@mgulis wrote:
The reality is that $10-12 shops just don't come close to my hourly rate in my full time job. I really don't mean to be rude at all, but they don't seem worth my time comparatively.
I don't think you're being rude at all! I don't think there's many out there that would do something they didn't feel was worth their time.
You have brought up a lot of great points. Reveal shops can be intimidating, especially for new shoppers. I won't tell you that "embarrassing situations" never happen, but they are very rare (judging by how rarely they are reported to me, but I understand that maybe they aren't always reported to me).
$30 makes sense to me for those bar audits. Generally, there's a bit more to it than just making sure they check ID's (cash handling, service, etc). The reports are fairly easy, but if you saw one of these tobacco/alcohol compliance reports I think you'd agree that they are even easier than those bar audit reports. The bar audits, like regular restaurant shops, usually require a narrative of the visit and these do not. An experienced shopper can likely do a bar audit report in 10-15 minutes, whereas the compliance ones that I have are less than 5 minutes for even new shoppers to the project. I know that "less than 5 minutes" is something all schedulers say, and sometimes isn't true, but it is absolutely true for these.
I can't really say much about pay other than everyone has a different feeling of what their time is worth. It is totally understandable to me that a shopper in a suburban or rural area would be turned off by $12-$15, considering they have to travel 5-10 miles in between each location, or further. City shoppers though, can realistically do 3 of these an hour (or more), with very little travel in between. That puts them at $36-$45 per hour and very low expenses. Those are the shoppers I try to target, since the $12-$15 pay per shop can add up to an above average hourly wage.