One Chip Retrieval Shops...$$$$$$
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Had a non-convenience store location with potential logistical challenges, so I called ahead to get an idea of how much product they had and whether it was boxed, bagged, or loose.
Turns out they discarded all their product, so a 5-minute visit max this week, with no admin time involved other than logging mileage.
Why I'm sticking with the flat rate for this project...
Turns out they discarded all their product, so a 5-minute visit max this week, with no admin time involved other than logging mileage.
Why I'm sticking with the flat rate for this project...
Have synthesizers, will travel...
Where was the spot to put how you wanted to be reimbursed? I just sent my expense sheet yesterday, will they email me with info on payment?
I'm not asking for the MSC nor the name of the product. Is this a reimbursement only project or are you getting paid per location?
You can choose an hourly rate or a flat fee per location.
I wound up picking up a few locations this weekend and they all said someone came a few weeks ago and bought them all out. Easy peasy. I'm in a rural area so the hourly and per location are almost the same.
The one I did yesterday the employee wanted to know if he could buy them. He said people are selling them for $30 on eBay.
Curious as to when in the process expenses are processed?
Everyone has commented about the quick turnaround, but I've yet to see mine.
Expenses were approved shortly after completing the online data entry a couple of days ago.
FedEx pickup is today.
Everyone has commented about the quick turnaround, but I've yet to see mine.
Expenses were approved shortly after completing the online data entry a couple of days ago.
FedEx pickup is today.
Have synthesizers, will travel...
If you just submitted the Expenses via the online form, they will likely reimburse you via the normal 4-5 week timeframe.
If you are asking them to reimburse you sooner, you need to email the email address they referenced in their 9/6 email about the project. If you email them, you list what you are due and how you want to be paid (ACH or Fedex Check) and they seem to process those in about 48 hours. But they will not do this automatically, you must reach out.
If you are asking them to reimburse you sooner, you need to email the email address they referenced in their 9/6 email about the project. If you email them, you list what you are due and how you want to be paid (ACH or Fedex Check) and they seem to process those in about 48 hours. But they will not do this automatically, you must reach out.
@CoolMusic wrote:
Curious as to when in the process expenses are processed?
Everyone has commented about the quick turnaround, but I've yet to see mine.
Expenses were approved shortly after completing the online data entry a couple of days ago.
FedEx pickup is today.
What is the farthest distance everyone has been offered?
I'm seeing locations about 40 miles north or south from my crib. Pretty much the SLC metro area. I just started on my 3rd round of 15, and there are still over 100 locations open on my map.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2023 12:05PM by CoolMusic.
Have synthesizers, will travel...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2023 12:05PM by CoolMusic.
Round 2 of 15 done, and I've embarked on Round 3 which will wrap up today. Expenses will be submitted tonight and then I'll book Round 4.
Had to call in to support to suss out the expense timing thing, and to address an issue when a manager chased me down in the parking lot with another 55 units after I had closed out the report.
One of the best phone support experiences I've had in ages. With my mystery shopper mindset, I asked to have the report returned so I could update it.
Not how this vendor rolls. They scheduled a revisit so I could account for the additional purchase, and paid me another $20 for what would be about 15 minutes total driving and onsite.
The language barrier continues to astound me. Please explain the validity of a business model that allows for customer points of contact to be functionally illiterate.
At one stop yesterday the only clerk on duty had no clue when I introduced myself. I handed him the letter and he stood there for awhile looking at it in silence. I then asked, "You can't a read a word on that page, can you?", and he shook his head no. I was able to bully my way into the back room and luckily found the stash pretty quickly (while also waking up the clerk's wife who was sleeping mummified on a cot in the back room). Back at the counter I get the clerk to ring up the correct amount, and then he refuses to sell them to me. After some cajoling and begging I finally got him to complete the transaction.
While I tend to avoid dealing in absolutes, I will NEVER step foot in a 7-11 in the future, unless I'm being paid to shop it.
I'll still have over 100 locations to clear once this round is done, and, after the Lyft Driver app stopped letting me add riders yesterday, I've pivoted and will be a chip retriever for the time being. $300 for a day or two of work is about the same as driving, unless I hit it really hard, which doesn't happen that often.
Next round will be 15 concentrated in the north end of the market area, with about 1.5 hours of round trip driving to get up there and back. I'm still leaning towards the flat rate. Allowing 20 minutes work/drive time per location, that's 5 hours. With roundtrip drive time and allowing 2.5 hours for admin to process the round and I'm at $300 for a 9-hour day, before factoring in credit cards rewards.
And speaking of credit cards, they are indeed a factor. With $12k in purchases over the last few days, I'm triggering fraud alerts like crazy, even after calling in to credit card companies to explain what is going on. I'll be calling another one as soon as I post this. Luckily I have numerous cash back cards, so I just loaded my wallet with all of them and will cycle through them.
