New Kroger MSC

Just finished my first round of four local Krogers shops. The reports are super easy. I did them at home after I got back. Usually the old reports took 5 - 7 minutes in the app, but these take 4-5 minutes each and have fewer questions. No front end supervisor questions, no verifying and entering info from the receipt. The only gripe is if your lane had no carryout person, you still get the questions about that person and have to click each and every N/A box.
Also, I made up a quicky fill in the blank form to scratch out in my car after the job, for all the needed info. So yeah, there's that two minutes added, LOL

Overall, I'm pretty OK with the reporting.

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One of the sites I selected turned out to be the Fuel Center only. I cannot find a way to indicate this in the report. I have messaged the scheduler twice, but received no response. Has anyone else had this situation? Thanks!

My issue has been that now the shops are few and far between. You have to specify a single date, so you don't have the 2-day range you had before. It's much harder to plan routes.

I agree, the report is a breeze.

I don't see them anymore. Has anyone heard if there will be a new cycle? Seems ominous to disappear after just 6 weeks.

@kenasch wrote:

I don't see them anymore. Has anyone heard if there will be a new cycle? Seems ominous to disappear after just 6 weeks.

There will be a new cycle in March.

Pickup jobs posted today with larger reimbursement but none in my area of Southern California (Ventura County).

@kenasch wrote:

Pickup jobs posted today with larger reimbursement but none in my area of Southern California (Ventura County).

They have some in my area. San Bernardino,/Riverside counties.

There is one store available in basically my half of the state, and it’s a different format than I’m used to — it’s a “pick up” shop, which pays $5 and reimburses $30 — don’t remember the old MSP doing those, even though the stores in question have offered pickup for a couple years — the available stores in my area (Fred Meyer/QFC) seem very few and far between. I’m hoping in March when they supposedly launch fully it will go back to a similar schedule as the previous MSC.

Does anyone have any idea if the new MSP a has a larger “network of shoppers” as the old one? I had my little area all to myself with my 4 stores, had negotiated a nice little chunk of PAD, went every 2 weeks to my 4 stores like clockwork, and haven’t really had to pay for groceries in years — so I’m feeling this one lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2022 06:22PM by ngbmediashop.

It looks like this week is online ordering with $30 reimbursement and $5 pay. They are very easy.

@ngbmediashop wrote:

Does anyone have any idea if the new MSP a has a larger “network of shoppers” as the old one? I had my little area all to myself with my 4 stores, had negotiated a nice little chunk of PAD, went every 2 weeks to my 4 stores like clockwork, and haven’t really had to pay for groceries in years — so I’m feeling this one lol

I feel like it's less a matter of more shoppers (although it could be that) and more of a matter of fewer shops -- as in, only once or twice for each store in a 6-week cycle, or something.

In my urban area, there were almost a dozen stores I could shop conveniently! With that two-day window for almost every assignment, it was easy to route the shops in batches of 3-4. Now it's only a single eligible date, with stores near each other almost never matching up.

So I am really feeling this too! I have seven cats, and that was a great source of cat food and little. And groceries. And sometimes with bonuses, I could get something special, like a small kitchen appliance or other housewares. Waaaaaah!

Shame. I still have not seen a second round posted. I will admit though, I have not been checking every day. There are still no shops located in a 125 mi radius.

@jrj76 wrote:

Shame. I still have not seen a second round posted. I will admit though, I have not been checking every day. There are still no shops located in a 125 mi radius.

I do check daily and have not seen any for the second round. Hopefully they will post soon.

I just accepted three remote jobs with $125 fees each, as the drop dead dates are sneaking up. About two and a half hours total driving time with a half hour or less at each store and less than a half hour for data entry total. Not bad!!
There were another four for the same rate about a two hour drive the other direction that I was really tempted to grab, but just didn't have another free day before the Saturday deadline. Last week I was able to do a third visit to a local store because somebody flaked and I was given a waiver for the rotation. That, plus a $30 fee for LOCAL!!!
With these kinds of bonuses, I'm assuming the regional base of shoppers is smaller than the previous MSC.

I also think it a matter of fewer shops. I had a great rural route every other week with PAD for 3 stores. It is approx 100 miles round trip and half a day travel time. I do miss doing these shops, they were clean stores with courteous, friendly staff but sadly without PAD it is not worth my time.

