Hello-I have not received a reply from the MSC after requesting information for 3 days and i need clarification. There is a requirement to hold an item in your hand, and a requirement for a photo of all items and the cart. How should the item in one's hand be positioned in the photo?
Thank you for your assistance

It's difficult enough to get the picture, but if I remember correctly I used the 0.5x magnification camera and held the item naturally while clutching the cart exactly as they described for when you check out. Downward facing palm, as if you're just holding it on your way out.

I did one of these the other day and when I read the guidelines on my phone in the morning, the required item to purchase and hold in your hand was a bottle of coca cola. Later, in the evening when I was submitting the shop, the guidelines had changed and the required item was now the marker, as it had been in the past. I was surprised, but not really concerned, as I still had the guidelines showing the coca cola downloaded on my phone. The shop was accepted with no problem. I'm hoping they nixed the idea of purchasing and returning a bottle of coke. Who does that? I thought it was a very silly requirement.

Thank you so much for helping me! Do I need a selfie stick? I don't understand how to get my hand in the frame with the cart. Thank you again.

You don't need a selfie stick. You have to just reach out to the cart while holding the item, and kind of lean away and take the photo with your phone using your other hand.

All of this sounds lame. What are they paying for this kind of nonsense? Maybe take a friend/family member and have them take the picture? Better be paying good to even worry about nonsense like this.

They start at $55

Just hold the item in one hand in front of the cart, and snap the photo with the other hand. That's all. It doesn't have to be positioned the same way as when you check out. They just want to see it is your hand. Doesn't even have to show your hand.

Did anyone notice fewer shops being offered this go round? I wasn't sure if it was just me. I also noticed way fewer Home Depot Self Check Out jobs this time. Last time it was go through self checkout and no return was involved. This time the buy list was an exact mirror of the Baseline with just a substitution of SKU A so they bumped the pay. The were fewer of the $10 Specialty Shops available this go around. Last time there were still some on the board before the "Last Day" going for $18 that seemed to go unclaimed.

@Snuffycuts99 When I first saw the shops pop up, I noticed the Coca-Cola item and figured that returning this item, would be problematic. The last round had a 24 pack of water as a purchase/return and I got pushback from a couple of stores with the water.

Did the Home Depot where you returned the bottle of Coke give you a hard time with the return?

As you said, they changed the guidelines at the last minute when shopping was already LIVE! and they also had to substitute out the Alternate SKU - pack of water. They still left "SKU A Coke Bottle" in the survey though.

I sent them a detailed note on the first shop I did this round, outlining all the discrepancies between the Certification Quiz (which said you needed to buy and return a bottle of coke), the survey which still lists SKU A as a beverage and the latest guidelines going back to the markers as SKU A. Of course, as always, no response. For the life of me can not figure out why they will not communicate! A simple email to everyone assigned the shop alerting to the SKU A change would have taken some a few minutes max. Instead, they leave everyone wondering/guessing and hoping to get it right. I am glad they removed the beverage requirement, as that would be a hot mess to explain during the return - and I'm sure the store would have to dispose of the returned beverage due to COVID concerns.

The picture part is super easy. Just zoom out on your phone, hold the pens in your hand and take a picture of that shows everything in the cart. You don't need to show the entire cart itself - that is very hard to do if you are taking the picture yourself. I usually do this from the side of the cart as its easier to show everything in the cart that way. Just make sure the pens aren't covering up anything in the cart, and make sure that the item in the bottom of the cart is visible (even just the lid showing will suffice). The picture in the guidelines is a bit misleading, as it was obviously taken by someone else. You do NOT need to show yourself in the picture, or even the entire cart - just a picture showing exactly how the items are placed in the cart prior to checkout.

I was worried about returning the Coke but fortunately the return associate said nothing about it. She was in a very good mood and she did her job very well! I actually enjoy these shops...hoping a lot more locations hit the board soon!

I don't believe that grocery stores can legally put returned food items back on the shelves. I believe they have to throw it out.

I would guess this would apply to other store types. Now if they DO put them back out for sale, that's on them.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

All of this sounds lame. What are they paying for this kind of nonsense? Maybe take a friend/family member and have them take the picture? Better be paying good to even worry about nonsense like this.

It's basically an integrity audit to see if stuff is being rung up accurately.

@Beastie @hbbigdaddy Taking a picture of the cart is very easy and not something to stress about. They probably should have used an overhead pic in the guidelines instead of a side view that made one think a second person took the image. Isn't today the last day to do Baselines that were claimed up last week?

