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MSC worthwhile in bay area?

April 10, 2021 04:21AM
Does anyone have suggestions on what MSC are worthwhile to sign up in the SF bay area? Yes I have signed up for a dozen and after handing over my personal info including SSN to find out there are hardly any shops or just banking audits. I am interested in food shops (but not just 5 guys winking smiley or useful things like oil changes for the car. Thanks!
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April 10, 2021 05:41AM
@silentdetective wrote:

Does anyone have suggestions on what MSC are worthwhile to sign up in the SF bay area? Yes I have signed up for a dozen and after handing over my personal info including SSN to find out there are hardly any shops or just banking audits. I am interested in food shops (but not just 5 guys winking smiley or useful things like oil changes for the car. Thanks!
I'm on the right coast so I can't speak to the Bay Area but if you are going to do this, you need to sign up with more than a dozen MSCs. The fact is that the MSCs that are good for your area are likely to change over time. Things ebb and flow as far as what kind of client base a given MSC might have.

For example, Second to None and Secret Shopper rarely had much to offer in my area pre-Covid, now I'm doing plenty of work for them (Secret Shopper in particular). Conversely, Intellishop was a big go-to for me before Covid, now I only occasionally find work with them. It changes.

There's a list of MSCs at the bottom of this page. I know giving up personal info is a worry. If you are concerned about the reputability of a particular MSC, you might could check with MSPA. Plus this is a pretty supportive community here (with people who have been doing this much longer than I have) who can give you good advice.

Long story short: Cast a wider net. Good luck!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2021 05:43AM by KokoBWare.
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April 10, 2021 06:46PM
I am on your coast but 450 miles or so south of you. For some reason my schedulers seem to think your area is in my neighborhood. I constantly get job offers that say "jobs near me" and they are all within 50-100 miiles of you or 500 miles from me. That said, if you are in one of the big metropolitan areas of California there seems to be a lot of competition for jobs here. Most of the jobs I see are for huge chaIns like cell phone companies and banks and fast food where there is an outlet every few blocks in the big city. Those smaller cities and towns up your way seem to be begging for shoppers as there are often large bonuses attached to the surrounding smaller cities up there. So if you can do a short route out of the city you might find more work.
As for restaurants that are not fast food and retail California has been virtually closed down until very recently. I do think now that we are quickly on our way to re open fully you will start to see more of those shops coming back as the capacity goes back closer to 100% and the clients are able to be profitable. I know if I was a restauranteur and had a place that only had a capactiy of 10 tables outdoors and that kept closing down every month or so I would not have a mystery shop program.
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