To each their own. We are in a no-win situation. If a MS company doesn't provide clear directions, denies your report and refuses to pay you, what are you going to do? There isn't anyone that is going to do anything. I've seen so many MS come and go. I've heard stories of companies not paying for any of their shops.
Sometimes things just aren't addressed until the client doesn't like their report and is looking for something to get it omitted. I've had it happened on a location that had issues and didn't want the report to be used. Sometimes you aren't just risking that one shop but all future shops for that client.
I can see strong reasons why companies wouldn't want you to use gift cards or coupons when they are reimbursing you for the food. If the reimbursement is $30, the company may be expecting $15 worth of food cost to be used. If you use a coupon to get $40 worth of food for $30, it is now costing the company an extra $5 for the report.
The same is similar for gift cards because there are often extra money or discounts offered when you purchase a gift card. You buy $50 of gift cards and get $10 extra. You are paying a discounted price and getting full price reimbursed. Also, I'm guessing there are fees and cost of issuing gift cards.
Similarly, I've seen directions on grocery store reports that prohibit using food stamps to purchase items that receive reimbursement. I'm not sure exactly how but I think that falls under some kind of fraud by "selling" the food stamps.
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
Really, Jasper?
Think about the guidelines that you see. Most of them are telling you what to do and how to do it. Some even have diagrams, videos, or "flow charts". Some will tell you not to make any modifications to food. Others will tell you pay cash only or not use gift cards. If they want something done a certain way (or not done a certain way) it is their duty to inform you of their rule. It's not your responsibility to ask them if everything you want to do is okay. You follow the rules they specify and if they don't address something, they cannot penalize you for something they did not explicitly tell you that was prohibited. I know people that have used coupons repeatedly for more than 1 year. If they did NOT want that, they would have said something by now.
When I do dining shops (fast food or restaurant), the first thing I scan for in the guidelines is gift cards and coupons and variations of these words. If not found, it's fair game!
@JasperJohnson wrote:
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
My mindset is, if they don't say you can't, you can until they specify otherwise. There are too many things to tell you that you CAN do. Its easy for them to list the things you cannot do. If they don't list it as a restriction, it's fair game until they do so.
If they had to list everything you can't do, the instructions would be 10 pages long.