There's a grocery store I shop near me with a chain that's prominent in my part of the state. The one near my house tends to be hard to fill. The MSC posts 8 shops per month at this location. There are 4 where you're evaluating one set of store departments, and another 4 focusing on other areas. There's another location about 20 miles from me that I also shop. I usually wait until the shops get bonused up. Anyway ...

The shops at the one a mile from me have suddenly disappeared from the board. All 8. The ones at the location 20 miles away are still there. It's incomprehensible that all 8 got snapped up because history shows that few if any people in my town know this MSC (their other clients' shops also sit on the board a long time). I'm wondering if I got detected. Just to add to my paranoia, in my last shop there, the associates were especially nice.

I know I could just ask the MSC, but in the event the removal is for a totally innocent other reason, I don't want to plant a bug in the MSC's ear that I may be sloppy. The MSC hasn't said a thing to me, so ... just wondering if anyone has been told they've been detected?

There's another "shop" where a shopper gets maxed out after X number of visits. I wonder if it's something like that. Or, a weird rotation--ie can only do 8 out of 10 visits. No matter what, I would probably send a positive email stating you enjoy these shops and wondering when you might see them again.

Its only happened to me once where I was detected and the MSC let me know. Grimaldi’s Pizza supposedly detected me as a shopper and they wouldn’t assign me any more shops. One of the sadder moments of my MSC life.

@metro25782 wrote:

Its only happened to me once where I was detected and the MSC let me know. Grimaldi’s Pizza supposedly detected me as a shopper and they wouldn’t assign me any more shops. One of the sadder moments of my MSC life.

Do you know how you were detected? Or did they say how they detected you?

I’ve definitely been detected - get very “nice” treatment at a chain - due to a discrepancy between the client and the MSC. I was paid and I am certain I was in the right. The MSC chastised me but didn’t release me. The client must’ve reviewed their security footage. So it isn’t great - I am resentful for the quality of my work being questioned, the MSC probably didn’t like the confrontation with the client, and now the client is undermined by managers or whoever watched the tapes. I’m definitely spotted 5/10 times. Maybe new crew is oblivious.

I shop NC and SC. I’m knee deep in grocery shops. There are 20+ stores within 15 miles from me. If we’re talking about the same stores/MSC, I’ve been spotted twice. The stores were no longer on my job board. I was notified by my scheduler. It was my understanding that the store questioned something in my report and viewed the footage. That’s something I would always welcome, because it would verify the accuracy of my report. Unfortunately, since the store identified me, it chose to give me the boot. I was able to shop them again after about a year.

Self protection against being detected is important. There are a few stores where I know the managers suspect me. As soon as they see me, they’ll run ahead to the departments and alert the associates. I rarely shop those stores for that reason. If I do, I’ll shop them after 5:00 when there will be different managers. Or, if it’s a slow day for me and I’m driving by, I’ll go in, get some of my steps in, and keep them guessing.

@KokoBWare Your post makes me wonder how specific the report is in documenting the mystery shopper's visit time. It seems like it is easy for the store manager or employees to identify a shopper if they want to by reviewing security tapes. Especially if they have information like the date and time frame (morning/afternoon/night) or worse the specific hour you visited.

At least one person here said that Post Office managers are prohibited from reviewing tapes with the intent of identifying mystery shoppers, but this is different. Didn't someone say they had to use a store's restroom and as they walked past the employee breakroom they were shocked to see their picture hanging in the room with inscription mystery shopper?

I've been stopped from doing cell phone shops in my area. I've done so many of them over the year I know stores know I'm a shopper.

@Momomomo wrote:

At least one person here said that Post Office managers are prohibited from reviewing tapes with the intent of identifying mystery shoppers, but this is different.

You’re correct, management must not use video to identify a shopper per government protocol.

USPS Ops Handbook can be found using the below link. The mystery shopping portion starts on page 42.

Technically, you as a person could use FOIA to request the footage from your shop. Now whether they will provide it is a different story.

[apwu.org]

I have been told by a MSC that I was detected.

@Momomomo wrote:

Didn't someone say they had to use a store's restroom and as they walked past the employee breakroom they were shocked to see their picture hanging in the room with inscription mystery shopper?

-stunned laugh- That is utterly disturbing.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

@Momomomo wrote:

Didn't someone say they had to use a store's restroom and as they walked past the employee breakroom they were shocked to see their picture hanging in the room with inscription mystery shopper?

