Panda Express

I don't have any where I am currently but will where I am moving to. I was just wondering what the ordering requirements are for the shop and if $8 reimbursement is enough to cover the required purchase. I am not a fan of Chinese but could do the teriyaki chicken and they look quick. $8 pay also so not great but on a route could be worth it.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

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One must order either a "Bowl" or a "Plate". $8.00 will cover the bowl, but you might end up a fee cents short when tax is added.

I'm a happy shopper for the MSC that handles these shops, but do want to let you know that I've been waiting almost 2 weeks for one of these shops to be edited. I think they may have a backup. I've never waited this long for a review for any shop type with this MSC. I'm sure they'll get caught up at some point.

I tried one at the rate of $8 & $8. The food was tasty, but over priced. It would take a raise to $12, which would cover a doublet, before I would complete another job at Panda.

They’re extremely easy shops.

$8 is not a lot, but it’s considerably easier than the Jack in the Box shops which realistically pay similarly in profit.

And you don’t have to buy extra stuff. No drink. No sides. No disgusting tacos.

@Tanischri87 wrote:

They’re extremely easy shops.

$8 is not a lot, but it’s considerably easier than the Jack in the Box shops which realistically pay similarly in profit.

And you don’t have to buy extra stuff. No drink. No sides. No disgusting tacos.

I stopped doing Jack in the Box because of the tacos..

@pegleg2000 wrote:

I stopped doing Jack in the Box because of the tacos..

I second that! Once in a while I look at the Jack shops and think .... nope! It's just too much trouble now, plus they've gotten a lot less generous with the end-of-cycle bonuses.

As for Panda, BuffaloNY101, you might want to stick with online order or drive-thru so that you don't have to bother with a drink, which definitely eats into the fee. Where I am the bowl is $7.69 with tax. I take it home, mix it up (because otherwise the rice on bottom is dry), and it's not half bad. If I'm out doing a route anyway and need a quick lunch or dinner, I'll do a dine-in panda but I make less because it's salty food and I need a soft drink with it. Sure, it's not a lot of profit but it is a very easy report, I'm not buying that meal I need elsewhere, and there's still a bit of profit.

A drink is not required. You can get water or bring your own water bottle. yes, the food is salty. But then adding a soda is even worse for your health (even thought it might taste better than plain water).

I've done 1 dine in. I've done probably 20 online/drive-thru. I prefer those. They are quick and easy. You can hold out for more than the base pay of $8, but you risk them being taken by someone else who feels that $8 pay is sufficient. Many times I will do the 3 item (bigger plate) because for $11, I can feed 2 people and feeding 2 people and making $5 is better for me than feeding 1 person and making $8. So basically for an additional $3, I just fed another person.

Funny story last night. I actually did a Panda Express on my own. Not as a shop. I had to be somewhere at a specific time. I placed online order because with my experience on their online orders for the past few months during they mystery shops, they have been on time every time but once (out of about 20 experiences).

So i do the online order and get to the location. It's a hot mess. They are not ready. Several others are waiting and the manager is blowing thru the line of walk-in people. I stopped her and said my order comes first. She said, "We are busy." I told her I did not care and I ordered AND PAID before these people walked in the door and stood in line. She made my food, but was 10 minutes late from when the order was supposed to be ready. The whole time I was thinking WHY COULDN'T THIS TIME BE A SHOP? They mess up big and it's not captured as a shop (but I will email corporate about my lousy experience since this was my money/my time).

Yes, you can stay under the $8 reimbursement if you order the bowl and no drink. I always get the plate, which is $8.60 here before the eat in tax which pushes it to $9.25. Like big daddy, I usually grab the drive-thru shops since we don't pay sales tax on food to go here, except for the soda tax. Typically, the drive thru shops aren't on the board long enough to get bonused, although some of the less desirable locations do occasionally.

I just scheduled a dine in shop with a $9 bonus. That;s the highest I've seen here. It's a relatively easy report and well worth it to me. I may even splurge for a drink!

I am not a fan of Chinese cuisine either but these shops are easy and the food is really good with lots of choices to please many palates. Wish they had more shops here.

Panda Express has a mothers day card promo. You can buy a $30 GC and get a free bowl. So basically 3 (or 4 panda shops) will use the $50 and you get a free meal for another time. Or in my case, I can feed someone else in my family for simply doing shops. Nothing in the guidelines preventing you from using GC. In the dine in scenario, they actually ask if the GC display is present.

I always look to gain an advantage when I can. Same with costco GC for some of the shops where you can save $20 or $30 off the $100 and where GC are allowed on the shops!

I already bought 3 cards at $30 each and got all 3 free bowls. I figure that $90 will last me 8 shops because my total is around $11.xx for the 3 item plate.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

So i do the online order and get to the location. It's a hot mess. They are not ready. Several others are waiting and the manager is blowing thru the line of walk-in people. I stopped her and said my order comes first. She said, "We are busy." I told her I did not care and I ordered AND PAID before these people walked in the door and stood in line. She made my food, but was 10 minutes late from when the order was supposed to be ready. The whole time I was thinking WHY COULDN'T THIS TIME BE A SHOP? They mess up big and it's not captured as a shop (but I will email corporate about my lousy experience since this was my money/my time).

