Anyone done Simon Mall?

Didn't find in search. Can't see details from MSC unless I take the shop. Curious if anyone here has done one? Taking pics can't be hard but I wanted to make sure there's nothing too goofy and if I'll be prancing around the whole mall. After all there's a Popeye's in the food court so that means I'll be spending more money than the fee

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I believe you will be prancing and dancing around the whole mall. Choose carefully depending on size of mall.

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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

They are not that hard. I took it once about 3 months ago. I think a total of 5 photos although you will need to find all the restrooms so there is from one side to the other or multiple floors. But not hard.

Don't these pay some piddly fee of $10 or something? I guess if you already work at the mall and want to make an extra $10, then fine. I can't imagine going to the mall to do this shop.

I did it for $18 (they do get bonused) and paired with another Simon mall shop they had for the holidays that involved buying a $25 gift card that they reimbursed for while paying an extra $30. -- so while I don't usually count reimbusement in my hourly calculations -- a visa gift card is basically money so -- $73 for a little under an hour and the mall is close to my work. I might do another bonused one paired with other things at the mall (like the parking garage which leaves me with 40 minutes to kill).

I did one for $50 a while back. And it was quite easy because it was an outdoor factory mall. Only one restroom in the food court and just a few outdoor food stands.

Some of the malls in So Cal can be quite large. Thinking of South Coast Plaza or Del Amo Fashion as 2 examples. Even Mall of America in Minnesota was quite large when I was there back in 1999. Even at $50 for these, I'm not sure it would be worth it. For a smaller mall that you can do in 1 hour or less, I guess it would be good.

I am only near this one and it is not overly big. Most of the observations are in central areas as well and you don't need to go down the long halls that spike off.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Don't these pay some piddly fee of $10 or something? I guess if you already work at the mall and want to make an extra $10, then fine. I can't imagine going to the mall to do this shop.

this is why i'm so curious about the guidelines because $10 for mall photos isn't adding up

I believe this is a sassie company that begins with the letter "I" and likes to think they are smart. I would say most of their shops don't pay enough at base pay. If they add in the bonuses the others are talking about, then it might be worthy of considering.

Some might argue that all MSC underpay at base, but I don't necessarily find that to be true. There are some MSC that are fair from the start. We obviously want to maximize our pay, but with this company, you have to WAIT. I remember with this company, the JIB starting was like $9 or some crap which basically was food and NO profit with 8 uploads minimum.

I did it in the past. BUt now for $10 with bunch of pictures it does not make any sence.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

Wouldn't do it for $10. I've done this shop years ago and unless its changed, you will likely be going all over that mall. It could be good if you need to get a lot of steps that day. I think it required pics of customer service area, security area, bathrooms, food court, perhaps some other directional signage (like the mall directories).

I will reiterate what was stated above. It's extremely rare for any shop from this company to be worth doing and base pay. However, they will bonus nicely if location start getting closer to their deadline. Also, this company has been a joy to work with. Just don't do this for $10. However, if it gets bonus, grab it and enjoy working for a great company.

Thanks guys and gals. If the fee is bumped and I can combine with something I'd try it. But I agree - not gonna play Where's Waldo at the mall for $10

The only mall near me that has these is 1 hour, 15 minutes away from me and is one of the largest, if not the largest, mall in the Northeast. I would NEVER do one of these shops there. It literally can take more than 3 or 4 hours to just traverse the entire mall, let alone make observations. Two food courts, multiple restroom areas, multiple levels, each with multiple "spokes." It would have to pay $125+ to make it worthwhile. I shudder to even think about doing one! Even at a much smaller mall, I can't imagine they'd be worth it at base pay. There used to be one or two in my area for much smaller malls (not sure if same MSC), and when they started bonusing them and reducing some of the requirements, I'd have done one. But never got the chance.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

I believe that you are referring to the second-largest mall in the US. It is over 3 million square feet. I think that your estimate of 3 to 4 hours to visit every part of the mall (I am not counting the interior of stores, just walkways, and required observations) is low.

They are the same ($10 shop at a factory outlet outdoor mall near me. There are just 85 stores and a lot of sidewalks. I wouldn't consider it for less than $40 since it is very spread out at 400,000 square feet.

@BirdyC wrote:

The only mall near me that has these is 1 hour, and 15 minutes away from me and is one of the largest, if not the largest, mall in the Northeast. I would NEVER do one of these shops there. It literally can take more than 3 or 4 hours to just traverse the entire mall, let alone make observations. Two food courts, multiple restroom areas, multiple levels, each with multiple "spokes." It would have to pay $125+ to make it worthwhile. I shudder to even think about doing one! Even at a much smaller mall, I can't imagine they'd be worth it at base pay. There used to be one or two in my area for much smaller malls (not sure if same MSC), and when they started bonusing them and reducing some of the requirements, I'd have done one. But never got the chance.

