I saw Sunoco with one of the scheduling companies. Has anyone done one yet? The pay is low ($12) so I'm just wondering what they entail? They are in Presto also.

Nope, not touching them till they get decent a bonus, and maybenot even then. If it's the same as last round, it's a completely covert shop with no LOA. And I'm not gonna piss off a bunch of folks that like their guns entirely too much for only a few $$.

Thanks for this reminder! They are not in my 20 miles radius so I never get the Sassie emails. But they are in areas I go to. So I will keep an eye to see if rates go up when I plan to be there.

@sestrahelena wrote:

Thanks for this reminder! They are not in my 20 miles radius so I never get the Sassie emails. But they are in areas I go to. So I will keep an eye to see if rates go up when I plan to be there.

Ses, I don't schedule jobs through the scheduling company. They have burned me more than once, more times than Icare to count actually. I go directly to the MSC's website. But the scheduling company STILL sends me emails even though I haven’t scheduled a single thing through them since before I left CA.

I did 2 of them today at the $12 fee. I had not done them for years. I did them in Delaware where I was going to drive right past them, so no mileage. Frankly, I can't see how these can reasonably be done in NJ where full service is required. I could probably get most of the outside photos, but timing the pump? Impossible. Also, buying just $5 of gas is simply not reasonable when there is an attendant, so I would probably have to buy $10 (which is still a 50% discount). The report was surprisingly easy, but getting some of the photos was a nuisance due to geography. I will do more, but only when they get to $20 in DE or PA. I think that $25 in NJ would entice me.

I did one the other day because I had not done any before. It was relatively easy as long as you are able to pump the gas yourself. The restroom is always an issue because some of these places have them under lock and key and behind the register. Kind of creepy and awkward.

There actually is a LOA for this shop and I printed it out and left it in the car. I had no issues and the shop got approved almost an hour after I did it.

I will do more for a higher fee. Not going to be doing them at $12.

When they were with the last MSC the gas reimbursement was $2 and starting pay was something like $6 until bonuses were added. So there was been some improvement for us, which is nice. I still need a bit more, though. With greedflation and all, I've had to give myself a raise!

I did a couple of these the other day. It turned out to be a mistake and now I see why many of these are still just sitting there unassigned. Too many possible things to go wrong for too little compensation - as well, too many data points to collect and loading and downloading photos - not worth the time for so little $$$. Oh and another thing, I couldn't find anything for sale that was a dollar or under - not even a pack of gum ($2.29) so basically the amount earned for your time and trouble comes out to less than $12.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2023 12:43PM by BarefootBliss.

I took extra pictures of noncompliant things... but there's only one photo slot in the report for them.

Hi guys, I went back to the client after last round and told them the form was too complicated for the pay amount, so they have streamlined it. We started with more than 5K locations 3 weeks ago and are down to 2K open. They are not sitting on the boards, Jeff and I are assigning them as quickly as we can, but it's tough to manage more than 5K shops and all the emails from shoppers (Personally, I get 300-500 per day on this project). They will all get done, We've gotten 100% on this project every quarter.

The shoppers that do them say they take 10 to 15 minutes each and they usually take routes of shops. One shopper has completed nearly 300 so far, and just sent me a list of 150 more he wants to do in early June.

My client is wiling to reimburse tolls for locations that are on Turnpikes as we know that is an issue. The new form only requires 7 photos and the form is much shorter and easier to complete than the earlier versions.

We do provide a LOA in case you are questioned about why you are taking photos.

If you can't find anything for under $1 in the store, just email your scheduler! Our client is not looking to hurt shoppers, we can adjust it on a one-off basis. I think this is an anomaly, not the rule, as we have about 2500 shops submitted so far and very few were over $1 purchase, unless they intentionally purchased something they needed (like a gallon of milk) treating the $1 as a coupon. But if there's literally nothing to buy for under $1, just email us. Our client is always fair on these things.

Lorri

Hi Lorri, can you give us examples of things that the shoppers are buying that are around a dollar? I've looked at candy bars, single packs of gum, small bottles of water - and not finding anything - $2 seems bare minimum with $3 more like it....would appreciate suggestions, thanks!

@Lorri Kern KSS wrote:

The shoppers that do them say they take 10 to 15 minutes each and they usually take routes of shops. One shopper has completed nearly 300 so far, and just sent me a list of 150 more he wants to do in early June.

That's admirable, but with the program being restarted, I hope you're not just going to allow one shopper to monopolize an area. That area may very well have another shopper being very willing to do these, too. Sorry, I just find it a little concerning that so early with the programs reboot that a shopper is mailing you a list of 150 locations less than a month in that are outside of the current date range that any other shopper in their area can accept right now.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2023 12:08AM by KA047.

For last year's round, I decided I would wait for $30+$6+$1, but caved in and accepted a fee that was $28 for a location a block from where I was traveling on non-shopping business; the reimbursements remained the same. As I recall, the total time was 1 1/2 hrs.+. Had I needed to travel, it could easily have been two hours. I think that with repetition, I could reduce the total time, excluding travel, to 60 mins.

I well understand there are shoppers in need of activity and/or money. As I need neither, if any reach my minimum so be it. I have been contracted with the MSC for almost 18 years, since the days of Myles Standish and Evelyn; we have always respected the other's position in business..

I have been wanting to pick some of these up since last time but I haven’t because of the wait to get paid. I’ve been spoiled with getting paid the following week, Can’t imagine waiting over a month for pay. Maybe if I was doing just a couple of them, it wouldn’t be too bad. But I’m a Route type of Shopper and like to do as many in a day that’s allowed. Putting that kind of money out, to wait 30-45 days for pay, can make it hard sometimes. Maybe when they pay is way up I would consider just cause I used to love these shops, was my first shop I ever did over 11 years ago.

" I think this is an anomaly, not the rule, as we have about 2500 shops submitted so far and very few were over $1 purchase,"

I think all the ones I submitted were over $1 since even a $1 item is $1.08 after tax. Same for all my Chevron shops. However, I've recently started finding 35 cent or 50 cent Wrigley gum packs, so I'll use those more often.