Here’s my take. I literally have done hundreds in the past. I had a route last time with 50 stations and was paid $40 each for the one audit. Never did 2 at one time. I did one the other day for $28, and I won’t do another one at this pay. 1.5 hours in 98 degree heat, wear and tear on my vehicle, is just not worth it. No one is doing them here either. Last time I did them all in a 90 mile radius. It’s just not enough to be worth it. $40, I might do a few local, but that would be all.

I was worried about the report deletion based on the current verbiage on their Sassie site. So they want us to do one project in darkness “if at all possible” but won’t give us time to input. Plus there’s bad signal in so many places. If they wanted to change the current system, I wouldn’t like it but it would be understandable and workable. Atm if you input even part of it by 1030 am the next day then the scheduler has to go in individually to delete it. Because theoretically if it’s partially done, you did the shop and ran into an issue with cell signal or one of many things that can happen. So I would understand if they’re going to delete them automatically, partially done or not, at 10:30 AM. Or delete them automatically if nothings input by 8 am and partially input at noon. But to delete at midnight is ridiculous. At least half the places I go have no strong cell signal, and a good portion have a negligible signal where perhaps I can use Google Maps if I’m lucky.
Most editors don’t work at that hour. It does absolutely nothing for their business other than discourage shoppers even more on top of their lowering pay, changing editing, etc. But hey I have a lanyard to wear. Maybe they want to discourage experienced shoppers who do bigger routes and expect bigger bonuses and have it just be new people doing a couple shops for peanuts until they learn better and find other work. I don’t see how that’s a good business model.
Hopefully you heard that from the dishonest scheduler trying to scare/threaten you and it won’t be midnight, but the next morning. Or they’ll realize right away it won’t work. I’ve done locations in a dozen states, and I’d say about half the sites would be unworkable to do any sort of route with that policy because of the cell signal issue. And impossible to do them in darkness and input by midnight.

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

Point C, I have issues forcing me to take shops for 30-35 (trying to pay bills) but I will not drive long distances for 20-dollar shops that is not economical at all. The heat is forcing the usage of the a/c in the car which combined with high gas prices you will not make as much money. Businesses like to pay the least they have to for the most work. We are the same way if I need work done on my rent house I either high unskilled labor or take bids and read reviews and decide who made the best bid with the least or least concerning bad reviews. I do local shops for base pay sometimes when I don't have higher-paying work available. For 30-minute drives, I start at 25 dollars minimum but I try to do multiple shops in the area so that I do 3-4 assignments in that area. Then for an hour drive, I try to get at least 35 and tale 3-5 assignments in the area, and so on and so on. Things aren't the way they were for Maritz because now they are making us pin down one exact date and we lose the flexibility to move the route around in the week to maximize our profits. We also run the risk of losing our rebound time (you schedule a big route on Monday you need to Tuesday to regroup after driving back and inpu Another issue that I just found out today from a scheduler that in two weeks they are going to pull all projects not inputted by midnight. Even if the shop was done LATE at night 9-11:30 PM. So this means you can only do half as much work because you have to have time to get the project inputted at the same exact time. I wonder who they think is going to drive way out in the middle of nowhere to do one shop especially if there is no wifi there! Even shops that are over 90% completed! So if you are not the driver and every chance you have a signal you are inputting if that shop is not 100% completed by midnight they will pull it. This means you can not schedule as many shop (or I can't) because I can't just go do the shop take the pictures and then get in the car and drive to the next location. I can't build a route that will pay half as much so that means I will either be doing more shops for other marketers with more flexibility or I will be scheduling shorter, less lucrative routes or not scheduling them at all. I am not happy to hear this.

@Mrcleandpsyahoo.com wrote:

... I did one the other day for $28, and I won’t do another one at this pay. 1.5 hours in 98 degree heat, wear and tear on my vehicle, is just not worth it...

Yeah, if it took me an hour and a half under those conditions to do them, I wouldn't either.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2022 04:45AM by Curious99.

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

.. Another issue that I just found out today from a scheduler that in two weeks they are going to pull all projects not inputted by midnight. Even if the shop was done LATE at night 9-11:30 PM...I am not happy to hear this.

@Notme2021 wrote:

.... So they want us to do one project in darkness “if at all possible” but won’t give us time to input... I don’t see how that’s a good business model.

I was thinking the same thing as I read over your posts. Deadline management could conflict with client goals if clients want night time shops done, and the MSC is wanting to make it a rule that everything must be in by midnight.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2022 04:47AM by Curious99.

