How are you shopping with the price of gas?

The shops are paying next to nothing and you normally need to drive a bit for a shop. How is this making any sense?

There was a shop that I got an email for where you get $18 worth of a product, and no other compensation. The closest location to me is 55 miles away. It would cost $30 in gas and two hours driving to do this. The MSC knows my distance and I get an email asking which ones I can do. I am not a charity.

The amount of local shops has gone down since Covid. I do some Five Guys shops, that's it.

How are you surviving the gas prices and low shop fees? Are you getting bonus money for gas?

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I take shops if they meet my profit requirements. I usually route shop, so the travel cost is spread out over many shops and gasoline is not the most significant factor. Everyone else also is affected, so some locations are not taken as quickly, and I can use them to make a good route where before I might not have been able. On the other hand, some out of state routes I might have considered before are not on the table now.

I am pickier now and won't do many shops I used to be willing to do. When a scheduler really wants me to do certain shops I have done before, I spell out how much of a bonus I need for each shop. The scheduler is usually happy to pay the bonus.

As for shops with lowered fees, I usually won't do them unless the MSC gives me a bonus to make up for the changed fees.

I'm with buzz, I'm getting way pickier. Figuring out the cost of getting there before accept a job. Unfortunately my son is not, I've had to gently suggest that he cancel some of the shops that he has accepted because we can't afford to get him there.

I still do the airport I’m badged for, heavily bonused Five Guys, a few nearby restaurants I happen to like, and parking shops when I need the parking anyway. Not much else. I think the last mini-route I did to a city 60 miles away was in mid-May becuase there was a heavily bonused oil change shop and I needed one. The employers at the other jobs I do have increased their hours and pay, so there’s no point in going out of my way for paltry fees.

We used to drive to 75 miles each way for restaurant shops in Philly. When gas was less expensive, this was not an issue. Now, there is no way. Or, I would drive 40 miles for a $50 car shop when they still had those.

In 2007, I accepted I had failed as a full time shopper and devised a plan to only shop according to what was profitable for me. In the passing 15 years, it has worked beyond my expectation. I only work when a job meets at least one of the following conditions:

1-Money
2-A lifestyle enjoyment. Generally, that would be a restaurant.
3-I am driving by or near a location on non-shopping business or pleasure and I wish to defray some expenses.

Predicated upon the above, it has been a simple matter of adjusting for both gas prices and inflation. To the best of my recollection, I have never accepted a sub paying shop to "help out either a scheduler or MSC." You can bet your rump neither of those two ever paid more to aid a shopper. After all, this IS business!

There isn't usually much going on where I live so I am primarily a full time route shopper. I schedule a bunch of jobs I can do within an area and on the way there and back home.

Kimberly Wilson

I only take jobs that I will be driving by. Often means no scheduling ahead.

I generally only do routes or wait for bonuses to appear. If another shopper grabs it at a lower rate, so be it. I generally don't leave my house for less than $15 and with gas pricing where its at, it'd have to be close by or a company I have a history with and am doing it as a favor.

I’m shopping much less. I’m spending more (inflation). I’m in trouble. I got a 3% raise. My water bill is going up 20% my gas bill is going up 30%. Ain’t that something? I’m using much less and still paying much more.

I bailed out on everything except Krogers, gas stations and Sonic. I'll only do a Sonic on a road trip to buy me lunch and make a few bucks. If it's late enough and remote enough, they've been known to pay in the $30-$50 range. Gas stations I'll only do if it's on a Kroger road trip route and only if it's in bonus pay range. I'm grossing way more and doing fewer gigs per month, so I'm guessing I have less competition in my part of the state than this time last year.

Well, I drive hundreds of miles every week to take kids to baseball/ softball/etc... I just schedule work nearby.

If I don't at least double my expenses I don't do the job. I sent a memo to a scheduler yesterday telling her what it would cost for some out-of-the-area visits based on 6.25 per gallon gas here in California. At least she won't be surprised...shocked but not surprised.

I normally do reimbursement jobs IF I will be in the vicinity. It is not worth it to me to drive and spend time. We will drive up to 20 miles for a fine dining shop. Phone shops allow you to work without leaving your home but the pay is so low; BYE.

Not only is gas an expense, but vehicle depreciation is something to consider as well.

@Niner wrote:

The shops are paying next to nothing and you normally need to drive a bit for a shop. [...]

Even if fuel was free, I wouldn't accept any shop which pays "next to nothing."

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2022 02:58PM by Rousseau.

