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How much is enough?

June 20, 2023 12:02AM
Just curious. How much $$ would you require to travel 75-80 miles one way fur shops? I’m trying to expand my radius, but want to make it worth my while. Any suggestions?
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June 20, 2023 12:11AM
$125 if I'm in a very slow period and can't find anything else for several consecutive days.
Otherwise, $150, minimum.
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June 20, 2023 12:12AM
I've been curious about this too. When I was doordashing I wouldn't take anything less than $2 a mile, but I doubt that any MSCs would pay that much. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though because I'm still new at this.
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June 20, 2023 12:36AM
When my Jeep is running correctly, or I'm fairly sure it'll make it there and back, I will go 70 miles for $100. In it's current condition 70 miles is out of my range for any amount of money.
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June 20, 2023 12:40AM
70 miles one way or round trip?
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June 20, 2023 12:43AM
Why stop at one shop?

Pick up a burger shop that's bonused for like $25, one of those new car shops for $75-125 and a bank account opening shops for $30 or more.

It's probably easier to get smaller amounts for multiple shops than a big payday on one shop.
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June 20, 2023 12:52AM
Yes, I am talking total $$ whether that be one shop or multiple to reach the goal.
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June 20, 2023 12:53AM
@tcolwell wrote:

70 miles one way or round trip?

One way, 70 miles round trip would get me to the nearest city and back. And in reality I rarely leave home for less than $100, even if it is only to the big city. I have 3 routes over the next several days that I will make a minimum of $100, and my son will probably do half that mystery shopping, then I will drive while he door dashes and uber eats for a few hours before coming home. The only time this plan doesn’t work is when I do night time Image audits, because dashing doesn’t mix well with auditing.. lol.
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June 20, 2023 02:14AM
i've routinely driven to the desert from the beach area in SoCal for $250 to $300 and knocking out 10 shops.

My problem is that I stop at the Indian Reservations and might lost more the $250 to $300 I made. Sometimes I win, but sometimes I lose.

I remember driving to Vegas (4 hour each way) for a turnaround trip in 2022. I left at 6am and was home by 11pm. I did a few remote shops in CA and i did some shops in NV too. Plus I played poker for several hours before heading home. Some people think I'm crazy for doing that, but I wasn't going for the money. I was going because I love Vegas and getting out on the road is fun in a Tesla. I won $12 total playing poker (basically even), but I had the shop $ and experience too.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2023 02:17AM by hbbigdaddy.
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June 20, 2023 03:12AM
$175 minimum.
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June 20, 2023 05:25AM
@hbbigdaddy wrote:

i've routinely driven to the desert from the beach area in SoCal for $250 to $300 and knocking out 10 shops.

My problem is that I stop at the Indian Reservations and might lost more the $250 to $300 I made. Sometimes I win, but sometimes I lose.

I remember driving to Vegas (4 hour each way) for a turnaround trip in 2022. I left at 6am and was home by 11pm. I did a few remote shops in CA and i did some shops in NV too. Plus I played poker for several hours before heading home. Some people think I'm crazy for doing that, but I wasn't going for the money. I was going because I love Vegas and getting out on the road is fun in a Tesla. I won $12 total playing poker (basically even), but I had the shop $ and experience too.

Don't forget your $1 an hour in rewards points for playing poker.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.
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June 20, 2023 01:09PM
Great questions, there is one of those netspend jobs that is leftover, one that I wouldn't do for the fee because it is 51 miles away from my house and not really an easy location to get to. Currently the job is posted at $40.

3 hours total driving time, plus 30 minutes of work. I am thinking $120 but I am sure they will never go that high! I guess we will see. Honestly, there is nothing else that way to do. If I thought I could grab some other work out there, I might consider less but it is in such a desolate area. It is a tough location. They need a shopper in that area.
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June 20, 2023 02:40PM
My minimum is $50.00. I live in the DMV area and I will travel to Delaware and Pennsylvania which is about 120 miles, however; I will schedule at least 6 jobs for an entire day. The jobs in that area are plentiful and the fees are great.
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June 20, 2023 02:49PM
80 miles each way = 160 miles roundtrip. At the IRS mileage rate, this is $104.80. Then add $20/hour for the time I am driving. I'll assume that it takes me 90 minutes each way, so another $60. Add any toll roads, bridges, or parking. The fee to do the shop then has to be reasonable for the time involved. That is unknown, so $164.80 PAD plus a reasonable shop fee. [Note that with traffic in my area, driving 80 miles would likely take at least 2 hours, but the thought process is the same.]