@Mrcleandpsyahoo.com wrote:

Here’s my take. I literally have done hundreds in the past. I had a route last time with 50 stations and was paid $40 each for the one audit. Never did 2 at one time. I did one the other day for $28, and I won’t do another one at this pay. 1.5 hours in 98-degree heat, wear and tear on my vehicle, is just not worth it. No one is doing them here either. Last time I did them all in a 90-mile radius. It’s just not enough to be worth it. $40, I might do a few local, but that would be all.

I live in a small to medium-sized town/city in central Georgia. In other words (shop talk) I can get from one side of town to the other on the freeway (if the location is off of the freeway) in under 15 minutes. Or if you need to drive on the streets most locations are under 30 minutes. My husband and I have done all of the approximately 5 BPs in our town. The one's 30 minutes away no one has done it. I recently traveled approximately 50 minutes to an hour to a small town to do an Exxon. Since I was going anyway I picked up the Circle K, (another marketer) paid 21, and the two dispenser wonder BP there (4 fueling positions, I call two dispersers "two-pump wonders" because they pay the same amount of money as the bigger stations for less work, effort, and time.) 31+21+41 [93 for a couple of hours work]. Other than those none of the outlying areas for BP have been done out here. I understand the philosophy of combining the shops but agree it is for less money they expect you to do double the work. Editing processes getting better doesn't make it better. In the back of your mind, you are stressing right up until the shop gets graded! With prices so low, and gas so high, losing even one shop on a route could mean the difference between showing a profit or not.
PS gotta know where your "two-pump wonders" are in your area. Quick and easy to pick up and doesn't take so long to do. Entering 6-12 dispensers in my book should be over 50 dollars WITHOUT gas/mileage. just sayin'

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

... gotta know where your "two-pump wonders" are in your area. Quick and easy to pick up and doesn't take so long to do. Entering 6-12 dispensers in my book should be over 50 dollars WITHOUT gas/mileage. just sayin'...

I like that idea, but I could only imagine what you might think of BP's largest gas station, which is located in Iowa. (Also known as the world's largest truck stop.) It has 50 pumps. I did it once, and all I have to say about that is "never again".

Could you imagine doing a combined audit on something like that for just a measely $28?

I just checked Presto to see if it's still listed as needing to be done, and sure enough it is. I bet that one would really take just "30 minutes" if one of the newbie shoppers wanted to pick it up. (***laughs with a devilish grin***)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2022 03:11AM by Curious99.

The other thing is that with a certain scheduler who deletes incomplete shops really fast, and also probably because of their counting more on newer shoppers who may try one shop and just throw in the towel when they get to the report (or not return for rejected shops), I’ve gone to several locations lately where they say it had already been done more than once that month. Sometimes the owners or managers exaggerate, but enough people said it that I believed it. I can just imagine if this new policy is put in place that repeated shops will be much more common which doesn’t seem good for keeping the client satisfied or for shopper retention. Who wants to drive to a location, do work, buy gas and an item and not be paid or reimbursed because of AT&T or T-Mobile not having a nearby cell tower, or it’s in the mountains?
Some people already only go to the smaller stations. I don’t pay attention because once I’m doing ten in a day, it’s the driving and the other parts of the report that matters. But if I have to upload all those extra photos with weak cell service, and/or I have to rush to get to a location with better signal or WiFi, then I’ll be joining the “I don’t do bigger locations” crowd and they’ll have scattered locations not done they’ll have to pay a lot more for.
I wonder if they have anyone working there who’s actually been a shopper and knows what these issues are. They certainly haven’t polled us about how to improve these issues despite polling being a much bigger part of their corporate existence.

@Curious99 wrote:

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

.. Another issue that I just found out today from a scheduler that in two weeks they are going to pull all projects not inputted by midnight. Even if the shop was done LATE at night 9-11:30 PM...I am not happy to hear this.

@Notme2021 wrote:

.... So they want us to do one project in darkness “if at all possible” but won’t give us time to input... I don’t see how that’s a good business model.

I was thinking the same thing as I read over your posts since I sometimes work on that project. It's possible that project team may try to push back on upper management trying to impose this rule across the board on all projects since they really need to get them done at night. I'm rooting for the underdog on this.

