For years, the starting pay on the BP Consumer Audits has been $18, and now as of the 2021 Quarter 3 round, it has been reduced to $15. Has anyone else noticed this? What do you think about it? Do you think they pay us too much?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2021 09:00PM by Curious99.

I think the same thing as I think about the heralded "Easier shop! No gas purchase required!", reducing our workload by what? Uploading one photo of a gas receipt? But lowering pay for the shop by $5, because they no longer have to reimburse us that amount?

In one word?

Stinks. Sucks.

As long as shoppers continue to accept shops at lower pay, the mystery shopping companies will continue to offer them at lower pay. Obviously $18 wasn't enough, so $15 certainly isn't enough. However, there are enough shoppers out there that will take them that they have no downside to offering a lower amount. And if nobody takes them they can just tack on $3, and call it a bonus. And make sure they add a few exclamation points in the emails.

Obviously, you guys have been doing this for a while. Been on the forum for years, I can see, and probably have been doing gas station mystery shops for at least as many years as well.

I wonder if they just thought no one would notice this reduction in pay.

Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 12:00PM by Curious99.

I'm not sure that they are trying to trick anyone. At least when I look at a job board, the first thing I always look at is the pay. I would definitely notice if the pay dropped $3. I have always immediately noticed when the pay has gone down on certain projects. I've also noticed when it's gone up, which is not as common but has happened. Of course, we are talking about opening pay. I rarely ever do a gas station at base pay anyway, so I religiously look at the payment amounts and/or bonus amounts when assigning shops. So, I think most shoppers are good at looking at the pay, and I don't think there's an expectation that anyone's going to be tricked.

What they do believe is that some shoppers are going to do it even though the pay is lower. And there really is not much of a risk in doing it, because if nobody's picking them up they can just start to bonus them. I don't think there's going to be any blowback from shoppers, because in the end money is king and we will do them when they start to pay well. And they will up the pay until they get done. They're just doing the best they can to try to find some suckers that will do them for $15 before they start adding bonuses. I feel like these are often new shoppers that don't know any better. They are recruiting heavily, and they are always looking for new shoppers. And I think this is the reason why. New shoppers don't know any better, and they may agree to a route of shops and then realize that they made a mistake. Sometimes they finish them, and sometimes they just flake on the rest and then are done with mystery shopping. I've seen it in my region. I've seen a route of shops, that I normally get paid $40 to $100 each, disappear off the board early in the shopping period. Then 2 weeks later half of them magically reappear. And then whenever I bid on them, I'm told that they can't pay that much because the shopper before did them at base pay. I replied that they should go find that shopper and figure out why they're not doing it again. And then I get paid anyway. I don't know who these people are, and I never judge or criticize others for their decisions. Maybe the money is that important to them. However, I strongly feel that anybody that is trying to make a living doing gas stations at base pay would be much better off just getting a regular job in today's environment. Or at least getting a part-time job and then waiting until bonuses are added and using the gas stations to supplement their income. There are some gas brands where I feel like doing them at base pay could end up paying less than minimum wage when everything else is taken to account. And most jobs are paying much more than minimum wage now, and don't require the travel and mileage that route shopping requires. For example, I did two shell shops that were lightly bonused because they were right on the route I was doing and I had some time before the store opened that I was going to shop. One of them went really well. It only had 12 pumps and it wasn't too busy. I was able to get all of my pictures in and report on site in about 35 minutes. The next place I went to was a massive travel center with 20 pumps and it was insanely busy. I was constantly waiting to take pictures because people were always in them. And it took me almost an hour to get a picture of every pump because of all of the people that parked in front of them and sat there for 20 or 30 or 40 minutes. If I had done that at base pay, I would have made less than minimum wage. And that's not even taking into account the time, gas, and mileage that it took to get to the location. Honestly, if I would have known it was going to take that long, I wouldn't even have done it for the bonus. That's just an example.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 02:30PM by thunderdeacon.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

I'm not sure that they are trying to trick anyone. At least when I look at a job board, the first thing I always look at is the pay. I would definitely notice if the pay dropped $3.

