Happens way too frequently. In all mystery shopping genre. Young guns who have no clue how to work the system. Just trying to get those 1st shops under their belt. Schedulers Love them. Seasoned Shoppers are on the opposite end, as they sop up all their gravy. We were all there once. Some companies count on them to accept low ball offers to pad their profits.

@Rousseau wrote:

[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?"

I've done a few shops of the same client and the questionnaire asks something like "As a customer, what do you think the company could do to improve your shopping experience?" and I love that question because I do have ideas. Or even "What was the best part of the shop and what was the worst part and why?" I've had a couple shops go really well, so, those get down to trivial details, but, I feel like that's what companies should really be looking for. What would make it go from "really good" to "truly astounding". because most people remember the truly horrid and the truly astounding and the rest is just noise I get irritated with the forms that have a 300 character limit because if more than one thing goes wrong, that's not enough to explain it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2024 11:25PM by mysterioso412.

Every.Single.Job on Field Agent has been $3 all year. And, no, I don't think they are ever a route to making a lot of money, but it was nice in the past to pick up an $8 or $10 quick project while shopping next door, in the store already, etc. But my mind is boggled that they have posted every single thing for $3 and someone(s) is snatching these up. Taking 3 pictures of grocery store shelves? $3. Going to a big box home improvement store and spending 40 minutes getting patio door quotes? $3. Taking 35 pictures of batteries in a major box store's check out lines? $3. I mean what on earth...$3!

Must be the single mon with 3 kids someone mentioned above as doing 5 Guys shops to allow her kids to eat parts of the meal- poor kids will starve with the 5 Guys food so guess they need the $3 shops.

@SueW70 wrote:

Someone took all the Five Guys shops in my area for a whopping changed fee of $12. Taking shops for low fees ruins it for everyone! Wish people would learn to not jump on things. I have gotten up to $30 for a 5 guys- but when shoppers jump on $12 shops it ruins things for everyone

The cost of eating out is getting so high, people are now taking them just for the meal.

@johnb974 wrote:

@SueW70 wrote:

Someone took all the Five Guys shops in my area for a whopping changed fee of $12. Taking shops for low fees ruins it for everyone! Wish people would learn to not jump on things. I have gotten up to $30 for a 5 guys- but when shoppers jump on $12 shops it ruins things for everyone

The cost of eating out is getting so high, people are now taking them just for the meal.

All I know is, my Five Guys career is pretty much over. The bottom feeders have crowded me out. It's a great time to be an MSC.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2024 02:35AM by KokoBWare.

funny, because my co-worker started doing 5 guys shops since she always saw me eating "free lunches". now I have to compete with her, and it sometimes boils my blood. But it's my own fault for not keeping my mouth shut. Luckily there is some type of rotation, I think.

@nellybean212 wrote:

funny, because my co-worker started doing 5 guys shops since she always saw me eating "free lunches". now I have to compete with her, and it sometimes boils my blood. But it's my own fault for not keeping my mouth shut. Luckily there is some type of rotation, I think.

I have had friends and family try to take up mystery shopping but most of them don't have the patience to deal with it and don't want to wait for payment, so they give it up fairly easily.

Three of my friends were all excited about mystery shopping. I told them about companies and shops. In each case, after 1 or 2 shops, they said I was crazy for bothering doing all the required work for the fees paid and quit. It is not a get rich quick pursuit by any means- one of my friend say a phony article in the store near the check out where those articles about fat ladies getting thin in 3 easy steps are all on the covers! LOL - The article she saw was about a woman who quit her 6 figure Wall Street banker job to become a shopper- it had stories about eating lunch at a 5 star restaurant, then shopping at a luxury store buying a $300 purse that was free after the shop then later that night eating dinner at another 5 star place- what a crock! My friend believed it- especially the part about this banker making more shopping than working at in i banking. It was a full of baloney article- many may have read it thinking it was a great thing to do- I venture to say most quit after the first few shops.

I don't like to tell people in my area about mystery shopping because they then become my competition. Those that I have told about it aren't really interested because they think it's too much work for the rewards.

My sister knows one of my competitors who does it "just for fun". I'm guessing she's the one that keeps taking the shops at base. She doesn't need the money, it a stay at home person and does the shops to occupy her time or something like that.

Good thing she only does two shops. One for RBG and Marketforce.

some....many...? shops don't require much skill to complete, only time and attention....but there are others that require a certain level of writing and reading ability....if someone is taking those for very low pay because they are impoverished, I have to wonder why they don't have a better job with better earning potential - look around, jobs are going begging since the pandemic eased....look at the news... I suppose there is a reason people don't want good jobs, but I don't know what those are - lack of transportation or day care, or maybe they have a domestic partner footing the bills - I don't know....because going hungry was never my thing. I don't take the ridiculously low compensated jobs....I can't handle the feeling of being taken as a fool. Yes, everyone is different.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2024 01:29PM by BarefootBliss.