I think the system should be set up like patient point. I get $10 dollars for going to the location (starting pay) and 3 dollars for a brochure rack. So if a location has 10 racks I get 10x3 +10. So for 5 dispensers, base pay would be 40. Two dispensers (4x3=12+10) would be 22 base pay. Maybe we should 12.50 or 15 just for going plus 3 dollars a dispenser...Smart veteran shoppers could still wait for a bonus. Yea, starting pay for that one in Iowa would be 162.50...yea they wouldn't like that but since they aren't the one's standing out there in the heat waiting for someone to move their car for 5 seconds for us take a picture.... (we are the one's dealing with obnoxious customers who start right into the camera and act like they own the pump and we aren't just trying to do our job and get the heck on...That two pump wonder I did Saturday, one lady pumped her gas super slow, another lady was like a Karen Oh gosh don't take my picture I don't want to be in the picture.. and one pump was out of order so the 3 that were working were very busy...took me 40 minutes to do a 20-minute job!!! (I've done that same location several times in the past

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

I think the system should be set up like patient point... starting pay for that one in Iowa would be 162.50...

Itemized pay is an interesting idea. And it would be a way to make the pay between very difficult locations and very easy locations a bit more fair.

My only concern with it would be the MSC using it as a basis for further reducing shopper pay in the future. For instance, let's say the combined audits are $28 per location this year during quarter 2. Then during next year's quarter 2, it becomes something like $20 per location, and they come back and say something like:

"Guess what folks? On that one station out of the whole United States, that has a whooping 50 pumps, we'll actually pay you $40 for that one, and $20 for every other location in the country. How does that sound?". All while leaving out the fact that it was $28 this year, and $36 the year prior.

That would be my concern with it. That they would use it to take advantage of shoppers who are desperate, or naïve enough to accept any level of pay.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2022 11:30PM by Curious99.

A Challenge to Those Who Do Not Believe BP Shopper Pay is Being Cut

Something that I'd like to add for anyone that thinks the pay on BP Audits is not being cut by at least 22% this quarter:

I'd challenge you to compare your BP Quarter 2 earnings from this year, which would be from May 15 to August 15, to what they were from last year during the same period of time.

I could just about guarantee you that either your hourly rate, OR your total profit earned will be down by at least 22% this quarter 2 in comparison to last year's quarter 2. It doesn't matter if you work a lot this quarter or barely at all. I can just about guarantee it either way. Only if you were lazy and hardly did anything last year might it be any other way.

Why is that? Because the overall conditions on work for this client do not support the growth of shopper incomes AND there is always a trade off to be made between hourly pay rates, and total profit amounts earned. Those two things can not go up together forever. One comes at the expense of the other.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2022 12:08AM by Curious99.

I think the pay dropped 22% when it changed marketers. I think it dropped again when they combined the shops. The bonuses go up and down so this is a patience game basically. Some quarters they try their best to wait to add bonuses and it backfires on them so the next quarter sometimes they do a better job. But then another marketer that month will be cheap so you better do all the high ones you can. When everything is low you piddle around town to keep from getting zeros. But when those prices go back up then you work your tail off to get ahead and make extra dough while it's there. But if they paid right all the time then they wouldn't have such a hard time every round. It's a vicious cycle, lol. But it's my cup of tea. When I get burnt out I enjoy the off time.

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

I think the pay dropped 22% when it changed marketers. I think it dropped again when they combined the shops. The bonuses go up and down so this is a patience game basically. Some quarters they try their best to wait to add bonuses and it backfires on them so the next quarter sometimes they do a better job. But then another marketer that month will be cheap so you better do all the high ones you can. When everything is low you piddle around town to keep from getting zeros. But when those prices go back up then you work your tail off to get ahead and make extra dough while it's there. But if they paid right all the time then they wouldn't have such a hard time every round. It's a vicious cycle, lol. But it's my cup of tea. When I get burnt out I enjoy the off time.

Bonus Pay Reductions Will Be Next

Well, I don't think there are going to be much of any bonuses this quarter because they have gotten such a large amount of work done in such a short period of time, and we are only 1 month into a 4 month cycle. The quarter 2 cycle runs from May 15th to August 15th.

Chicago, New York, and Atlanta are three major cities that I regularly monitor. Atlanta has always had fierce competition, and gotten work done early. New York use to not be so bad, but has increasingly gotten more competitive, and Chicago was a real surprise for me because they don't normally get the work done so quickly. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I have ever seen Chicago get so much work done so soon. So using those three major metropolitan areas as a litmus test for the rest of the country, and what I have noticed in the past, I don't think we are going to be seeing too many locations with bonuses this quarter.