Shopping South Jersey, Southeast Pennsylvania, and Delaware above the canal since 2008
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June 20, 2023 03:32PM
I'm in a rural area where sixty miles means one hour of driving. The nearest cities are 100 miles away. So basically, 4 hours of driving round trip. (Traffic getting around once I'm in the city averages 15 mph, LOL )

I won't leave my house for either city for less than $100.

But cost of living here is much lower, so my calculations wouldn't apply to someone who has high cost of living.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2023 03:32PM by ceasesmith.
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June 20, 2023 10:51PM
@Datagirl wrote:

Great questions, there is one of those netspend jobs that is leftover, one that I wouldn't do for the fee because it is 51 miles away from my house and not really an easy location to get to. Currently the job is posted at $40.

3 hours total driving time, plus 30 minutes of work. I am thinking $120 but I am sure they will never go that high! I guess we will see. Honestly, there is nothing else that way to do. If I thought I could grab some other work out there, I might consider less but it is in such a desolate area. It is a tough location. They need a shopper in that area.

I did a netspend a couple months back that was 26 miles one way, I took it when they went up to $100 for it. It sat on the board for 2 1/2 weeks . they kept raising it by $5-10 every other couple of days. It only took me 30 minutes to get there.
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June 23, 2023 10:58PM
If traveling out of my hometown mystery shopping, i have to make $150 profit, so minus the gas and any food i get. If i travel where id be getting hotels, my daily has to be $200+ profits. But most the time, i am picking up gas station audits and food mystery shops, so i get that money back too.
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June 26, 2023 09:40PM
My attitude regarding distance would appear to be different than most. The mileage is a write-off. As such I don't really consider distance when evaluating a shop's pay. It's still about the hourly pay for time on-site and filing the report. Obviously, I'm not going to do a 200-mile roundtrip for a single shop (unless the bonus is outrageous), but, given the nature of the biz it's pretty easy to put together a route of at least a few stops so that the time spent driving is diminished as an issue.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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June 26, 2023 10:25PM
I'm doing two shops where the mileage is 200 round trip and four hours. I'm getting $270.
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June 30, 2023 01:42PM
In order to cover taxes, gas/mileage costs, I consider my driving time to be time spent on the project and I need to hit about $25-35 an hour (including the drive time) to make it profitable.

So for something 75-80 miles, about 3 hours of driving + whatever time is spent on the project, then I would ballpark at least $100.
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July 02, 2023 07:58PM
New way of asking an old question here. . . but I see the answers have not changed.
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July 04, 2023 11:52AM
@Logansmom04 wrote:

Just curious. How much $$ would you require to travel 75-80 miles one way fur shops? I’m trying to expand my radius, but want to make it worth my while. Any suggestions?

Hate to be "that guy" but nobody knows your expenses but you so I don't think anyone can really answer it but you.

I think $2 a mile is a good barometer.

But hell...I always think there are things to consider that are not a matter of economics. I love to drive personally. I don't recommend it to anyone else but if I can break even on a 300 mile round trip and I have the time to do it...I'll do it if the weather is not going to be a factor.

Last week I did a crazy route through Central and North Central Texas. It was the end of the month so a lot of the Sonic shops were bonused so they paid $30+ on top of the reimbursement. The USPS shops were near their heights. I had 3 merchandising shops all within 5 miles of one another that paid 30 each. And for good measure, the truck stop shops were right there on the interstate too. Anyway, all together the trip paid about 900 (there were some highly bonused apartment shops too). Considering the gas...I probably netted $600-700 or so. **shrug**. I had never been to most of these places so it was a cool trip.

Just watch your expenses whatever you do. Taking a job is optional but you don't want to lose money on any endeavor. To put it another way..."if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense".

Just be cool folks.
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