I have to say these are not worth it for the base pay.

It isn't hard (haven't done any high volume locations yet), but there are 45 questions, 5 photos and everything has to be done in the app (photos can be a huge pain sometimes). I also didn't see any explanation of what a "princess style" is and I am supposed to record inventory levels for it. I understood that the categories were simple - but - nowhere did I find a way to distingush one size from another (nothing on the tag and their photos don't explain it either).
What am I missing?

Boutique, pages 6 and 7 show the best examples but still not clear in my mind. My issue came with management not being present in the c-stores. I was on one of my routes that’s 200 miles from home and ended up getting a motel room. I set up my locations so they coordinate with another of CI’s projects, theoretically no extra miles on the car.

Not sure but I think I asked my scheduler if there was any info for approximate length. If I did and I get it, I’ll post.

Have fun and good luck.


I’ve heard from my scheduler, there are no approximate measurements and reference #11 in the guidelines.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2024 03:45PM by MA Smith.

Kinda nuts isn't it when you have to provide actual inventory numbers and have no idea what you are looking at?

Ugh.

That is fine but why is there no actual information on what style is what size. I had to just guess at what was a small, medium and large and there is NO reference to a "Princess" style yet we are supposed to provide an inventory for it. Very frustrating.

I have been looking at the TY beanie baby website to get familiar with what is there. I saw a princess pink husky but that was about it. No princess category.

Hi - Can you please have your team update the guidelines with pictures of product by size (What is Large, Medium, etc) as well as a picture of what the "Princess Category" is? With inventory counts being asked for, this information is crucial but completely missing from the guidelines. Lots of guessing going on. Thank you

@dprice wrote:

Hello all!

Just FYI - given the new increase in locations, and with how many stores are now 2 visits per store every month, the goal will be...if you are assigned locations to complete, and you do a good job and want to keep them...we will come back to you first and offer them for the upcoming month.

It makes the visits/consistency better for you to plan, better for our project management team, and provides a better quality product for the stores & our customer. We LOVE ongoing programs like this. There of course will always be some exceptions or someone has to drop stores, wants to add stores, etc. but providing the same field rep to the same stores for programs like this always generally makes it better for everyone.

As mentioned on the thread...if you visit a store that hasn't been visited by a prior service rep (with the client, not with our company as we're just now being awarded these)...that first visit could take longer than usual because some clean-up has to be done but after that it becomes very consistent.

With the large volume of locations we are now assigned to cover, there are currently 3 Project Managers who have split the territories to cover this. However, ANY of them should be able to help you or get you to the PM assigned in your area if for any reason they can't help you directly.

VERY excited about this great new program and it should only get bigger in the next few months and coming to an area near you!

Daniel Price
Chief Operating Officer
Customer Impact, LLC
dprice@customerimpactinfo.com

After reading your post I went to the TY website

Princess is the pink husky ball 4 “
Princess is also the Disney princesses look like Barbie bodies and run 15”-18”

Boo’s 6”
Babies and bellies are 8”, website uses small as a descriptor
Squishes( pillows) are 10” & 14”
Medium is between 10” and 13”
Puffies are 4”, I think these are what the app calls balls
Large is 14”

Princess look like Disney Princess dolls, there is Ariel, Belle, Mulan, Jasmine, Aurora, Cinderella, Elsa and Anna

Pink husky puffie (ball). I may have had these at a couple of my stores.
Spinderella, white spider puffie

Oh gawd, really?? That is what we are supposed to go by?
I am sorry but if they want an ACCURATE inventory nothing that has been provided so far is going to result in accuracy and this "estimating" of size isn't either.
I am used to working with absolute parameters, not guessing.

@MA Smith wrote:

After reading your post I went to the TY website

Princess is the pink husky ball 4 “
Princess is also the Disney princesses look like Barbie bodies and run 15”-18”

Boo’s 6”
Babies and bellies are 8”, website uses small as a descriptor
Squishes( pillows) are 10” & 14”
Medium is between 10” and 13”
Puffies are 4”, I think these are what the app calls balls
Large is 14”

This is a great description and I screen shot it on my phone.
I have found most stores have the boos, babies and bellies and I put those down and small/medium category.

I also have questions about the display sizes. I don't exactly have a tape measure with me but I think I may bring one. I wish the guidelines had a little more guidance in these areas. Perhaps after I do a few more I will put together an email with some of the questions here and send it to CI for clarification. Headed out now to do a few more so let's see what other issues come up.

When you see the 2.5 foot, you’ll know. Lol

Glad I could help.

@MA Smith wrote:

When you see the 2.5 foot, you’ll know. Lol

Glad I could help.

I may run. LOL My husband actually gave me a small key chain tape measure. Finally he came in handy.

Currently I am seeing that the project has to be completed by 9-15, but not a single one has been taken in my area. They already have the biweekly revisits listed starting the 16th.. I wonder what they plan to do?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2024 10:55PM by bradkcrew.

Wow, I'm glad I decided not to sign up for any of these. It sounds too tedious, confusing, and time-consuming for the meager pay they offer. I just knew I wouldn't want to deal with that stuff from the very first email I saw. I'll just keep on deleting them!
.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2024 06:58PM by shopnyc.