I'm so grateful that where I live (northwest corner of SC) that gas has come down in price. At the Murphy (Walmart) station near me, it's now $3.87/gal, and at the Ingles grocer store near me, it's $3.96. Don't know how long it will last, but I'll take it! I filled up yesterday, and am doing 6 more candy gummies recall stores today that will be about a 34 mile round trip gig, so not too bad. At least for that job, I'm also getting reimbursed $0.30/mile, so everything helps!

As of July 1st, the IRS rate is $0.625 per mile. The additional $0.325 per mile that you are not receiving (it is BTW, not a reimbursement) will be deductible on Schedule C when you file your TY 2022 tax return.

@guysmom wrote:

I'm also getting reimbursed $0.30/mile, so everything helps!

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

Being on the east edge of the DFW metroplex, there are still lots of shops. I've always stayed on the east side wit a 25 mile radius. Then I had to cut it down to 20 and now I will not take a shop over 15 miles away.

@barbage wrote:

Being on the east edge of the DFW metroplex, there are still lots of shops. I've always stayed on the east side wit a 25 mile radius. Then I had to cut it down to 20 and now I will not take a shop over 15 miles away.

if I cut my radius down to 15 miles, I would work once a month maybe twice if I'm lucky. And the only fast food I would get to do is arby's and sonic.

@Morledzep wrote:

if I cut my radius down to 15 miles, I would work once a month maybe twice if I'm lucky. And the only fast food I would get to do is arby's and sonic.

I think this may be one reason for the disconnect between shoppers and rates of pay. The ones that don't live in the boonies can't picture it and we can't picture being able to do 5 or 10 shops without having to drive forever!

@patman9760 wrote:

@Morledzep wrote:

if I cut my radius down to 15 miles, I would work once a month maybe twice if I'm lucky. And the only fast food I would get to do is arby's and sonic.

I think this may be one reason for the disconnect between shoppers and rates of pay. The ones that don't live in the boonies can't picture it and we can't picture being able to do 5 or 10 shops without having to drive forever!

I live in a major city and will not work for crap pay. Its quite often that I have to drive 40 miles across town, never leaving urbanized area, to find shops worth doing. Its is also not at all unusual to do shops 100 miles out-of-town. I would hardly call 100 miles forever. That's just commuting.

I sometimes drive 800 miles in one day. However, I need to gross $800 or more to make that work.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2022 11:44PM by thunderdeacon.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

I sometimes drive 800 miles in one day. However, I need to gross $800 or more to make that work.

I can't drive 800 miles and still work. There isn't that much daylight, not even in the summer..

I am shopping less. Much less. Not because of gas prices, but because I’m busy with my 9-5 and personal life.

I at times shop at a loss for tax purposes. Or I shop the ink shops because I am going to buy clearance items at Staples or Walmart and the $8- $10 is just added money.

@Morledzep wrote:

@thunderdeacon wrote:

I sometimes drive 800 miles in one day. However, I need to gross $800 or more to make that work.

I can't drive 800 miles and still work. There isn't that much daylight, not even in the summer..

That's why I usually leave before dawn and often finish after dark. Not the best situation, but with the MSCs offerring the bonuses in a narrower and narrower windows, this is what it has come to for many of us. Wait, wait, wait, and then work non-stop without rest for a week or so.

Regardless of what the notes say, they do bonus on those. Just an FYI.

@Capurato wrote:

I am shopping less. Much less. Not because of gas prices, but because I’m busy with my 9-5 and personal life.

I at times shop at a loss for tax purposes. Or I shop the ink shops because I am going to buy clearance items at Staples or Walmart and the $8- $10 is just added money.

@mystery2me wrote:

@Morledzep wrote:

@thunderdeacon wrote:

I sometimes drive 800 miles in one day. However, I need to gross $800 or more to make that work.

I can't drive 800 miles and still work. There isn't that much daylight, not even in the summer..

That's why I usually leave before dawn and often finish after dark. Not the best situation, but with the MSCs offerring the bonuses in a narrower and narrower windows, this is what it has come to for many of us. Wait, wait, wait, and then work non-stop without rest for a week or so.

Well that is the truth. That is also why I have to take several days in between spurts to recover, because my body can't take it anymore. But I can't drive 800 miles in a day. Even if I could afford to run out and buy myself a more efficient vehicle for making long road trips, with my current health issues, I just don't think I could do that without a couple of days of downtime in a motel.

I agree completely. When I started, I was able to drive longer and work more days. Now every route feels like a marathon, where endurance is the key. But for me, driving is more restful than walking around do the shops, and I actually feel relieved when I do a bunch of close together shops and then I come up on a long stretch of driving to the next location. But 800 miles, yeah, that would be an ordeal.

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