Had to call in to support to suss out the expense timing thing, and to address an issue when a manager chased me down in the parking lot with another 55 units after I had closed out the report.
One of the best phone support experiences I've had in ages. With my mystery shopper mindset, I asked to have the report returned so I could update it.
Not how this vendor rolls. They scheduled a revisit so I could account for the additional purchase, and paid me another $20 for what would be about 15 minutes total driving and onsite.
The language barrier continues to astound me. Please explain the validity of a business model that allows for customer points of contact to be functionally illiterate.
At one stop yesterday the only clerk on duty had no clue when I introduced myself. I handed him the letter and he stood there for awhile looking at it in silence. I then asked, "You can't a read a word on that page, can you?", and he shook his head no. I was able to bully my way into the back room and luckily found the stash pretty quickly (while also waking up the clerk's wife who was sleeping mummified on a cot in the back room). Back at the counter I get the clerk to ring up the correct amount, and then he refuses to sell them to me. After some cajoling and begging I finally got him to complete the transaction.
While I tend to avoid dealing in absolutes, I will NEVER step foot in a 7-11 in the future, unless I'm being paid to shop it.
I'll still have over 100 locations to clear once this round is done, and, after the Lyft Driver app stopped letting me add riders yesterday, I've pivoted and will be a chip retriever for the time being. $300 for a day or two of work is about the same as driving, unless I hit it really hard, which doesn't happen that often.
Next round will be 15 concentrated in the north end of the market area, with about 1.5 hours of round trip driving to get up there and back. I'm still leaning towards the flat rate. Allowing 20 minutes work/drive time per location, that's 5 hours. With roundtrip drive time and allowing 2.5 hours for admin to process the round and I'm at $300 for a 9-hour day, before factoring in credit cards rewards.
And speaking of credit cards, they are indeed a factor. With $12k in purchases over the last few days, I'm triggering fraud alerts like crazy, even after calling in to credit card companies to explain what is going on. I'll be calling another one as soon as I post this. Luckily I have numerous cash back cards, so I just loaded my wallet with all of them and will cycle through them.
Have synthesizers, will travel...
I looked today and see locations about 40 miles away.
I'll have to figure out if hourly or flat rate makes sense to take these. They're fairly close together but the initial travel distance is what takes time for me.
I'll have to figure out if hourly or flat rate makes sense to take these. They're fairly close together but the initial travel distance is what takes time for me.
How many locations? If it's just a couple with that much drive time I'm thinking hourly might be best.
If you can book a full block of 15 that are in the same general area, per store seems to be the way to go.
If you can book a full block of 15 that are in the same general area, per store seems to be the way to go.
Have synthesizers, will travel...
I switched to hourly through my profile and now I want to switch back but can't find the option. It seems to have disappeared. Anyone have that happen? Or does it only show on desktop? I can't remember.
You can only see one shop (or group) at a time, correct? First I had a bundle of 5. Only once I finished that did they offer 2 more. I took one of them. So, once I finish that one, I might see more? Is that how it works? I think either my area was cleaned out long ago or there just aren't any stores around here that carried them. I live in a rural-ish area. I am just wondering how others are seeing 100 shops at a time.
@bradkcrew wrote:
You can only see one shop (or group) at a time, correct? First I had a bundle of 5. Only once I finished that did they offer 2 more. I took one of them. So, once I finish that one, I might see more? Is that how it works? I think either my area was cleaned out long ago or there just aren't any stores around here that carried them. I live in a rural-ish area. I am just wondering how others are seeing 100 shops at a time.
Yes you can only see your current group. Once you submit your expenses, you can see what else is available. I'm in Southern California and when I was picking my current group (of 9) there were just over 400, yes 400, available.
@LindaS wrote:
@bradkcrew wrote:
You can only see one shop (or group) at a time, correct? First I had a bundle of 5. Only once I finished that did they offer 2 more. I took one of them. So, once I finish that one, I might see more? Is that how it works? I think either my area was cleaned out long ago or there just aren't any stores around here that carried them. I live in a rural-ish area. I am just wondering how others are seeing 100 shops at a time.
Yes you can only see your current group. Once you submit your expenses, you can see what else is available. I'm in Southern California and when I was picking my current group (of 9) there were just over 400, yes 400, available.
Okay, thank you. LOL, I am traveling 30 miles to get a single store! Country life and shops aren't the best match. I'm only doing it because I have to go that way, so I will get paid for some of the driving time I had to do anyway, and some mileage to boot!
