When I was a new shopper, I took everything at base fee. I didn't know any better!

@wrosie wrote:

@HowardJuice23 wrote:

Sorry but I don't really consider $12 a low fee for Five Guys when you get a meal with it. So you are basically getting $30 to do an (easy) job that takes about 15-30 minutes with another 15-30 minutes for the report. A lot of restaurants offer NO fee just the reimbursement for the meal. Five Guys I have found to be more generous than most of the restaurant shops. If you are trying to make a career out of mystery shopping it is probably not the career for you.

So, again, sorry. If I am hungry and there is a Five Guys close to me I am taking it, even for $12.

What you don't seem to understand is if you would wait, you could do the same shop for $20-30 instead of $12.

That's what people here are saying.

Sure, but who gets it when it goes to $20-30? Everyone but one person is going to lose that waiting game! I think in some regions there was no competition for a long while and shoppers could wait it out and squeeze the MSC for a big bonuses which was a great strategy, but those days are over.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2023 01:30AM by bradkcrew.

Regarding running around with your kids to different locations--don't the guidelines prohibit you from shopping more than one location during any given time period?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2023 01:33AM by bradkcrew.

Not only that -- aren't you supposed to go alone?

I just took a Five Guys for $12. I'm hungry, and my stomach says I need to eat.

@bradkcrew wrote:

Regarding running around with your kids to different locations--don't the guidelines prohibit you from shopping more than one location during any given time period?

@bradkcrew wrote:

Regarding running around with your kids to different locations--don't the guidelines prohibit you from shopping more than one location during any given time period?

I think you can do a couple Five Guys a day as long as it’s in a different meal period. I think. But either way, 5 Guys hires us to do a professional job of evaluating their stores. It’s not to feed a bunch of kids. That was such a weird take on things.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2023 05:14AM by HowardJuice23.

There are 3 different meal periods, Lunch 11 something to 15:45, Dinner 15:45 to 21:15. And "late night" which is the last 30 minutes the store is open, whatever that may be. But you can't do two shops at the same place on the same day, and you can't do more than one shop per meal period.

And there is nothing in the guidelines about being alone. But you will only be reimbursed for one meal.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2023 08:57AM by Morledzep.

There are so many more people who Mystery shop, who are not using this forum, so they have no idea that negotiations can happen and fees can go higher.
Aside from that, many people on this forum don’t really care that you can get $30 for your shops, they will under cut you and get $28 or any lower fee just to get the shop away from you.
DTA unless you truly know them, but even then, even your friends will still accept lower fees just to add more to their paychecks.
It’s a dog eat dog world and the higher fees don’t last forever.

"HowardJuice23 6m

@sestrahelena wrote:

Regarding Five Guys, I always picture in my mind a single mother with three kids on Hard Times taking all three shops in her area so that the kids can eat. At the first shop one gets the burger the other two share the fries and then they rotate the Burger on the next two shops so each of the kids gets a burger. She just picks at the fries all along. And they keep refilling the sodas and sharing them.


What you are describing is not what 5 guys or the MSCs are looking for. This is supposed to be a job, not a social service. Sorry for being so blunt, but if a family is hungry there are WIC cards and food banks. There is no reason to pass up a shop for this reason, so you shouldn't be making people feel guilty."

Not trying to make anybody feel guilty. Like I said, it's just an image in my mind. For any food shop. But given the huge number of shoppers nationwide, and especially in shopper saturated areas, it could very well be someone's reality. As for my imaginary mom, I salute her. She's doing what she needs to do in a safe manner rather than having her children with her on the median of a very busy intersection begging for money. That is something I see all the time and I fear for those children because people drive crazy and kids run off unexpectedly.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2023 02:41PM by sestrahelena.

In your Dickensian tale, you are kind of missing the OP's point. She could have done the same exact gigs for more money. Picking the job before it's ripe means that hypothetical mom is driving everywhere for less money and gas isn't free. Also, where I live $17.25 doesn't cover the cost of the meal so it eats into the fee. If she waits until it goes up, she can pocket cash.

kpersaud opines--In your Dickensian tale...............

Bob inquires-I think this is my first non-business oriented post. At first, I thought you were referencing A Tale of Two Cities, but then Great Expectations popped into my mind. Is it either or another classic?

Oliver Twist??

I get it, but....not sure how a mother of three could watch for burger presses, passes through the fryer oil, and glove-wearing and changing while she's corralling her three kids.

Just sayin'.

If I'm in the area, I will take a 5 Guys for base.
It's not just the money, it's the fact I will have a meal that I enjoy, no shopping, no cooking, no cleaning and the report is not onerous.
I can't say the same for shops where there is no benefit beyond a paltry fee.

