Hi,
Has anyone passed this test yet? With the exception of Q5, which is a subjective question, I have found the answers in the document for every other question. I've tried both possible answers for Q5 and am still failing the test.

There's no scheduler for this shop (of course), so there's no one to contact for help. Any ideas?

Hate to reply to my own post, but I tried multiple combinations of Q5 and Q6 (Q6 has conflicting answers in the guide on the *same doggone page*) and finally passed.

Passed it first try without even reading the docs. Pretty much the same standards as before.

Yea, someone put some efgort into cleaning it up..

I just passed. Can somebody tell me how long these visits take? Thanks

A photo of every pump is required, as well as a photo of infractions on every individual pump, so the time will depend on whether it is a four pump or a 20 pump station. For small stations, maybe a half hour. For larger stations, could be 45 minutes or so.

@interested wrote:

I just passed. Can somebody tell me how long these visits take? Thanks

Thanks SOOO much for responding. It sounds like the pay is not enough. Can you tell me what is a good pay for these?

These used to be 2 separate shops that have now been combined into 1 visit. (Consumer audit and visual standards audit.) There is a small bump in the starting pay, but not equal to what the starting pay was for the 2 separate shops on previous rounds.

Wow, so how much do you think is enough? I accepted a shop for $25 because I thought it would take 10 minutes, but now I'm sure I'm being taken advantage of. Lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2023 02:58PM by interested.

I’m not sure, but I think they used to start out at $18 + Reimbursement each, but I always waited until at least the first pay bump before taking any. The more remote location can go pretty high. I’ve done them for $100 + the $3.00R before. Some of those have little to no cell service, so that creates it’s own challenge.

I will allow an hour for the first one since I am not familiar with the new shop report and order of questions. Once I know the flow of the report they go much quicker.

Thanks so much.

It can NEVER BE DONE in 15 minutes or less. The pay is low and I will not do more than 3 dispensers for 25. You have to take MULTIPLE pictures of pumps from different angles/bezels especially when away from home. I would also take forecourts from different angles as well as backups. If you miss anything you don't want to go back to get pictures. With BP you have to evaluate with a fine tooth comb and editing pictures is a nightmare with BP because you have to have a different picture for everything.and you can not make the picture too small if you zoom in on an infraction. Ours normally take an hour. Once in a while at a good store without very many fueling positions or infractions, you can get away with 30 minutes but this is RARE. Because of the additional pictures BP requires you need additional storage available.
I have not passed yet and I've been doing these for 5 years. My question 6 is whether BP pop should be on all branded dispensers. I've marked it false because branded dispensers without a valance are not required to have pop (lowboys). Is this the question you are referring to?

I answered yes and got it right.
Thanks so much for the detailed info. I really appreciate it. How much would you say is good/great pay for the1 hour audit/shop?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2023 06:16PM by interested.

Which question did u answer YES to?

POP should be on all branded pumps.

Lol- how much is good/great pay for these shops since they take so long? (I said lol because I keep asking the same question.)

Every shopper has their own pay requirements. It also depends on your location. If there are many shoppers these could get picked up at lower rates due to competition between shoppers. Rural stations could sit for a long time with many pay bumps.

No one can answer your question with a set $$. If you take a job and feel it was too much work for the pay, then wait until the pay goes up before taking more. If you notice them starting to get picked up by other shoppers then decide if that is a price you want to grab some. Make a note of the pay when they started to go so you have an idea for next round. If you take jobs at base pay the MSC makes lots of money from your work. If you hold out too long then another shopper will have a work day and you have gathered info for your business on what the going pay is in your area.

We all want a profitable business with an acceptable hourly pay that includes drive time, shop prep, completing and reporting the shop, and expenses that includes self employment taxes.

Good luck and happy shop hunting.

Thanks, I agree with all you said. I should have been more specific perhaps. I was asking anyone who wanted to respond what they themselves consider to be good/great pay -specifically... in their own opinion... to give me perspective. And again, I really appreciate you responding

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2023 01:11AM by interested.

Ok, so personally I don't care for essay reports. I'll pick up a few here and there when the money is not right. I am doing mostly $40 shops so I'm not really worried to tough about the $25 ones. The thing you need to understand is that the pay is the SAME whether there is 2 dispensers or 30. The pay is the same whether it's a nice store with few infractions or in horrible shape with lots of infractions. As you do some you will figure out which ones at what location has lots of infractions and which ones are in good shape. If I am driving through a town on a route and I have time for 1 BP. What I do is look up them up on the map and see how many dispensers there is. The smallest one I will claim. Why do more work for the same amount of money?? Driving time affects the price as well. I use concentric circles. For a town 30 minutes away I need to make 30 (for like Chevron). For Circle K's I just do the one's in town and the one's on my routes. Also, the time it takes to get paid makes a difference as well depending on your finances. If a shop requires an investment of $30 dollar investment. You have to be able to live without the $30 until you get paid. Like car washes. The shop is the same shop whether it's at the beginning of the month and pays 20-25. But you don't get paid until the 20th of the following month. So for those car washes, I wait till the last 2 weeks of the month when they pay 40-50. (same work, same shop). Then I only wait 3-4 weeks to get the money back. If your money is tight you can do Circle K's on Sunday and Wednesday. You get the money right back the next day. If the money isn't that tight then you can do as many as you can work into your route. If you have to bid on a job you want to think about how long it takes to get to the location, the gas it costs, the investment (reimbursable purchase), can I build a route with other shops with it, etc.
The thing I want shoppers to start thinking about is minimum wage is 7.75. So if it takes 2 hours there and two hours back that's 4 hours plus shop time. (Occasionally you can add a smaller shop to make the route meet your quota) but you absolutely need to do the math...7.75*4 so the bonus should be 31. And that's just the ONE shop! you build a route and make sure you're going to make 200+ to drive 2 hours there and two hours back. You shouldn't let the MSPs rip you off every day. You make it harder for other shoppers to push the price up when you work for less than minimum wage.

Wow! Thank you so much for breaking this down. That's a plethora of information and I really appreciate it!

Hello-I have a ton of these BP Helios instashops by me for $25 each. It says I have to download the files on my computer b/c the files are too large for a mobile device. I am pretty new to mystery shopping, but wouldn’t mind the $25 (or $50 if I do 2 in one day). It sounds like some people think they’re worth it and some not so much. Maybe I’ll try 1 and see how it goes?

A lot of this depends on your experience, the locations size and cleanliness, the distance between stations, the cell signal. I have YEARS of experience and generally find I average about 30 minutes per station for an 8 pump, doing everything directly on the app and submitting. I have a lot of BP stations around me and can usually fit them in to where I am going that day.

I have 5 planned for a 4 hour route going to work tomorrow. So, that's $125 in what is really 3.5 hours, as I would be driving to work anyway and would plan 30 minutes. That's $35/hr for me. I'll take those numbers.

If it's your first time, plan an hour though. Take a lot of extra pictures, even if you used the app, just in case. That math isn't as good, 5 shops would be 6 hours, so about $20/hr, but that still beats most jobs

The current shop is 2 shops combined that you were allowed to do together on the same day for $18 each up until last year. This is a pay cut, this is the MSC trying to get us to do twice the work for $11 less money than we used to make to do the exact same thing.

You can justify it any way you choose. But that $125 that you're thrilled to make on your way to your job would have been $180 before they combined the shops. So go right ahead and work harder for less money.

Work smarter, not harder, so less can be more! I continue to learn more ways to get more for doing less. Not to be lazy, just recognize when you are being loaded with more tasks and not sell yourself short.

Got it

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2023 05:46PM by Thomas Thomas.