Yes there are lots of reasons shoppers take these jobs for such low pay. I suspect the biggest one is just boredom. It gets people out of the house and keeps them active. I can certainly relate. And some have other income to rely on and this is just extra. But if anyone is doing them to survive at that low pay without also looking for better work, they are doing themselves a disservice.

I agree with the above posts of both MYSTERY & BAREFOOT. My shopping model works for me and I think it would for other folks. At least one of the following conditions must be met or I sit.

1-Money--Unfortunately, this category has been lean for a few months. My
last such job was in Nov. of last yr., paying me $60 for slightly over, including travel, an hour.

2-Leisure--A friend drove to my house and, with his high capacity floor jack, changed a tire on my truck. I used a shop to take him to Outback.

3--Defrayment of expense--I travel, both business and personal, some each week. As an example, tomorrow I will be driving approx. 90 mls. I will catch four shops, from five doors down to a mile from my non-shopping business. All work is a simple as a shop could be and in that I do not have any travel time or expense to complete any of the four, the pay, while not being desirable, is acceptable.

I am a realist. As such, I accepted 16 yrs. ago that I had miserably failed as a full timer. With the above plan, though, success, as I gauge it, was created.

@mystery2me wrote:

Yes there are lots of reasons shoppers take these jobs for such low pay. I suspect the biggest one is just boredom. It gets people out of the house and keeps them active. I can certainly relate.

I went through an extremely hard time last year (lost someone), and I am a teacher, so, I knew summer would be hell. I worked almost every day that summer doing shops. Some days it was just one or two shops, others I worked 12-14 hours. From July 1-August 21 when school started again, I only DIDN'T work 11 days. It gave me a need to get out of bed and get dressed, and it also helped pay off some of the costs associated with everything. Now I've acquired some new volunteer opportunities, so my time is better filled, and I'm pickier about what shops I take (sort of along shopperbob's guidelines - either great pay, leisure/meals, or defraying expenses, especially "easy" shops that don't take me very long to complete for things I would already be buying - gas, groceries, gifts, etc).

@mysterioso412 wrote:

@mystery2me wrote:

Yes there are lots of reasons shoppers take these jobs for such low pay. I suspect the biggest one is just boredom. It gets people out of the house and keeps them active. I can certainly relate.

I went through an extremely hard time last year (lost someone), and I am a teacher, so, I knew summer would be hell. I worked almost every day that summer doing shops. Some days it was just one or two shops, others I worked 12-14 hours. From July 1-August 21 when school started again, I only DIDN'T work 11 days. It gave me a need to get out of bed and get dressed, and it also helped pay off some of the costs associated with everything. Now I've acquired some new volunteer opportunities, so my time is better filled, and I'm pickier about what shops I take (sort of along shopperbob's guidelines - either great pay, leisure/meals, or defraying expenses, especially "easy" shops that don't take me very long to complete for things I would already be buying - gas, groceries, gifts, etc).

Sorry for your loss.

Circle K blues ... looks like I'm not going to get much out of this month's round. Six locations within 5 miles of me, two more within 20 miles, and ... a bottom feeder(s) has cycloned through five of them at the $5 base fee.

I need to teach a local class or something on waiting these companies out.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2024 03:13PM by KokoBWare.

Seems like bottom feeders are going to earn 55 bucks while top feeders cry.

You just don't understand what koko is saying. Wait and the pay will go up.

Instead of $55 it could have been $75.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2024 03:28PM by wrosie.

circle K shops go up fast. they'll be $8 by monday, next week they'll be $12 or $15. Unless you really need gas to get home from where you are, there is no point in doing a Circle K shop for $5.

We use the Circle K shops mostly for gas, at least until the end of the round. When they go over $20 (happens every month), we worry less about the gasoline and more about getting the rest of them done for profit.

Seems like some people are working for free while others are smart enough to wait. Some people know what their time is worth and some people never figure it out.

Circle Ks seem to be the easiest of gas station shops. I've been at some where they were also Shell branded gas stations and observed a Shell shopper doing the Mystery/Reveal shop for the big MSC.
It made me wonder about the different times that I've seen both shops appear on their respective job sites and then disappear. Of course, now they are both on the magic site. And they have disappeared quickly.
So, I wonder, is the same shopper taking both?
Wouldn't that be double dipping? I suppose not if they did each one separately.