My go-to distant shop with PAD and opportunities for two to three other shops (other MSC's) with similar payments is gone. Someone else picked up the location and the other gigs are gone. That trifecta made the trip worthwhile at any time of year. I was told that I could request local Kroger shops. Now, I need to wait until the list of local locations appears.

My garden in England is full of eating-out places, for heat waves, warm September evenings, or lunch on a chilly Christmas morning. (Mary Quant)

Shops just posted. I find it interesting that there are almost 500 shops in the Los Angeles metro area and you can see the numbers go down each day.

i wish there was a way to be alerted when the new shops are posted, like the old msc used to have if you knew how to use RSS feeds.

i do appreciate the higher payment now though, i can get a few more things while shopping.

the report is the same either way. as far as transitions go, it wasn’t too bad.

They have some pickup shops for March as well. They are not under the Kroger tab but in the general avail shop tab. 5+25 and looks fairly simple. I was even able to schedule the pickup shop for the same day I have a regular shop. So sort of double dipping.

I re-read the guidelines, I don't see anything about rotations. So I scheduled 3 that are relatively close together for next week and I guess I'll go from there.

@Morledzep wrote:

I re-read the guidelines, I don't see anything about rotations. So I scheduled 3 that are relatively close together for next week and I guess I'll go from there.

The rotations seem to be built into the available dates that show when you schedule the shop.

@kenasch wrote:

They have some pickup shops for March as well. They are not under the Kroger tab but in the general avail shop tab. 5+25 and looks fairly simple. I was even able to schedule the pickup shop for the same day I have a regular shop. So sort of double dipping.

THANK YOU for this! I wouldn't have thought to look for them there, and I was able to grab a couple of them.

I actually think I may do a dry run on the pickup process. I'm guessing I might have to allow substitutions or else the order could end up not being at least $25.

What company is doing Kroger now? I did them through another company prior to 2022 but never saw them post who took them over.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2022 10:54PM by auditme.

I am super new here. Where is the "old mystery shop board"?

@amyann2 wrote:

@kenasch wrote:

They have some pickup shops for March as well. They are not under the Kroger tab but in the general avail shop tab. 5+25 and looks fairly simple. I was even able to schedule the pickup shop for the same day I have a regular shop. So sort of double dipping.

THANK YOU for this! I wouldn't have thought to look for them there, and I was able to grab a couple of them.

I actually think I may do a dry run on the pickup process. I'm guessing I might have to allow substitutions or else the order could end up not being at least $25.

Guidelines state to not allow substitutions and don't reply if they send you a text about substitutions.

I did 4 this week and they are very easy.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2022 11:04PM by pegleg2000.

I assume if you go under $25 because of the no substitution rule the shop would still be acceptable. I will try to order items I know they have in large quantities and maybe go over $25 a bit.

I ordered over $30. Because i think there was a fee if you ordered ubder $30.

@pegleg2000 wrote:

Guidelines state to not allow substitutions and don't reply if they send you a text about substitutions.

I did 4 this week and they are very easy.

Thanks, yes, I saw that about substitutions when I signed up for one and got the complete guidelines. This does look pretty simple; I'm looking forward to it!

I happened to notice on the job list, it says $5 fee and $30 max reimbursement. *Inside* each listing, however, it says reimbursement is $25. Still elsewhere it says that there could be a pick-up fee of $4.95 and they will reimburse that without the shopper having to ask for it.

So I'm not sure if the reimbursement is really $25 or $30, and/or if a fee is imposed, you would be reimbursed $29.95 or $34.95. (It's that annoying part of my brain that wants all the info to match/add up!)

The ones I did were $30 reimbursement. Maybe they changed it to $25 in case of the $4.95 fee that they will cover.

In my area of Socal, the delivery charge is $6.95 for orders under $35. I assume if I order an amount over $25 and less than $35, I will be reimbursed $29.95 (if they have everything I order). I little disappointing about the pickup charge but still worth it for easy shop.

@kenasch wrote:

In my area of Socal, the delivery charge is $6.95 for orders under $35. I assume if I order an amount over $25 and less than $35, I will be reimbursed $29.95 (if they have everything I order). I little disappointing about the pickup charge but still worth it for easy shop.

I'm also in SoCal with the fee is $6.95. I was ordering $35 so I wouldn't get the fee. I figure it is an easy shop too so worth it.

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