Nobody really has time to do it but it would be cool if "someone else" (of course) would chart when shops get bonused and maybe make some money at the same time letting the mystery shoppers know, historically, that if they wait 10 days, the bonus becomes X. If they can wait 14 days, the bonus becomes Y

That would be a huge undertaking and not really feasible because of all the variables, metro.

Not to mention that it would be like chumming the waters....think of the feeding frenzy it would cause. As soon as the MSCs got wind of somebody doing it....bye bye, bonuses.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

That would be a huge undertaking and not really feasible because of all the variables, metro.

Not to mention that it would be like chumming the waters....think of the feeding frenzy it would cause. As soon as the MSCs got wind of somebody doing it....bye bye, bonuses.

True on the first part. It would be maddening but, of course in the back of my mind, I think there is an analysis that can be applied to every issue.

But I don't think it's a mystery (pardon the pun) that a lot of jobs linger because the pay is low and get taken only when there are bonuses. The challenge for the MSC is to find the inflection point to where the offer generates enough interest to satisfy their customers.

Yeah, there likely would be some folks on their end who do an actuarial study and try to game it from their end. But I don't think it would be a total abandonment of bonuses to where they said, "take it or leave it." Otherwise, in my view anyway, they'd be doing it now. Maybe you're right. I just don't see it being that severe.

I will say this...the phone calls I get from the company that currently offers the Five Guys shops are fantastic. I wish there was more outreach from the MSCs. I get a text message every so often but by and large there are just e-mails.

You still get phone calls from them? It's been years since I've received a phone call, and that one sounded like it was from somebody overseas who wasn't a native English speaker. I haven't even gotten a "Samantha" email in quite some time, a fact for which I'm actually grateful.

The MSCs all know what the "tipping point" is for every shop and every location they offer. Since I don't have a budget to hire an IT firm to perform data mining and statistical analysis, my stomach dictates at what point I take a restaurant shop.

@metro25782 wrote:

I will say this...the phone calls I get from the company that currently offers the Five Guys shops are fantastic. I wish there was more outreach from the MSCs. I get a text message every so often but by and large there are just e-mails.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

You still get phone calls from them? It's been years since I've received a phone call, and that one sounded like it was from somebody overseas who wasn't a native English speaker. I haven't even gotten a "Samantha" email in quite some time, a fact for which I'm actually grateful.

The MSCs all know what the "tipping point" is for every shop and every location they offer. Since I don't have a budget to hire an IT firm to perform data mining and statistical analysis, my stomach dictates at what point I take a restaurant shop.

@metro25782 wrote:

I will say this...the phone calls I get from the company that currently offers the Five Guys shops are fantastic. I wish there was more outreach from the MSCs. I get a text message every so often but by and large there are just e-mails.

It has been a few weeks since I got a phone call come to think of it. But I get the e-mails pretty regularly for both the 5 Guys and the waaaaaaay over rated chicken strip place. Every time I get the phone call, they would tell me about this mattress store as well there for a while. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like the mattress shops.

I *hate* the sauce, so I always have to be covert with a container of honey mustard when I do a dine-in. The chicken is okay, but "Yellow Box" is better, especially considering they have gravy, and chicken without gravy is just not Southern.

I did one heavily-bonused mattress shop because I wanted to pad a little profit on a route out of town. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever done, but I can see how that could easily be a huge time-suck. Anybody who does that one for base is a damn fool.

@metro25782 wrote:

It has been a few weeks since I got a phone call come to think of it. But I get the e-mails pretty regularly for both the 5 Guys and the waaaaaaay over rated chicken strip place. Every time I get the phone call, they would tell me about this mattress store as well there for a while. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like the mattress shops.

@metro25782 wrote:

@drdoggie00 wrote:

You still get phone calls from them? It's been years since I've received a phone call, and that one sounded like it was from somebody overseas who wasn't a native English speaker. I haven't even gotten a "Samantha" email in quite some time, a fact for which I'm actually grateful.

The MSCs all know what the "tipping point" is for every shop and every location they offer. Since I don't have a budget to hire an IT firm to perform data mining and statistical analysis, my stomach dictates at what point I take a restaurant shop.

@metro25782 wrote:

I will say this...the phone calls I get from the company that currently offers the Five Guys shops are fantastic. I wish there was more outreach from the MSCs. I get a text message every so often but by and large there are just e-mails.

It has been a few weeks since I got a phone call come to think of it. But I get the e-mails pretty regularly for both the 5 Guys and the waaaaaaay over rated chicken strip place. Every time I get the phone call, they would tell me about this mattress store as well there for a while. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like the mattress shops.

