. And if you choose not to I will understand. This is the only mystery shopping I do now and I would like to maximize it the best I can. Thank you.

I meant to say for those who gross the high amounts.

They’ve all been gone by Wednesday in my area (radius of 50 miles ). There’s no way they’re paying over $15 that early in the week.

In my area these never get above $15. I think I've seen one for $18, but that location is 40 miles away from me. When I price the meals/required purchases in the app, the cheapest is around $9 (for the non-food-reimbursed versions). The new "dinner" shops would go over reimbursement, and I think lunch and breakfast would cut it close. The late dinner would just be covered by the $10 reimbursement.

I try to only work weekends as that's when they reach $20 - $25. I have one route of 11 and another of 23. The 11 are all with 25 miles of my home. The 23 are further but the shops themselves are so close together that it makes it easier. I know I will be on the road for 18 hours when I do the latter. The first one takes about six hours.

Sometimes someone will take a few for $7-10. I don't worry about it. If I'm in another area during the week and they are at least $15, I may pick one up if I feel I may fall short of $1500 for the month.

I truly hate the food but it's easy money and my dogs love me for it.

I would be very grateful if someone who does the JITB shops could explain how they get a picture of the menu board in the drive-thru. I've never been able to get a full shot of the board from the driver's seat, so I've always had to park and wait for the board to be free of cars to take a photo.

@Alan-Texas wrote:

I would be very grateful if someone who does the JITB shops could explain how they get a picture of the menu board in the drive-thru. I've never been able to get a full shot of the board from the driver's seat, so I've always had to park and wait for the board to be free of cars to take a photo.

Don't pull-up close to the board. Stay on the outer edge of the lane. You should be able to get it just fine. If not, take two shots and upload the second shot at the end of the form.

Or don't worry about getting the entire board in the picture. Just get most of it.

I actually asked this question when I first did these.... Do your best to get a decent picture. However, if you don't get the whole board, it's not the end of the world. The biggest thing is to make sure that, if you cite a problem, the problem is visible in the picture.

@Alan-Texas wrote:

I would be very grateful if someone who does the JITB shops could explain how they get a picture of the menu board in the drive-thru. I've never been able to get a full shot of the board from the driver's seat, so I've always had to park and wait for the board to be free of cars to take a photo.

I’ve never has a problem with my IPhone, in landscape mode, capturing the entire menu board

If there are no cars around I will get out of my car, walk up to the boards and get a picture of the whole board that way. There are a couple of locations I do though that I can get the whole board in one shot.

A bit of a rant today — but the prices that Jack is charging just blows me away... Around here they recently increased the price of their food. Again!

In one market (Two of the counties I cover in my routes are in the cheaper one, the other 2 are more expensive) a Jumbo Jack combo is over 8 bucks (was under 8 before) and the other its is now almost $10 (was low 9’s). Absolutely insane... this was their burger that sat at a price point from $.99 to $1.49 for a good 15 years before just exploding in price to over ~$4.50 depending on the location in the last 5 or 6 years. A combo was always reliably 3.29-3.99 for years +tax.

What’s even crazier is the Double Jack Combo — which is essentially a Double Jumbo Jack — recently came out to $12.33 after tax. That’s basically $3 for an extra meat patty.

At what point I wonder will the increased prices hurt their business? Over the last 20 years I feel like fast food — and particularly Jack — has outpaced inflation by many multiples. Considerably more than sit down restaurants as well... when a combo was $3.99-4.99 that was fine... anything pushing 10 bucks and I’m out. If it wasn’t for these shops, I would never hardly eat at Jack — I used to love an Ultimate Cheeseburger in college. The medium combo was $5.49 +tax and was one of the more expensive items. A quick little plug into the inflation calculator shows it should be around $7.50 now — rather than $10.98 +tax. Even plain fries are now 3.39/3.69/3.99 — that’s *insane*.

Does anyone else feel this way? I know that food prices have went up... but McDonald’s and Wendy’s have seemed to keep their prices a bit more in check. I remember around 2010 or so all the Jack locations went from corporate to franchise — and that’s when the prices really started to spiral up.

It’s still under $7 and often under $6 for the JJ combo in SoCal.

Yet, i’ve still got some new shopper in the two areas that I usually hit that seems to want to do everything for 14 bucks or cheaper. Third or fourth week in a row that they’ve cleaned the board 25 mile radius.

Although, I’ve replaced it with more lucrative work. I’d still like an extra mindless $500 in PayPal every month.

When I started doing these they were $5 plus. Now they are around $8. I went to Burger King recently for a Whopper. It was $6 plus. I cancelled the order. Where I get my hair cut there is a new $3.75 cleaning fee. I can still get the senior discount at the Taco Time in my city. At other locations I have been told it is no longer available. So my days of eating at Burger King are over as I will not pay $6 for a hamburger even though they are my favorite. Jacks shops for me as long as the fee is around $21 - $22.