If you are out in the rural areas of GA, and SC, you may possibly see some, but you also have to keep in mind the number of those locations are few in comparison thousands of locations in the cities I just mentioned. So yeah there likely will be a locations with bonuses here and there by the time the quarter ends, but I don't think it will be very many of them.

Add to that the fact that they have plenty of time not to add bonuses, and allow the lowest paid shoppers to do their thing, and work for base pay. Because we are only 1 month into a 4 month cycle. There is still three months to go, and plenty of time for them to sit back, yawn, and not worry about things. More or less, I think the MSC has got this in the bag because even though pay is at a historic low, they are still getting it a lot of the work done.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2022 02:55AM by Curious99.

Yea, but remember the turnover in this business. It used to happen with shops like Publix, RAC, etc. I've seen rounds where shoppers steal all my regular shops but the next round those new shoppers are gone. This month we've been focusing on Chevron, not BP. We will probably focus on BP next month a little more. But the other company tried to be cheap in first quarter and not put bonuses on Marathons 1st quarter. We ended up getting quite a few Marathons to wrap into the Chevron routes this time for between 45-70 each. It will be interesting to see what happens with Exxon too because NOONE is taking them with the 1.50 added around here they are just sitting there. I think that some of these new shoppers won't be able to take the inconsistent payroll. (Most of these young folks don't know how to budget for highs and lows). I can't personally do big shops (with lots of dispensers and acreage), my husband does all the bigger locations. I wish I knew where Synoco and Publix went and if anyone knows they can PM me. Most of the Marathons/Citgo's out here are up to 13-14 dollars already. They will probably be 20-25 before you know it.

I've knocked out about 15 of the BP near me. Most are 8-12 pumps and the longest I have taken, doing the report on-site, has been 45 minutes. Most are around the 30 minute mark. This is fast enough that I can keep a good bit over the $30/hr mark. I consider that my "in town" rate, and try to plan for $40 if I am traveling. I have never seen bonuses in the hundreds in this area though, so I'm happy to keep this rate.

Assuming that were true, I wonder how sustainable that is before the work runs out.

@Curtzey wrote:

I've knocked out about 15 of the BP near me. Most are 8-12 pumps and the longest I have taken, doing the report on-site, has been 45 minutes. Most are around the 30 minute mark. This is fast enough that I can keep a good bit over the $30/hr mark. I consider that my "in town" rate, and try to plan for $40 if I am traveling. I have never seen bonuses in the hundreds in this area though, so I'm happy to keep this rate.

Assuming you are really that fast, a) you have a really good camera on your phone and aren't taking back up pictures, your stores are really clean or your letting stores slide for obvious infractions.
My camera isn't that good, B I don't let everybody slide and the stores aren't that clean here. the only stores you can do in 30 minutes here are small and slow. And what happens if you have to wait for a pump??? That timing isn't realistic for me or my area...

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

And what happens if you have to wait for a pump??? That timing isn't realistic for me or my area...

Yeah, that seems to be true in the south. lol. Maybe if you're in New Jersey it might be different. The way they have their stations up there is someone pumps your gas for you and when done, they expect you to move your car. They don't just let you sit at the pump all day if you want to up there. They keep you moving. Maybe that's where he is from.

But even still, I'm a bit skeptical of it taking just 30 minutes if you are doing everything in the app, and submitting on site. It would seem like it would be too easy to miss something with the way editing nick picks at our reports.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2022 04:38AM by Curious99.

Some day the pay will go down to $10 and someone somewhere will still justify getting it done.

And I will get so many that will literally sit at a pump and use their phone, especially since the weather has been scorching.

I did one to test and it took 1 hr on-site and maybe 5 minutes to complete report (the narrative part and any photos I took without inputting at the time). I guess I could possibly get it down to 45 min on a not-busy day with the app working perfectly (the customers and the app slow me down more than infractions unless there’s an infraction at every pump). But not less than 45 so that the maximum was 45. Probably 45-55 minutes. Just because bonuses have never been in the hundreds there (that’s very few locations for any brand) doesn’t mean you should do shops for the base pay. If the individuals went up to $30-$40 in the majority of locations around the country, why would you do them for less than that for a combined shop unless you were broke and there weren’t any other shops around? Even if you’re over your $30/hr rate?