Even though I disagree with the OP on Five Guys, I totally agree on the chicken place. I can't believe anyone takes these shops. No fee and terrible, incredibly unhealthy fried "chicken". Hard pass.

@metro25782 wrote:

@drdoggie00 wrote:

You still get phone calls from them? It's been years since I've received a phone call, and that one sounded like it was from somebody overseas who wasn't a native English speaker. I haven't even gotten a "Samantha" email in quite some time, a fact for which I'm actually grateful.

The MSCs all know what the "tipping point" is for every shop and every location they offer. Since I don't have a budget to hire an IT firm to perform data mining and statistical analysis, my stomach dictates at what point I take a restaurant shop.

@metro25782 wrote:

I will say this...the phone calls I get from the company that currently offers the Five Guys shops are fantastic. I wish there was more outreach from the MSCs. I get a text message every so often but by and large there are just e-mails.

It has been a few weeks since I got a phone call come to think of it. But I get the e-mails pretty regularly for both the 5 Guys and the waaaaaaay over rated chicken strip place. Every time I get the phone call, they would tell me about this mattress store as well there for a while. Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like the mattress shops.

I liked the mattress shops OK for a while, until they turned them into a marathon narrative-writing exercise. Now they're close to 10-foot pole.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

Anybody who does that one for base is a damn fool.

And this is why people start falsifying shops. They do one for a base fee and they realize the juice is not worth the squeeze. So they start making things up. It’s pretty easy to do if you don’t get repetitive, score the locations low or otherwise give yourself away.

(I’m not saying you or anyone here falsifies shops, just some of the reasons somone might).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2023 07:32PM by Capurato.

Sorry, but when I am deciding when/what/where to work I am not also thinking - well, I won't apply so that another mystery shopper could get it at a higher fee.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2023 02:23PM by Chix.

I always find this argument interesting. In my past, I was an administrator for soccer, several leagues complained that they couldn't get IC referees to work their games. The leagues with the top pay (at the time about $75-100 for a two-hour game) the leagues with lower pay ($0-50) had lots of trouble. Interestingly, they often blame other factors (mostly "abuse" by players, fans, and coaches) as the major causes of this "shortage", but it remains a fact that those that pay more, get better results - both from employees and IC's. So we can blame "kids these days" or whatever, but this seemingly always holds true.

I just did a 5 guys for 45 tonight. The last three shops before this were 15, 20, and 35. $15 is low for me and I find that by waiting I can sacrifice to wait and maybe miss out on a shop. In the long run I am making far more and working less than those taking base pay. For reference, I am in a medium sized city with two Five Guys restaurants. ATM there is a $15 shop sitting there. I will wait to see if it surges.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2024 02:58AM by lamol.

Small town here. Only multiples of locations are gas stations and convenience stores. Everything else is one each. Current Presto value for all Presto gigs totals about two hundred dollars and all but two gigs could be completed in one day. The other two require merchandise and/or a future date. There are other gigs here with other companies, of course. The real total for this little town is greater than two hundred dollars at this moment but it is easier to compare just one provider for each town or city. Would love to know what the 'Presto at a glance' value is for a real city...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2024 05:11AM by Shop-et-al.

Still $9 in my area. And they go fast.

There was a $40 in my area well not really close and a kinda hard place to get to at rush hour- very busy and crowded highway which I do not like to travel on except off hours- as many accidents- BUT I did not take it as I was more interested in getting the Kroger shops which were being posted. Seems when they bonus so much it is always 4:15 on shops and locations not close to my home- so I pass.

I can see why some would take them though I would certainly wait them out but I want to scream when I hear someone new say, I am taking it at that price "just to get my foot in the door". If you take it at that price for this provider then that's the most you will ever be paid for, but go ahead, knock yourself out.

@shopperbob wrote:

[...]In business, companies desire from their ICs as much work as possible, for the least amount of money.[...]

While this is true, the maxim that "one gets what one pays for" is also true. I cannot imagine anyone taking shops at dirt-level fees investing either the time or the thought necessary to deliver truly meaningful reports.

Sadly, both for the profession and for their clients, many MSCs measure "work" simply as the number of shops completed rather than using a more sophisticated understanding of work which would include the quality of observations and the quality of narrative composition. The best of MSCs value these aspects of work. The very best - I can think of only three MSCs - also value not only the objective reporting but also more subjective input -- e.g. "What did business/salesperson do well/poorly and how might they improve?" "How did the experience make you feel and why?" and "From your point of view, what else do you think that the client could benefit in knowing?"