Anyone done these shops for a travel store with the big red heart on them?

It's not a competitor shop but you have to make an in-store purchase at the convenience store, a carry out order at the restaurant and a drive-through purchase.

How's the form? Lots of questions? Narratives? Not sure I like the idea of a picture of the bathroom at a truckstop....ewww. LOL

Any help you can give will be appreciated.

1) Wait for a bonus because this is approximately three shops in one. 2) Wait for additional responses after this one because shop requirements might have changed recently (or simply vary from round to round). Other people can tell you about their experiences.

My most recent shop was months ago. Things might be different now. I then needed human-free pics of store; restroom; dining room; examples of excellence and/or issues; names and descriptions of each person with whom I interacted; pictures of each meal; precise timings for each restaurant experience; images of all receipts; and perhaps more exterior images than of curb appeal and signs. ? Was I instructed to park at a pump and evaluate the fuel area? I had to check the expiration dates on specific food items. I was required to taste and comment on each meal. I have forgotten what else, if anything, was required. Other members might have additional or different information that might vary from round to round or simply have changed recently.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2022 12:27PM by Shop-et-al.

@condorchristi wrote:

Not sure I like the idea of a picture of the bathroom at a truckstop....ewww. LOL

You might be surprised to find the cleanest restroom you've ever seen.

Truck stops compete as it's a lucrative business if you can attract truckers to your place. Think about selling 50-100 gallons of diesel to one customer? cha-ching!

And there are plenty of female truckers out there if that's you concern from you handle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2022 01:19PM by wrosie.

I have quite a bit of experience with these, and they generally take me between 20 to 40 minutes on site. And they take me 20 to 40 minutes to debrief on my phone. Therefore, I would say that the average location takes about an hour total of my time. They're not difficult, they are just long. They want photos of every infraction. They also want overall photos if there are no infractions. You have to get names and or descriptions, and you have to observe and evaluate multiple associates. These are not worth doing for the base pay. Not even close. However, they generally bonus well towards the end of the month. Without travel, I will do one of these for $25. I wouldn't consider doing them for less than that. They are also more lucrative if you really need the food. However, when I'm shopping alone, having to purchase a meal inside and another meal through the drive-thru just leaves me with more food than I need. If it's close to home and you can refrigerate the food, or you have friends or family that can eat the additional food, then that's cool.

The least of my concern, as stated above, would be the restroom. They are generally clean and well maintained. Often the locations are quite busy, though, and that can make any photos a bit more challenging. You just have to be fearless. You have to just go in there and start taking pictures.

There are 7 to 9 narrative boxes, so if you do four to five sentences per narrative box, you will be looking at about 35 sentences total of narrative.

I can't believe people pick these up for the starting base pay. But that's their prerogative I suppose.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2022 02:02PM by thunderdeacon.

I'd LOVE to find out how you make out.

The two locations I have shopped and those I have visited while traveling maintain the restrooms.
Your biggest issue there should be keeping yourself and others out of the images while remembering to photograph any issues..

I accepted one for $100 and after reading all the requirements, asked the scheduler to cancel.

This is NOT revealed, which to me (at the time, using a digital camera) made taking the many photos a problem. Many pages of guidelines!

Now that I have a smart phone and use it to take photos, maybe not so bad.

I estimated my time on site would be about 40 minutes, I might have to spend up to $25, and a very high risk that I would miss something vital on the report and not get paid. Not my cup of tea. Plus it's 60 miles away from me.

A totally different MSC gives me $30 to do a straight mystery shop, only photo requirement infractions and receipt. These places are so well maintained (and so busy!) that I rarely find infractions. The straight mystery shop is easy to work into a route, rarely take 15 minutes, and the report is short and sweet.

I've done the competitor shop which has significantly less work and, for some reason, gets bonused faster and higher. No restaurant to evaluate . It is also difficult to discern which is the actual shop and which is the competitor shop with the sticky note instructions. I found the competitor shop to be relatively simple and, although there was some narrative, I thought the bonus pay was sufficient. I would not attempt the regular shop unless it was very well bonused because the restaurant involved in the ones I see is gross, in my opinion, and holds no profit value to me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2022 03:19PM by sestrahelena.

They aren't hard and don't require a lot of narrative, but it ends up being sort of long because there are a lot of things to evaluate and a lot of pictures. The first one I ever did was bonused at $100, so I've been spoiled ever since then lol. Usually I'll catch them for $50-$70 on route to something else.