As it has been stated 1,000 times before... you do not know why someone took theses shops. Calling them " bottom feeders" is wrong.
Since y'all like giving advice on how to mystery shop successfully how 'bout this? Put your competitor out of business. Next month on the Monday the shops come out, get your ass out of bed early , scoop up everyone of them, do them. Repeat for 4 months. Your competitor ( bottom feeder) will give up mystery shopping and you will have won YOUR territory. I believe this is better advice than name calling , whining, and expecting people to wait on you and your schedule. And it may calm your sense of entitlement. Or.... you could open your very own high paying MSC.

I do not like when my competition takes shops at base rate because it forces me to either do the same or simply not work. But I can certainly understand it.

Sure, they say there are a lot of available jobs. Are there really? Imagine a person who is accustomed to working low-wage jobs. For whatever reason, lack of skill, disability, lack of training. That person can take a low-wage job at a fast food, gas station or crappy retailer like Dollar General and work for $8 an hour. For that $8 an hour they get a rotating schedule which often means working all different days and hours week by week, never knowing what their schedule is going to be and only part-time hours. Sure, the company has advertised $10 to $15 an hour but when they apply they find out that is only for management or full-time workers yet the company does not hire full-time in order to not pay benefits and has no openings for management.

So this person has a choice. Work for $8 an hour for 20 hours a week, with deductions like uniform and meals taken out of their pay, never knowing what their schedule might be, doing the work of two other employees that the company doesn't want to pay to hire and risking their life as an overnight gas station attendant or dealing with idiot customers all day long in retail and fast food. Or they can make the equivalent of $10 an hour by mystery shopping, choosing their own schedule, controlling where they go and who they deal with.

Who wouldn't choose the mystery shopping??

And as far as upper level, executive, administrative, College degree type of jobs, there seem to be different opinions as to whether there really are available jobs or not, depending on which news source or agency we get information from. The tech crash certainly had a big impact on a lot of industries.

Laughing at myself and the idea of good jobs and bad jobs in my world. I had a few weeny little jobs at universities. A monkey could have done the work. But if we translated this via resume-ese, you would think I was downright important. Gifted. Going places. Someone to watch... And then hire with a carefully negotiated and extremely bloated compensation package. So how good are the people in the good jobs? How bad are the shoppers in the presumed bad gigs?

Circle K are actually closely comparable to Sunoco.

For the Sunoco MSC you are waiting maybe 6 weeks for payment.
Circle K - 3 days usually.

Some people like the quick money. The MSCs that pay fast probably don't have to pay as much.

@mysterioso412 wrote:

@Rousseau wrote:

"

. Or even "What was the best part of the shop and what was the worst part and why?" it.

I remember several years ago, I did a bonus Raising Canes shop. This question was on there and I put the music was to loud..

A couple of months later, I did another bonus RC shop and that question was on there.. Again, I put the music was to loud..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2024 01:51AM by Isaiah4031a.

@NM1962 wrote:

As it has been stated 1,000 times before... you do not know why someone took theses shops. Calling them " bottom feeders" is wrong.
Since y'all like giving advice on how to mystery shop successfully how 'bout this? Put your competitor out of business. Next month on the Monday the shops come out, get your ass out of bed early , scoop up everyone of them, do them. Repeat for 4 months. Your competitor ( bottom feeder) will give up mystery shopping and you will have won YOUR territory. I believe this is better advice than name calling , whining, and expecting people to wait on you and your schedule. And it may calm your sense of entitlement. Or.... you could open your very own high paying MSC.

You mad, bro?

Your "advice" is insane. That's not going to make anyone quit mystery shopping, they'll just latch on to the next low-paying series of other clients' shops and now we've both busted our asses for nothing.

But I know economics can be tough to sort out in mid-hissy fit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2024 03:12AM by KokoBWare.

@Isaiah4031a wrote:

@mysterioso412 wrote:

@Rousseau wrote:

"

. Or even "What was the best part of the shop and what was the worst part and why?" it.

I remember several years ago, I did a bonus Raising Canes shop. This question was on there and I put the music was to loud..

A couple of months later, I did another bonus RC shop and that question was on there.. Again, I put the music was to loud..

I did only one Raising Cane's. I could get over the bad food and awful service, but the "music" was so loud that my head hurt for some time after leaving. Never again.

There's more than one way to be a bottom feeder, huh bro? Continue on trailblazer!

I don't know.... I take a lot of jobs at the introductory rate. Why? Because I do them while I'm visiting a nearby town to take a job that has had it's fee elevated or is offering a bonus. The whole "wait and it will go up" does work but it reminds me of the EBAY auction technique of bidding on something at the very last second so you place the winning bid. I don't really want to work that hard for an extra $3 which is what the red button shops "elevated" to on the first step--$9 to $12. We're all in business for ourselves and have our own reasons for being an IC.