@Curtzey wrote:

I've knocked out about 15 of the BP near me. Most are 8-12 pumps and the longest I have taken, doing the report on-site, has been 45 minutes. Most are around the 30 minute mark. This is fast enough that I can keep a good bit over the $30/hr mark. I consider that my "in town" rate, and try to plan for $40 if I am traveling. I have never seen bonuses in the hundreds in this area though, so I'm happy to keep this rate.

Not doing jobs to wait for the rate to go up is a great way to not do any jobs. Maybe they will go high enough to make up for it, but maybe they won't. It's strictly a gamble.
I can do 20 of these at base and make $560. I can wait for them to go up to $40 and make $800 in the possible future. If at that point someone has done 10 of them, or picks up at that point as well so I have to share the work, now I have $400.
Given those options, I'll take the $560. It meets my criteria for hourly, and I have NEVER seen all the shops for any project just sit until the bonus is 50%.
For active trying to get these done in 30, I have found that the easiest thing for me is not to feel forced to follow the order of the report. As soon as I reveal, I start the dispensers. Do any that are free, and collect the missing ones as you go. The last couple are still blocked, get the canopy, or the MID.. be ready as soon as the car pulls away. At extremely busy stations with cars lined up, I've waited with a view of the pump, and snapped my picture with zoom when the first car pulls away. I rarely go over 40 minutes with a 12 pump or less.

I always do dispensers first for outside portion and do as you do (which is why if the app is glitchy I can’t input as I go), but you have to wait in line twice. At many stations in my area that’s 10-15 minutes right there. Maybe wait a few minutes for restrooms. I spend time looking for a cheap item to buy. You have to check prices inside and do all the store portion and counter. Or do you reveal after you purchase, or not wait in line when you go back with the letter? Then there’s filling out the form and returning a third time, so actually for BP it means three times in line.

Yes, sometimes you may be out $160 if you wait (but your hourly will go up) but this is why the rates are going down instead of up; people take them too quickly. Sometimes you’ll make the $800 and it should even out of you pay attention to how quickly they get snatched up. Last quarter they started at 18 (it was a single plus) and most locations all over the country were available when they reached $30.

The base pay may have been cut 22%, but the end pay has been cut much more since people are grabbing them as $28 shops instead of viewing them as two $14 shops. Or a shop and a half for $28.

@Curtzey wrote:

Not doing jobs to wait for the rate to go up is a great way to not do any jobs. Maybe they will go high enough to make up for it, but maybe they won't. It's strictly a gamble.
I can do 20 of these at base and make $560. I can wait for them to go up to $40 and make $800 in the possible future. If at that point someone has done 10 of them, or picks up at that point as well so I have to share the work, now I have $400.
Given those options, I'll take the $560. It meets my criteria for hourly, and I have NEVER seen all the shops for any project just sit until the bonus is 50%.
For active trying to get these done in 30, I have found that the easiest thing for me is not to feel forced to follow the order of the report. As soon as I reveal, I start the dispensers. Do any that are free, and collect the missing ones as you go. The last couple are still blocked, get the canopy, or the MID.. be ready as soon as the car pulls away. At extremely busy stations with cars lined up, I've waited with a view of the pump, and snapped my picture with zoom when the first car pulls away. I rarely go over 40 minutes with a 12 pump or less.