I think less seasoned shoppers may overlook, or not even know the pay used to be higher. The first thing most people may see is $15 in shopper pay, and that much may register, but what I don’t think necessarily registers is that starting pay used to be $18. Sometimes people forget what the pay used to be on a project, or didn’t even know in the first place. So another shopper may end up doing the work at $15 without necessarily knowing any better.

If that happens, I wouldn’t say the MSC “tricked” them, but rather that the shopper may have fooled themselves into thinking that is good pay by not knowing any better. In that case, the MSC wins because they got someone to do the work for less.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

They're just doing the best they can to try to find some suckers that will do them for $15 before they start adding bonuses. I feel like these are often new shoppers that don't know any better.

I’m afraid you may be right. As long as the mystery shopping industry has been around, those in charge of it have always tried to pay less because that is how they get rich. Nothing new there. What surprises me is them reducing starting pay though because in the past that is something that has remained relatively untouched.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

I don't know who these people are ... (referring to shoppers who work for less).... and I never judge or criticize others for their decisions. Maybe the money is that important to them. However, I strongly feel that anybody that is trying to make a living doing gas stations at base pay would be much better off just getting a regular job in today's environment.

I would agree with you on that. Anytime anyone is allowing themselves to work for less than minimum wage doing this kind of work, or any other kind of work, they are allowing themselves to be exploited. Perhaps unknowingly, but still exploited nonetheless.

I understand a part of the reason why shopper pay goes down when it does is because there are people willing to do the work for less, and I also try not to judge, or criticize them because when I stop to take time to think about it, my suspicion is that such people are trying to just survive as best as they can. Perhaps they could be making money in a better way, but just don’t know any better, and are doing the best they can.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 05:40PM by Curious99.

The only question that remains is this: do all shoppers incur equal costs per gig, or do some incur lower costs and realize equal or better profit with the $15 fee than the ones who do the work at the $18 fee?

@Shop-et-al wrote:

The only question that remains is this: do all shoppers incur equal costs per gig, or do some incur lower costs and realize equal or better profit with the $15 fee than the ones who do the work at the $18 fee?

Hmm... this sounds like a math problem, so let's break it down....

@Shop-et-al wrote:

do all shoppers incur equal costs per gig

No, some shoppers will have less expenses depending on where they live, and how far away the work they are interested in is from them.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

do some incur lower costs and realize equal or better profit with the $15 fee than the ones who do the work at the $18 fee?

If all the BP Stations on the map are set to the same price, shoppers are going to do better with the $18 fee than they are with the $15 fee regardless of what their expenses are. So their expenses could vary wildly, but getting paid $18 is always going to be more profitable than getting paid $15 if all locations on the map are set to the same price.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 05:24PM by Curious99.

Of course different shoppers have different costs! If you spend Saturday doing 5 or 6 gas stations within, say, 10 miles of your home, and end up with a tank full of gas that will cover your M-F commute, you're way ahead of the game -- the gas cost you nothing, and you have to drive to work anyway.

Whereas I would have to drive at least 300 miles to complete 5 or 6 gas stations, so I would be losing money (significant money, I may add), doing them at base pay.

I personally am grateful to every shopper who takes any shop at base pay -- it leaves more in the bonus pool for me!

@Shop-et-al wrote:

The only question that remains is this: do all shoppers incur equal costs per gig, or do some incur lower costs and realize equal or better profit with the $15 fee than the ones who do the work at the $18 fee?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2021 03:17PM by ceasesmith.

@ceasesmith wrote:

I personally am grateful to every shopper who takes any shop at base pay -- it leaves more in the bonus pool for me!

I had to think about that for a minute to get what you're saying.

I'm not so much grateful, as I am understanding. People have bills, and sometimes are desperate, which forces them to sometimes work for less than they should, or under less than favorable conditions. And sometimes they just don't know any better.

But it would seem you are implying is that there is a fixed budget with which to pay shoppers, of which I think is true, and those that do the work at lower pay rates, leave more money on the table for paying those at higher pay rates later on, of which I think is not true. I think any leftover money is what the MSC calls "profit".