@Snuffycuts99 like you, I was hoping they were staggering the release of these shops since I didn't see the same number of Baselines available as last round. A wiser shopper convinced me that all were released for this quarter. I think we will have to wait another 3 months.

Last time there were even way more of the $10 shops where you build a cart of 4 items, wait for an engagement, and abandon the cart. NO purchase involved. I think there were 4 available last week and now there are 2 of those left. I have never done these $10 ones. They didn't start to move last quarter until they bumped the pay a couple of times.

Re: returning a food item - drink
Today I placed an online lunch order and chose a Diet Coke bottle instead of a fountain drink. When I got to the car, I opened the bag and noticed they gave me a regular Coke bottle. I went into the restaurant and told them I wanted what I ordered and the employee said she couldn't take it back. She then shared that they don't even offer Diet in the bottle at this location, so the app messed up. I explained that I don't drink Coke and wanted something to consume for the drive. She said since I didn't check the bag before I left, there was nothing she could do and if I wanted a fountain Diet Coke, I would have to pay for it -- I thought that's what I did when I ordered it, the first time.

@sestrahelena wrote:

It's basically an integrity audit to see if stuff is being rung up accurately.

@sestrahelena The ringing up of the items is one component of the shop. I think the cashiers are trained to ring up items a certain way based on the survey question. It is rare for a cashier to ring from bottom of cart and work their way up to item in hand. This time around at least one cashier missed 2 of the 6 SKUs.

Another major element of the shop is engaging with HD associates in two departments and evaluate the interactions and they want to know if any associates greeted and engaged with you before you finish building your cart. The returning of items is another component of the shop, as are the parking lot and bathroom evaluations.

This go round of shops took longer to complete than last time. I think some of it had to do with the departments I had to visit and having bad luck on the time of visit where the associates were not readily available in the departments.

I was addressing bigdaddy's observation about the cart build.

$10 for the new round of shops? Ha! However easier it may be, there's no way I'm even walking in the door at that price.

I almost abandoned the baseline. I couldn't find anything! Even with the app. All numbers, ugh! Nobody offered help. There were no people in departments. Nobody led me to the item I was supposed to need help with, just gave a guess as to what aisle it might be in. After mentally crying in the aisle and having some coffee before the next location, I got the shop time down to 45 minutes instead of the 1.5 hours the first one took.

And you guys were my motivation! I just kept in mind all of the positive things other forum members have said in general (don't flake-just muddle through and never do it again, scenarios get easier the more you do them, etc.) Thank you all!

@heywave

Are you going to contact corporate about the drink fiasco? Or you just let it go? I know time is money, but sometimes if a place irritates me enough, I will take the time to let them know about the BS and how the employee/store would not fix what they did wrong. I might have even purchased the Diet Coke and then sent both receipts to corporate and ask them to explain why you were penalized for the location mistake.

I am a fighter, so i usually don't take no as answer from the employees. I did have an incident at a larger chain tire store, so I played along with their nonsense and kept all the details (not a shop, but i kept names, times, and specific details). Then I wrote to corporate and the VP of that region contacted me and profusely apologized and refunded all my money (free tires). I had done business with that chain for years with several vehicles. He wanted to make sure I stayed a customer.

"Re: returning a food item - drink
Today I placed an online lunch order and chose a Diet Coke bottle instead of a fountain drink. When I got to the car, I opened the bag and noticed they gave me a regular Coke bottle. I went into the restaurant and told them I wanted what I ordered and the employee said she couldn't take it back. She then shared that they don't even offer Diet in the bottle at this location, so the app messed up. I explained that I don't drink Coke and wanted something to consume for the drive. She said since I didn't check the bag before I left, there was nothing she could do and if I wanted a fountain Diet Coke, I would have to pay for it -- I thought that's what I did when I ordered it, the first time."

Anyone sign up for the Home Depot Kids Workshops for this weekend? LOL

@hbbigdaddy I didn't bother to call corporate. Even though I was going to be in the car for 30 minutes, I figured it was a waste of time cause it wasn't easy to look up the number and I just wanted to eat and I didn't want to get this person in trouble. I called Popeye's last year to complain about the poor customer service at one of their stores and nothing came of it.

Some of the reason for sharing the Coke story from this week was when I first read the guidelines, I thought cool, we get to keep the bottle of Diet Coke and return the rest. When I didn't see a provision for a reimbursement, I thought: there is going to be pushback from the stores to return a bottle of soda (I had pushback at multiple locations about returning water last round). I then wondered is that going to invalidate the shop if the return cashier refuses the bottle?