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

Probably the same one. Three to four hours if you walk really fast! ! I took all day there once (6+ hours), but my friend and I were doing some serious shopping. So it's hard to judge how much time you'd need if you weren't. But, yeah, probably longer. .

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

I did the Simon Mall project when it was first introduced last July. It was a pretty local mall.
I submitted the pictures and after I submitted the pictures they completely rewrote the project and expected me to go back and redo it. Which I did. Then the scheduler complained about how long it took me to redo it which was one day. Then the scheduler complained that I didn't include both sets of pictures. I told the scheduler there wasn't enough room in the report for both sets. The scheduler complained about that.
Long story short I did get paid on that MSC's regular schedule.
The effort I put into that and the $12 pay are way out of sync with each other.
That project and that MSC are now on my 10-ft pole list.

Yes, the one I see is at Del Amo. It is 5 or 6 city blocks long and wide :"Del Amo Fashion Center is a three-level regional shopping mall in Torrance, California, United States. It is currently managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group. With a gross leasable area of 2,519,601 sq ft, it is the sixth largest shopping mall in the United States." The job today pays $12. The last mall I did paid $40 (base pay) and included an upscale car wash and vacuum while I did it.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Some of the malls in So Cal can be quite large. Thinking of South Coast Plaza or Del Amo Fashion as 2 examples. Even Mall of America in Minnesota was quite large when I was there back in 1999. Even at $50 for these, I'm not sure it would be worth it. For a smaller mall that you can do in 1 hour or less, I guess it would be good.

oh my that is huge -- I was going to say mine was dinky but it is still over 1 million sq ft. I noticed they were up to $15 but I won't do it for that either since the shop doesn't reimburse the parking fee.

I have done the Cap Cod Mall. The photos are easy as they are taken in populated public areas.

i have done it when its bonused. Our local mall is pretty small to medium sized and its all on one level so its fairly easy to do.

Simon has 2 malls in my area, one is a pretty small one that doesn't even have a food court. The other is a humongous mega-mall built on the site where Charles Lindbergh took off from in 1927. I've done it a few times in the smaller mall and it was a lot of work for the pay even in that setting. I can't even imagine attempting the larger one, yikes, I'd be there all day.

I did a Simon mall several years ago. There were 197 shops plus overall shop spread over 4 weeks. I will never do another one.

I take these if I am already going to be doing another shop in the mall. Photo of entrance, photo of food court, photos of the bathrooms (these can be awkward if the bathrooms are high traffic) a few additional photos of anything, ask directions of a housekeeper and talk to someone at a kiosk.

I did two in February, the two malls were near each other and I got $20 to do both. Pretty easy becauae I've frequented them in the past so I knew where most things were located.
Hardest part was getting restroom photos because they were heavily used and sneaking photos was a challenge. Took me about 90 minutes with travel time between the two to complete.

The best people for these shops would be mall security as they are already supposed to be walking/checking the perimeter of the mall. Next best person would be someone who already works at the mall, maybe even a janitor type position.

I can't imagine anyone going to the mall specifically for this shop. Even if you had other shops to do...adding this $10 nightmare is not worth it. I would take a $7.50 drive thru panda (less than 5 minutes) all day every day over this $10 Simon Mall crap.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

The best people for these shops would be mall security as they are already supposed to be walking/checking the perimeter of the mall. Next best person would be someone who already works at the mall, maybe even a janitor type position.

I can't imagine anyone going to the mall specifically for this shop. Even if you had other shops to do...adding this $10 nightmare is not worth it. I would take a $7.50 drive thru panda (less than 5 minutes) all day every day over this $10 Simon Mall crap.

I don't think a janitor would be a good fit, as the shops require reporting on cleanliness, upkeep etc. Bit of a conflict of interest.

Agree with the rest, $10 is an insult for the work involved.

I was only picking people already in the mall who are paid to be there anyway. I'm sure if a janitor worked there and was a mystery shopper and saw the assignment, I would think they would take it anyways. I can only think of one company that asks/threatens if you have a relationship with a client in their reports. Their might be others, but the one I am thinking of has you click in the report that you certify you have no affiliation.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

I was only picking people already in the mall who are paid to be there anyway. I'm sure if a janitor worked there and was a mystery shopper and saw the assignment, I would think they would take it anyways. I can only think of one company that asks/threatens if you have a relationship with a client in their reports. Their might be others, but the one I am thinking of has you click in the report that you certify you have no affiliation.

I wasn't speaking to who might be interested in the shop, I was speaking to the fact that it is a pretty clear conflict of interest for a janitor to be reporting on cleanliness and upkeep at their place of employment. Whether the MSC asks you about your affiliation or not, it seems unethical to me.

Just because the MSC didn't make you vow to non-affiliation doesn't mean it's OK to take advantage like that.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2023 05:02AM by KokoBWare.

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