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 05:42PM by Curious99.

Yes, but what you are not considering is that different industries have different types of MSing contracts.

And bonuses for others (schedulers, project managers, staff employees) often come from whatever money is left over at the end, i.e., the bonus pool that remains unspent.

The more shops a project gets scheduled at base pay, the more money remains for bonuses to fill the hard-to-fill shops. Some industries/companies have many shops at the first of the month or quarter, but the contract only calls for a certain percentage of them to be filled. If the MSC can fill them all at base pay, they never have to pay a shopper bonus. But if the contract requires 100% shop completion, nearing deadline, they will (only if absolutely necessary) drain that bonus pool.

And don't forget, that little mom & pop Chevron station pays CHEVRON that $100 for the audit. If you think Chevron is stupid enough to hand the entire $100 to the MSC -- well, you're wrong.



As for project specificity, you may very well be right about "this project" -- but not possible to extrapolate to other projects/MSCs/contracts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2021 09:15PM by ceasesmith.

Okay, fair enough. I will accept that. Other projects, and industries could vary significantly from these Chevron Audits. And I would agree that if Chevron gets $100 for each audit from each station owner, Chevron isn't likely giving that whole $100 to the MSC. However, we are still talking about relatively high dollar amounts, in which Chevron could very well allow a very large percentage of that to go to the MSC, and still be profitable. This kind of money is nothing to them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 05:32PM by Curious99.

Your math is hysterically funny, as is your assumption that gas stations are all directly owned by BP. Most of them are owned by large franchise groups that hold a hundred stations or so.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2021 10:49PM by Candy Kane.

@Candy Kane wrote:

Your math is hysterically funny, as is your assumption that gas stations are all directly owned by BP. Most of them are owned by large franchise groups that hold a hundred stations or so.

Where did I say that? Have you been drinking or smoking something?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 05:33PM by Curious99.

But what about the shopper who picks up something on the fly at base pay, adds no travel or other cost, and just adds a little something to one day here or there? Do you high earners consider this type of person as bad, too?

The Ideal Scenario

There is plenty enough of money to go around. They get their money, and we get our money, and everyone goes home happy without feeling like one got over on the other. Wouldn't that be nice?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 05:37PM by Curious99.

Absolutely not!

As noted many times before, each shopper has their own needs, own schedule; as self-employed persons, we are allowed to take whatever work appeals to us or meets our needs.

And I'm no "high earner".

@Shop-et-al wrote:

But what about the shopper who picks up something on the fly at base pay, adds no travel or other cost, and just adds a little something to one day here or there? Do you high earners consider this type of person as bad, too?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2021 05:31AM by ceasesmith.

Curious99, agree. In an ideal world (without that nasty capitalistic profit-motive!),. yep, we keep half, MSC keeps half.

Unfortunately, we live in the real world.

I know, right. The contrast between the “real” world, and what is “ideal” is stark. In the real world, it is a race to the bottom with our pay.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2021 01:26PM by Curious99.

@Curious99 wrote:

For years, the starting pay on the BP Consumer Audits has been $18, and now as of the 2021 Quarter 3 round, it has been reduced to $15. Has anyone else noticed this? What do you think about it? Do you think they pay us too much?

May be is by area? I see them as $18, just looked again, all $18, in multiple states.

They went to $18 within the last couple of hours. They were still $15 when I looked this morning.

My guess is that they were testing the waters to see how many would get picked up at $15. I imagine that there were at least some that got taken. Based on how quickly they upped the rate, I'm guessing it wasn't enough.

@KateH wrote:

May be is by area? I see them as $18, just looked again, all $18, in multiple states.

I see it as well. I think it was set to that across the board. Historically, since this MSC took over for this client, pay rates have been set as the same across the board in the beginning, with regional differences in pay only cropping up typically between the middle to end parts of the cycle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2021 07:44PM by Curious99.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

My guess is that they were testing the waters to see how many would get picked up at $15...

Yeah, I don't know. I still think they have excellent profit margins at the $18 per location price point though.