-stunned laugh- That is utterly disturbing.

Pretty sure it was Shopperbob.

@Momomomo wrote:

@KokoBWare Your post makes me wonder how specific the report is in documenting the mystery shopper's visit time. It seems like it is easy for the store manager or employees to identify a shopper if they want to by reviewing security tapes. Especially if they have information like the date and time frame (morning/afternoon/night) or worse the specific hour you visited.

These reports require date, time in and time out. Pretty specific.

I am in NC near Va border, can you tell me which companies do grocery stores?

I was detected when shopping at a diner. We live in a very small town and once I was eating, I saw that I had gone to high school 25+ years ago with the manager on duty. We only had 30 people in our class. Anyway, the MSC told me that their client knew who I was. I could still shop for the MSC, I just was not allowed any more shops at that diner. The diner closed down several years later.

Some MSCs (such as A Closer Look) do. Some don't I don't remember which MSC it was but it used SASSIE. I could see a client's shops on the job board but could not apply for any of those shops. I found out only when I emailed the MSC that the last location I shopped figured out I was the shopper.

@KokoBWare wrote:

There's a grocery store I shop near me with a chain that's prominent in my part of the state. The one near my house tends to be hard to fill. The MSC posts 8 shops per month at this location. There are 4 where you're evaluating one set of store departments, and another 4 focusing on other areas. There's another location about 20 miles from me that I also shop. I usually wait until the shops get bonused up. Anyway ...

The shops at the one a mile from me have suddenly disappeared from the board. All 8. The ones at the location 20 miles away are still there. It's incomprehensible that all 8 got snapped up because history shows that few if any people in my town know this MSC (their other clients' shops also sit on the board a long time). I'm wondering if I got detected. Just to add to my paranoia, in my last shop there, the associates were especially nice.

I know I could just ask the MSC, but in the event the removal is for a totally innocent other reason, I don't want to plant a bug in the MSC's ear that I may be sloppy. The MSC hasn't said a thing to me, so ... just wondering if anyone has been told they've been detected?

I know the client and MSC to which you are referring. I had a situation a few years ago with the same client/MSC at one of their stores where a manager followed me through the store and would stand at the end of each aisle I visited and sent store employees down the aisle to greet me. Everyone was so over the top in greeting and attending to me, it was ridiculous and it was obvious they knew who I was. At the seafood department, they did not have the 1 lb jumbo lump crab container I sought, which was BOGO, so they gave me the larger 2 lb container at the 1lb price. Crazy. I finished the shop and did not visit that location again for 2+ years though it still appeared as available to me. I never heard anything from the MSC about being detected.

I did one yesterday at a location close to home that I rarely visit but I was clocked again. There were a few managers in produce as soon as I entered and one followed me through the store, again sending associates up to greet me and offer assistance. They could not be more obvious. I wanted to tell him he was trying to game the system and if his employees did their jobs properly without being prompted he wouldn't have anything to worry about. In any case, I finished the assignment and left the store, and I do not plan to return for a shop for quite some time.

My guess is that the client would not voluntarily reveal when they have detected the shopper. It is to their benefit to know who it is so they can be on their best behavior. I think it might only come up if there is a discrepancy or when the client challenges part of the report.

@Sagacious wrote:

My guess is that the client would not voluntarily reveal when they have detected the shopper. It is to their benefit to know who it is so they can be on their best behavior. I think it might only come up if there is a discrepancy or when the client challenges part of the report.

I don't know. Sometimes people don't think it through like that. I would think that to many, the shopper is the enemy and if they "out" the shopper and keep him/her from returning, why, that's a scalp on their belt. Of course, that's self-defeating, but as I say, people don't always think this through.

Years and years ago, I noticed I wasn't seeing a particular fast food shop anymore. I happened to ask a scheduler about it and she said I was banned from seeing/doing those shops anymore because I'd been spotted. The rest of the details she gave me didn't match up with my experience, and I don't actually think I was spotted, but that was the end of those shops for me.

Don't EVER TRUST USPS!!~!!

I had one shop I was asked to never come back. It was my fault. I was having dinner at the bar. The food was so great, I asked the server to take a picture of me and my meal. I also did a short video. Evidently whoever looks at the restaurant video saw me and didn't like what I did. I was asked not to do another shop with them. I didn't care, I had been there enough times anyway.