@bradkcrew wrote:
@LindaS wrote:
@bradkcrew wrote:
You can only see one shop (or group) at a time, correct? First I had a bundle of 5. Only once I finished that did they offer 2 more. I took one of them. So, once I finish that one, I might see more? Is that how it works? I think either my area was cleaned out long ago or there just aren't any stores around here that carried them. I live in a rural-ish area. I am just wondering how others are seeing 100 shops at a time.
Yes you can only see your current group. Once you submit your expenses, you can see what else is available. I'm in Southern California and when I was picking my current group (of 9) there were just over 400, yes 400, available.
Okay, thank you. LOL, I am traveling 30 miles to get a single store! Country life and shops aren't the best match. I'm only doing it because I have to go that way, so I will get paid for some of the driving time I had to do anyway, and some mileage to boot!
Yes that's the way to do it, if you can. Pair it, or them, if you're lucky enough, with other shops or errands.
There have only been a handful in my area. Most of the stores in my area must not have carried them.
@sestrahelena wrote:
I switched to hourly through my profile and now I want to switch back but can't find the option. It seems to have disappeared. Anyone have that happen? Or does it only show on desktop? I can't remember.
When you look at your map of assignments there are two gray boxes in the upper left. One indicates current payment status, and I think you click it to change it.
As I work towards clearing my map, I'll have increasing drive times getting to the outlying areas, but I'm still leaning towards sticking with the flat rate throughout this project.
I've already had a half dozen locations with 0 product. Those stops took about 5 minutes each. That translates to either $120 flat rate or $10 + admin/drive time. I can knock out 3 or 4 locations an hour given the density in my area. It works much better for me to simply roll the admin/drive time into the gross pay and not have to track every minute of activity.
Today will give me a better idea if this is indeed the optimal strategy. I'll be heading to the northern part of the market area for a full day of 15 stops, with admin this evening so I can book my next round. I'm projecting a max of 9 hours. $33/hr is not quite as much as I can make when the rideshares are offering good bonuses (the only times I drive), but the work is lightly less stressful with decidedly less downtime, and, when you factor in credit card benefits, it's that much more attractive.
Have synthesizers, will travel...
Does anyone know if the MSA will reimburse tolls/access fees? One of the locations available to me is on a resort island and there is a $10 entrance fee.
@callinectes wrote:
Does anyone know if the MSA will reimburse tolls/access fees? One of the locations available to me is on a resort island and there is a $10 entrance fee.
There is a field for that in the reimbursement form.
Have synthesizers, will travel...
@CoolMusic wrote:
The company fronts you pay for the locations. You have to buy up the product on your own dime, and you get reimbursed, apparently pretty quickly.
They let you claim 15 locations at a time. I'm in the process of wrapping up my first round. 13 locations had product, for which I paid $5360. That was spread out over 3 cards with various perks ranging from 3% to 5% cash/credit back. My plan is to stick the reimbursements into my PayPal savings @ 4% and let it marinate until the bills are due, or until I need to pay them down in advance of my next round.
Well over 100 locations on my board, so I hope to stay very busy...
nevermind
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2023 04:00PM by frodosdojo.
I'm jumping on board with these. Doesn't seem to be anyone doing them near me... yet. Starting with 2 this weekend and see how it goes. This whole thread is very helpful.
Is this the same MSC that does the Netspend Expired cards jobs? These look intereting an I'm trying to see if I have the right MSC. 
@CoolMusic wrote:
@sestrahelena wrote:
I switched to hourly through my profile and now I want to switch back but can't find the option. It seems to have disappeared. Anyone have that happen? Or does it only show on desktop? I can't remember.
When you look at your map of assignments there are two gray boxes in the upper left. One indicates current payment status, and I think you click it to change it.
Thanks! I have to wait until more are offered to me in my area. There is someone around me who always beats me to the good stuff. It's been that way for 20 years
No
quote=rmkeith]
Is this the same MSC that does the Netspend Expired cards jobs? These look intereting an I'm trying to see if I have the right MSC.[/quote]
quote=rmkeith]
Is this the same MSC that does the Netspend Expired cards jobs? These look intereting an I'm trying to see if I have the right MSC.
[/quote]
New personal best!
101 units!
Previous high was 70.
The store's POS would not process the big quantity, so I wound up splitting it 51/50 between two different cards.
I'm over $20k in purchases after today's 15-store run. Eagerly awaiting that first reimbursement check. And the second...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2023 09:50PM by CoolMusic.
101 units!
Previous high was 70.
The store's POS would not process the big quantity, so I wound up splitting it 51/50 between two different cards.
I'm over $20k in purchases after today's 15-store run. Eagerly awaiting that first reimbursement check. And the second...
Have synthesizers, will travel...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2023 09:50PM by CoolMusic.
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