@sestrahelena wrote:

I've done the competitor shop which has significantly less work and, for some reason, gets bonused faster and higher. No restaurant to evaluate . It is also difficult to discern which is the actual shop and which is the competitor shop with the sticky note instructions. I found the competitor shop to be relatively simple and, although there was some narrative, I thought the bonus pay was sufficient. I would not attempt the regular shop unless it was very well bonused because the restaurant involved in the ones I see is gross, in my opinion, and holds no profit value to me.

Yeah, down here the competitor shops are like 40 miles apart. I don't see the percentage in doing them.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

The least of my concern, as stated above, would be the restroom. They are generally clean and well maintained. Often the locations are quite busy, though, and that can make any photos a bit more challenging. You just have to be fearless. You have to just go in there and start taking pictures.

I'm not worried about cleanliness. Especially at Loves. Most of these corporate chain truck stops have made it their mission in life to, at least, have clean rest rooms. Its the foot traffic and taking a picture in a restroom that is bound to be occupied that gives me pause.

I have shopped 8 of them. They really ARE 3 shops in one if the restaurant is open. It's best to go during graveyard shift when the restaurants are likely closed. I got stuck with 4 of these shops on a recent 33-shop route. I would not have done them if not part of the route. These shops are among the absolute worst. If you complete one in 40 minutes, you are probably missing things. Average time on-site is more like 60 minutes. There has to be better ways to earn 15 bucks for an hour's work. BTW, the restroom doesn't have to be vacant. Only the area that your camera covers needs to be vacant. Learn to not spend time on focusing the camera. All your have to do is hold still for a fraction of a second if you are using a smartphone. Learn to shoot from the hip. You could take about 5 pictures in 1 second. At least one of them should be usable.

Surprisingly the restrooms at national truck stop are extremely clean.

At least one heart location announces for all to hear when it is time to check restrooms and shower areas.

I haven't done these in a while. Do they still require the purchase of a shower?

I just did one on Thursday and I agree with everyone else that they are not worth doing until highly bonused. The locations that I have done are usually pretty clean and well maintained so not super difficult. As mentioned, just lots to observe. I completed mine in about 25 minutes.

@foodluvr wrote:

I haven't done these in a while. Do they still require the purchase of a shower?

No, these are different. You have to observe and take photos covertly of several other areas. You don't do the shower thing.

Thanks to all for commenting; you saved ma a PITA. I drive by a competitor each Sat. & Sun. morn and evening. It is listed @ $20+$25, but as the location does not have a drive-thru it would actually be $20+$15. I was thinking of self-assigning, but decided to pass.

Bob, if it is a competitor, then it will not have a restaurant portion. So it would just be a $5 reimbursement. The regular, non-competitor locations are the ones where you have to evaluate the restaurant as well.

Deacon,

This competitor definitely has a restaurant; I purchase my fuel at the location and have occasionally had a bite. Since the MSC has not been named, it is Pilot.

Deacon means that there is no restaurant evaluation in the competitor shop.

Usually the non- competitor shop has that $25 reimbursement. Again, those sticky notes are difficult to sort out.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2022 12:51AM by sestrahelena.

Even though there are restaurants at the competitor locations, the restaurants do not get evaluated at the competitors. They only get evaluated at the main locations.

Deacon,

That never crossed my mind; thank you for the correction.

@shopperbob wrote:

Deacon,

This competitor definitely has a restaurant; I purchase my fuel at the location and have occasionally had a bite. Since the MSC has not been named, it is Pilot.

Even with the glaring clue that says the name of the company, you got it wrong. It is not Pilot.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2022 02:55AM by AZwolfman.

The competitor is Pilot in this case.

@AZwolfman wrote:

@shopperbob wrote:

Deacon,

This competitor definitely has a restaurant; I purchase my fuel at the location and have occasionally had a bite. Since the MSC has not been named, it is Pilot.

Even with the glaring clue that says the name of the company, you got it wrong. It is not Pilot.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

The competitor is Pilot in this case.

@AZwolfman wrote:

@shopperbob wrote:

Deacon,

This competitor definitely has a restaurant; I purchase my fuel at the location and have occasionally had a bite. Since the MSC has not been named, it is Pilot.

Even with the glaring clue that says the name of the company, you got it wrong. It is not Pilot.

Oh,okay, I see. I thought you were referring to the MSC. I guess that is just another clue then.