Getting Assigned Phone Shops

I know most phone shops are self assign. However, I seen some recently where you apply and a scheduler will assign them to you.

I have applied and a couple of hours or a day later I will get the email saying Sorry this shop was assigned to another shopper.

How do schedulers decide who gets the shop?

Does the scheduler assign them based on when the application comes through. For Example if the mass email goes out at 9 AM and Susan sees it first at 9:15 and has done 10 shops with a 9 rating and she applies.

I don't see it until 3:15 and I applied then. I have done over 100 shops for that company and I have a 10 rating.

They give the shop to Susan or they put all the names in a hat and pick one at random?

I also know that once the client reaches their require quota for that month / quarter they are removed.

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Just commenting as a scheduler - it can vary! If I have a shop that everyone who applies is about even - I will go by first applied. If there are superstars who have applied I probably am more likely to give it to them - but I may know that the client wants variety so then I would spread it out - that is how I do it. I personally look at declined shops and/or notes on the file for flakes, etc.

Karen Holland
Independent Scheduler for Ipsos
[www.ishopforipsos.com]

Great question.

I reached out to a scheduler since I constantly applied and never got assigned, except two times as a backup, but not the starter. As the alternate, I would get the shop if the primary shopper flaked on the the first day and I would conduct the shop the next day. I was supposed to receive notification early the next day by 7 or 8 if I was needed or not. Both times I had to reach out to them asking if I was needed since the cutoff had passed by two hours and I hadn't received the email either way. They replied back that it was shopped the day before.

The scheduler told me that they went with someone else. I kind of figured that part on my own. When I asked how do I increase my chances or what is the methodology to picking people, they said they prefer to go with someone that has done it before.

So the pool of shoppers is small if they only go with people that have done it before and they don't flake. I suppose in this case I could've applied for a remote location to increase my chances of getting that assignment which presumably would've improved my chances of getting future tasks closer to home.

This is why sometimes you get in your car for less than $10.
It's called building your business and making strong relationships with schedulers.

People talk smack on this forum about people taking low priced jobs and it hurts everyone, don't do it, blah blah blah.

Well, sometimes when you are new to a MSC and don't have that history of proving your worth you take a crap job or crap pay or go out of your way when you normally wouldn't.

It pays in the long run.

But then again, don't listen to me. Keep thinking you can't even pick up your keys for $10 posted fee and I'll be happy to scoop up great work @ great fees.

I agree!

Karen Holland
Independent Scheduler for Ipsos
[www.ishopforipsos.com]

I know they want people with experience but how can you get experience if they don't give you a chance??

I know on the Sassie side it says not to contact the scheduler about your pending application.

So If I was a scheduler and Susan has done 10 phone shops and 20 other shops (Fast food, grocery, etc.) and has a rating of 9 with 2 flakes and she was the first to apply at 9:15 AM She can get the phone shop done today

John has done 2 phone shops and 10 other shops but has a rating of 10 with no flakes and he applies at 3 PM but can get the shop done two days from now.

Shall I give it to Susan or give it to John?

Note: There are 14 dates on the calendar to chose from..

When I last was reading all the "Don't pick up your keys for $10" about three weeks ago, I was doing a lot of $10-$14 jobs and driving to remote areas I've never even been to. While they were sitting at home making no money; that week, I brought in $534 plus reimbursements. I drove to the same area two days straight and racked up because no one else was doing the $10-$14 jobs. The next week, I made even more by doing the same thing in another area. It pays me to take a lot of the small jobs no one else will.

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

This is why sometimes you get in your car for less than $10.
It's called building your business and making strong relationships with schedulers.

People talk smack on this forum about people taking low priced jobs and it hurts everyone, don't do it, blah blah blah.

Well, sometimes when you are new to a MSC and don't have that history of proving your worth you take a crap job or crap pay or go out of your way when you normally wouldn't.

It pays in the long run.

But then again, don't listen to me. Keep thinking you can't even pick up your keys for $10 posted fee and I'll be happy to scoop up great work @ great fees.

Shopping Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi.

That's what I am saying.

@Isaiah4031a wrote:

I know they want people with experience but how can you get experience if they don't give you a chance??

I know on the Sassie side it says not to contact the scheduler about your pending application.

I forgot to mention that the situation I described was not for a phone shop.

I wound up contacting the scheduler when that set of jobs was over.

There is one job near me that I always apply for. I have seen it post 5 times now and I never get it. I am pretty quick to apply but I guess they have their favorite for that job. Just gotta keep trying. eventually one day, the other person won't be able to do it.

@Datagirl wrote:

There is one job near me that I always apply for. I have seen it post 5 times now and I never get it. I am pretty quick to apply but I guess they have their favorite for that job. Just gotta keep trying. eventually one day, the other person won't be able to do it.

Wonder why they have not given it to you after 5 times? I will also keep applying for theses shops and hopefully one day they will assign me a couple of them

I agree and disagree on taking the 7 dollar gas station shops. Experience is good, but there are plenty of 20 dollar shops that will get you the same experience rating. As an independent contractor, I understand that I can take as many shops or no shops. It is up to me, but as a human being I deserve the respect of being paid above or at federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for a job. I live where the minimum wage is $15. There are those of us that don’t have the luxury of doing routes. Therefore, some companies need to stop taking advantage of us and pay a fair wage for a job.

Just thinking that I've taken $5 phone shops that take anywhere between 5-15 minutes. That equates to $20-60 an hour without leaving home. Now add in the reading the guidelines and writing the report and that goes down per hour but not significantly.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2023 03:05PM by wrosie.

After all is completed you spent 30- 45 minutes for reading guidelines maybe even had to pass a test, completing task, and report. For 5 dollars, that does not equate to 20-60 dollars an hour.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2023 02:58PM by Livsmarbs.

@Livsmarbs wrote:

After all is completed you spent 30- 45 minutes for reading guidelines maybe even had to pass a test, completing task, and report. For 5 dollars, that does not equate to 20-60 dollars an hour.

If I have to pass a test for a phone shop, sometimes it's just a one question test that asks if you will do the shop.. And if it takes you 30-45 minutes to read the guidelines, I can see why you won't take the shop It never takes me that long.

To complete the task from start to finish is 30 minutes which would include reading guidelines, taking test (never had a 1 question test), performing task, and doing report for 5 dollars for 30 minutes does not equal 20 dollars an hour.

@Livsmarbs I've never done the $5 phone shops that are done from home. I am using the info that @wrosie provided. You only have to pass the test once so that you can do as many phone shops you want to, up to any limit, for this cycle; after reading the guidelines and doing the shop once, it won't take you 30 minutes to read the same guidelines again before doing the next shop; since you are doing it from home, there is no time lost to travel; and if you average the time that each shop takes, you can get to a $30 an hour rate.

I think if you choose to only do one of these shops, then yes, you invested 30 minutes, start to finish, and then the rate is much less. If you do a bunch of them, then you are spreading out the time invested in learning the shop.

I do a lot of phone shops all year round, but mostly in the winter so I don't have to go out and drive in the snow. My ideal minimum for phone shops is $10. However, I will make occasional exceptions and take less than that for specific reasons, such as when I know the report is quick, I won't be required to wait days for a callback, it's for a scheduler who has been kind to me, or I can pick up a bunch of them. Just yesterday, I signed up for 20 $9 phone shops to do over the course of this coming week. But generally, when I make exceptions and take shops for less than $10, I still won't go below $7 - and I'll take that only if there's nothing else out there. I would never take any as low as $5, for any reason. I'd rather do my dishes than waste my time on that. And I hate washing dishes.
.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2023 05:47PM by shopnyc.

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