I think this often when I am at a location I have previously shopped (C-Store, restaurant, etc) and have lousy service. Why can't I report this as a shop!

Great minds....

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Many times I will do the 3 item (bigger plate) because for $11, I can feed 2 people and feeding 2 people and making $5 is better for me than feeding 1 person and making $8. So basically for an additional $3, I just fed another person.

I started ordering the plate on shops instead of the bowl because it's a better deal. The plate has 2 entrees and 1 side. They will allow 1/2 servings of two different sides, so 4 different types of food. I usually get three meals out of it, sometimes four.

I did 3 panda express today and used an entire gift card in the process. So while getting paid, I also earned a free bowl just for buying the gc. I still have 2 more GC to use with 2 more bowls to go with it.

The dogs loved the left over chow mein and rice mixed in with their dry food tonight. Gave them a break from the JITB meat/fries they are used to.

In my area the bowl would be covered but the plate is about $1.30 over the comp. The shop is pretty easy and I get two meals from one plate meal so it is worth it.

Does anyone see these in Canada, have not seen any Panda since pre covid up here.

I have completed them in Ontario. They are with a new MSC. The report is just as simple. And the pay does not cover the cost of the required purchase. I barely break even so I bundle the Panda Express with the near by Five Guys in order to make a profit.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper

I'm not in Canada, but I picked up one of these yesterday with a $14 bonus on top of the $8 base pay and $8 reimbursement.

You're in Canada, so I don't know if this holds true, or is helpful, but here in the states, they are shopped through the same (very large) company that shops the US Postal Service, but on their Sassie board.

There are two PE shops in Troy, AL that have been on the board awhile. I took the online one last month, negotiating a $40 plus reimbursement fee, since it’s in an out of the way and hard to shop area. This is a drive for me, but I was going to be somewhat nearby. Anyway, after driving all the way there, their online ordering was down, so I couldn’t order food, and filled in the report questions that I could. I received pay of $2, which is not cool at all. I emailed the scheduler and she ignored me each time. I wasn’t mean at all, and even asked her who I could speak to if she couldn’t help. No response. I decided to make this post because I’ve been seeing her emails this week asking for help with this same shop, and I don’t want this happening to anyone else. Totally ignoring shoppers who go out of their way to help and do go work is so rude to me and not called for.

No its a different company up here in Canada. It is a Sassie Company.

@tgooberbutt wrote:

You're in Canada, so I don't know if this holds true, or is helpful, but here in the states, they are shopped through the same (very large) company that shops the US Postal Service, but on their Sassie board.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper

The company that shops Panda here in the states has both shopmetrics and sassie sites for different projects. It seems weird that a completely different MSC would be shopping the client in Canada. It's possible, but seems strange to me.

You don't want to name names? Yeah, that would totally suck if you went all that way and couldn't complete it. Did you have alternate way of ordering? Meaning, you order off laptop/desktop instead of using the app? Might be worth it to have a laptop with you in case the "app" is down for whatever reason. Is it possible, the online (desktop/laptop) system was down as well. There is no way to know unless you tried it both ways.

hbbigdaddy - It was their online ordering that was down, and I specifically had to do an online shop, so I was out of luck. And I figured the name would be easy to find, especially for shoppers in the Dothan, Enterprise area. There seem to be a good amount of us. And she knows who she is, and how she treats people. And apparently didn’t care. Sad.

I know which company you are talking about, and it is not the company that shops Panda in Canada. I know its strange that was the reason it took me a little while to find the Panda shops myself as its a totally different MSC.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

The company that shops Panda here in the states has both shopmetrics and sassie sites for different projects. It seems weird that a completely different MSC would be shopping the client in Canada. It's possible, but seems strange to me.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2022 12:29AM by Lady Marius.

There is a major problem with their online ordering up here in Canada, both on the app and online. I have to order as a guest every time. I have never been able to order with my account. I wonder if you were having a similar or totally different problem I report the problem every shop, and it is never ever fixed.

@KayDan wrote:

hbbigdaddy - It was their online ordering that was down, and I specifically had to do an online shop, so I was out of luck. And I figured the name would be easy to find, especially for shoppers in the Dothan, Enterprise area. There seem to be a good amount of us. And she knows who she is, and how she treats people. And apparently didn’t care. Sad.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2022 12:32AM by Lady Marius.

One of our local panda stores had a problem with their online ordering for months and months. It took them almost 2 months after the mystery shopping started before they finally we're able to use the online ordering. They might have had to hire somebody who knew how to make it work.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2022 12:44AM by Morledzep.

Thanks for bringing the online ordering fiasco to light here. I will be avoiding those shops for sure.

Locations near me have been turning off their online ordering on certain days (or certain parts of days) due to understaffing. If I have an online shop and online ordering isn't working, sometimes I'll call the location to ask about it. Occasionally they "remember" to turn it back on.

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