I rarely take pictures inside the app. IF the picture is blurry etc, plus you can't take two pictures inside the app then eliminate the one that doesn't look as good. We do out-of-town routes so we try to take lots of pictures, number 1. Then since pumps have to be done out of order, we sit in the car and check out pictures to make sure we have not forgotten any (we don't want to go back) and (yes, even after doing this for 5 years we still forget one occasionally. Especially if some idiot is standing around blocking you from taking your picture and you get tired of waiting and say you will come back to it.) We go through our pictures and write down the number of each pump in our picture to make sure we have them all. These additional steps only take a few minutes. My husband is like you guys he walks outside and immediately starts the exterior after revealing. I don't. After the reveal, I immediately take the counter shot. Then I proceed with the paraphernalia, checking the ceiling lights and the coolers. I look down odd aisles and by the office door and game machines for porn. Then I proceed to the restrooms for a quick eval and pictures including my vest shot. For stores that I regularly do or have done before I already know what to look for. I remember past infractions, I remember who has paraphernalia, etc. I also look hard in bad areas that I know are likely to have it. I can usually do the entire interior evaluation in under 5 minutes then I'm on to the exterior. The only exception to this is if it's dusk and I want to take my canopy and curb first without the glare of the lights. My phone acts stupid at night sometimes. Then I go to the pumps first then the MID, Canopy, and curb. But I take canopy pole infractions as I'm doing the pumps (I evaluate the entire pump island at the same time (pump, amenities, poles, etc). I take a picture of any strange pop, and credit card stickers as I go then I compare them to the current ones later. When I first drive In prior to reveal I try to do a "drive around" if there's room to drive (drive around the store, and 'around' the canopy) so I've already spotted perimeter trash and items stored around the station and know where to look. I don't walk across the street unless it's small and not busy. My husband walks. I drive across the street for the curb appeal if it's a big and fast street. This is because I'm fat, slow, and have bad knees. I have good days and bad days. Plus, I'm not what you call surefooted. I've been known to stumble a time or two (my right knee likes to act stupid sometimes). I think it's just safer and faster than for me to try and do it and take my time. Then with traffic what it is I might be forced to jog across the street. The jog isn't the problem-it's those couple of steps after the jog that my feet /knees like to do stupid things. I also like to type (qwerty) at home on the keyboard. I can type the paragraph on my phone but prefer to type sentences on a keyboard. Short answers like John, Jane, black, short I type on the phone. I type 50% faster on a keyboard than on my phone and my computer doesn't autocorrect as much so it changes a misspelling into a wrong word. My computer red lines it and I have Grammarly so it's easier to make sure it says the correct thing.

There is still waiting in line three times that I count as the inside portion. And pumping gas etc. I don’t do pumps right after reveal either (I also do everything inside first. I do the counter right after the reveal then everything else in the C-store). but I do them first once I go outside so I can go back to missing ones. I take a photo in app, exit the app and take a couple more as extras. I know that the first photo is always the one that I used in the app. It’s much easier to exit and go back on an iPhone; if I had an Android full-time I’d stick with the one photo in the app and then take extras from farther away to use as backups. Not having the report hanging over my head is an intangible plus on the BP’s, so I like to do it on-site if possible, and it is much faster that way. The app was having issues for several quarters though.

If it’s not safe to cross the street I don’t, and I instead take the overall photo from a corner of the lot like I do for other brands. I’ve never had an issue with reports being rejected in those cases. I know I couldn’t find that rule about the overall photo in the guidelines the past few times I’ve looked, so I’m not sure it’s still there.

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

I rarely take pictures inside the app. IF the picture is blurry etc, plus you can't take two pictures inside the app then eliminate the one that doesn't look as good. We do out-of-town routes so we try to take lots of pictures, number 1. Then since pumps have to be done out of order, we sit in the car and check out pictures to make sure we have not forgotten any (we don't want to go back) and (yes, even after doing this for 5 years we still forget one occasionally. Especially if some idiot is standing around blocking you from taking your picture and you get tired of waiting and say you will come back to it.) We go through our pictures and write down the number of each pump in our picture to make sure we have them all. These additional steps only take a few minutes. My husband is like you guys he walks outside and immediately starts the exterior after revealing. I don't. After the reveal, I immediately take the counter shot. Then I proceed with the paraphernalia, checking the ceiling lights and the coolers. I look down odd aisles and by the office door and game machines for porn. Then I proceed to the restrooms for a quick eval and pictures including my vest shot. For stores that I regularly do or have done before I already know what to look for. I remember past infractions, I remember who has paraphernalia, etc. I also look hard in bad areas that I know are likely to have it. I can usually do the entire interior evaluation in under 5 minutes then I'm on to the exterior. The only exception to this is if it's dusk and I want to take my canopy and curb first without the glare of the lights. My phone acts stupid at night sometimes. Then I go to the pumps first then the MID, Canopy, and curb. But I take canopy pole infractions as I'm doing the pumps (I evaluate the entire pump island at the same time (pump, amenities, poles, etc). I take a picture of any strange pop, and credit card stickers as I go then I compare them to the current ones later. When I first drive In prior to reveal I try to do a "drive around" if there's room to drive (drive around the store, and 'around' the canopy) so I've already spotted perimeter trash and items stored around the station and know where to look. I don't walk across the street unless it's small and not busy. My husband walks. I drive across the street for the curb appeal if it's a big and fast street. This is because I'm fat, slow, and have bad knees. I have good days and bad days. Plus, I'm not what you call surefooted. I've been known to stumble a time or two (my right knee likes to act stupid sometimes). I think it's just safer and faster than for me to try and do it and take my time. Then with traffic what it is I might be forced to jog across the street. The jog isn't the problem-it's those couple of steps after the jog that my feet /knees like to do stupid things. I also like to type (qwerty) at home on the keyboard. I can type the paragraph on my phone but prefer to type sentences on a keyboard. Short answers like John, Jane, black, short I type on the phone. I type 50% faster on a keyboard than on my phone and my computer doesn't autocorrect as much so it changes a misspelling into a wrong word. My computer red lines it and I have Grammarly so it's easier to make sure it says the correct thing.

@Notme2021 wrote:

I did one to test and it took 1 hr on-site and maybe 5 minutes to complete report (the narrative part and any photos I took without inputting at the time). I guess I could possibly get it down to 45 min on a not-busy day with the app working perfectly (the customers and the app slow me down more than infractions unless there’s an infraction at every pump)...

After signing up to do one as a test run, I arrived at a similar conclusion. When I got to my first location to do the test run, I couldn't get a cell phone signal for about 6 minutes, and then when I did, it was super slow before losing signal again. So I said screw it to doing it in the app. I just took the pictures, and made the necessary notes within my phone. Then before I could finish that, I had this big fat guy sit at the last pump that I needed, and would not budge for a whole 10 minutes. So there was just no way I was going to get all this done within app, within 30 minutes as suggested in the YouTube video that was put out for doing these. Just not happening for me.

I do think someone could probably get it done around in 40 to 45 minutes if they are not running into any sort of problems though. So it would seem we arrived at similar conclusions.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2022 03:37PM by Curious99.

@LindaM wrote:

Some day the pay will go down to $10 and someone somewhere will still justify getting it done.

Yep, I could see that happening. During a previous quarter the starting pay was set to $15 before later being raised back to $18. Now we have a situation where 2 audits that used to be $18 each, are now combined into one to pay $28. So what do you think might happen in Quarter 3 of this year?

I think what may happen is the MSC thinks they had such great success this quarter, that they feel emboldened to lower the starting pay back to $15 again in the next quarter. Then after that I could see them wanting to lower it around $12.50 or $10 to be more in line with what other brands pay, such as Gulf, and Valero.

I don't think it is the intention of the MSC to pay shoppers significantly more to work on the BP Brand than for the other gas station brands. That it was just how the contracts worked out that BP happened to pay more in the beginning, but my hunch is that they would absolutely love their BP pay out to match the low pay out on the Valeros, and Gulfs, and over time, it may very well be. And you know what they'll be telling shoppers then? "But it's so quick and easy". Like we haven't ever heard that line before.

I see no indication that they intend to hold the starting pay of shopper pay steady over time.

@Curtzey wrote:

Not doing jobs to wait for the rate to go up is a great way to not do any jobs. Maybe they will go high enough to make up for it, but maybe they won't. It's strictly a gamble. I can do 20 of these at base and make $560. I can wait for them to go up to $40 and make $800 in the possible future. If at that point someone has done 10 of them, or picks up at that point as well so I have to share the work, now I have $400. Given those options, I'll take the $560...

Isn't everything a gamble? You can't win the big money if you aren't willing to roll the dice.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2022 04:51AM by Curious99.

ConocoPhillips starts at $8. People did those shops at that rate as a "Test run" and then proceeded to the forum to inform others of what the shop entailed. My advice is free (sometimes that's what it's worth). My test runs cost more.

Someday might be a lot sooner than we can imagine.

@LindaM wrote:

Some day the pay will go down to $10 and someone somewhere will still justify getting it done.

@patman9760 wrote:

ConocoPhillips starts at $8. People did those shops at that rate as a "Test run" and then proceeded to the forum to inform others of what the shop entailed. My advice is free (sometimes that's what it's worth). My test runs cost more.

Someday might be a lot sooner than we can imagine.

@LindaM wrote:

Some day the pay will go down to $10 and someone somewhere will still justify getting it done.

Oh yeah, I know what you are talking about with that. What concerns me though is the idea of someone taking out a loan for a house, or car, thinking that is do-able on mystery shopper income, only to later feel like the rug was pulled out from under them with the shenanigans that the MSC likes to play with shopper pay. A shopper has never been guaranteed to make a certain amount of money via bonus pay increases, but as of recently, not even starting pay is safe from reductions anymore. This is despite the fact that the cost of living continues to go up.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2022 04:52AM by Curious99.