I have started bringing clorox wipes with me. I think I am going to add gloves to my bag as well. Some of these displays were disgusting. I touched one yesterday and my hand was all sticky. Nope, excuse me.. back to the car to get the wipes.

There are hundreds of locations by me still up for grabs as well. I know there is at least one other shopper that does jobs for this MSC in my area but perhaps they don't like this shop. I can't do them all so curious how they are going to meet the demand of the client.

The first time I did these and saw that we were supposed to measure the display, I brought a small tape measure with. In a pinch, a US dollar bill is 6".

There were examples of the different items in the guidelines that I printed, those were sent by Guillermo on Sept 3rd or 4th. The tags on the items themselves will also say Beanie Boos or whatever.

Locations have been hit or miss with inventory and displays for me. Grocery store had zero but wanted to order more. a CVS had three different displays (a newly arrived Halloween one, and they are cute little beanies), a shelf, and a circular display that had a ton of past-dated seasonal stuff. Gas stations are hit or miss, if they are in a small town they seem to sell pretty well, and the store had a huge box of backstock available.

I finally saw an actual PRINCESS beanie on a job. They are literally about 1 foot tall and look like a Disney princess doll, not a beanie. Would have been helpful to know that at the outset ... geez.

Yes, should be interesting. All the ones that got up to $15 are now back to $10 .

@Boutique wrote:

Yes, should be interesting. All the ones that got up to $15 are now back to $10 .

Round one in my area is at $18
But Round two for the second visit is restarting at $10.

I think it should be based on # of displays in store. 1 display = 15, 2 displays = $20 or something like that.

Yes, most definitely. Sure, the gas stations can be pretty easy. How much inventory is a gas station going to keep, but a grocery store?? My god, there were piles of them. Hundreds to be counted ... yeah not doing that one again.
So one visit lets you know which ones are 10' pole shops, they would have to keep finding newbie shoppers to keep getting those serviced.
My understanding is that they were actual TY reps that had it before so they probably had better pay/salary or something.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2024 04:18PM by Boutique.

Here's a few things I've learned after doing 30 of these:

1. $10 Doesn't cover your time. $15 minimum for me moving forward. Its important to remember that CI pays once a month, the last week of the month, so could be waiting 6+ weeks to get paid. I can make $15 and get paid the next week on a ton of other shops. I think this payment schedule is going to make it hard for them to staff all of these once people figure out that doing locations the first week of September means you get paid the last week of October. Math doesn't math very well.
2. The displays are largely disgusting. Dirt, dead bugs, dust. Ugh. This needs to be addressed. If they want us to start cleaning them, my fee just went up to $25 minimum. I've started wearing gloves.
3. Pillows on the bottom tiers tend to be super dirty and should be discarded imo. Not addressed in the guidelines, so I've been leaving them.
4. CI needs to better address the past seasonal items. Asking a gas station to make a secondary display to put 2 Christmas Items on it with a sign saying its Clearance is not a workable plan. They don't want to do this. They don't know how much to charge for this "Clearance" item as they ring up at regular price. They don't have Clearance sections as they are gas stations. This seems to be an issue between Ty and their retailers, and should be addressed that way. Or CI should work it out with TY, but for a $10 project they are over-reaching asking us to sort it out.
5. Gas Stations and Drug Stores are pretty easy and quick.
6. I sort all the items by type and then count them as I straighten them...saves a ton of time.
7. For grocery stores, looking for backstock is a huge time suck. I'm going to avoid large grocery stores moving forward. 20 minutes is easily chewed up looking for a manager and then having them look for backstock. The way to address this properly is for Ty to communicate to CI where the backstock has been shipped, and this info should be in each location project. They know where they sent inventory, no need to ask us to run around looking for it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2024 05:36PM by Cassiespark.

It's been so interesting for me to read about all the issues that can and have come up with this assignment. I've been tempted to take a local gas station, but will wait until I see whether or not CI addresses these very legitimate issues. For all of you who have shared your experiences.....thank you!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2024 12:45AM by guysmom.

Years ago, all merchandising jobs used to be done by hiring W2 employees who then serviced their assigned routes on a regular basis. That was always the major difference between mystery shopping and merchandising. Then merchandising companies started copying MSCs by paying people as independent contractors. Hiring employees is much more expensive than paying ICs. However, many types of merchandising assignments do not translate well to the IC model. Quite a few should still be handled the "old-fashioned way." In my opinion, the subject of this thread is one of those kinds of shops that needs regular merchandisers to be in charge of their routes. The idea that any merchandising project can be easily or practicably managed by ICs as if it were a mystery shop is bogus.
.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2024 01:50AM by shopnyc.

@Cassiespark wrote:

Here's a few things I've learned after doing 30 of these:

1. $10 Doesn't cover your time. $15 minimum for me moving forward. Its important to remember that CI pays once a month, the last week of the month, so could be waiting 6+ weeks to get paid. I can make $15 and get paid the next week on a ton of other shops. I think this payment schedule is going to make it hard for them to staff all of these once people figure out that doing locations the first week of September means you get paid the last week of October. Math doesn't math very well.
2. The displays are largely disgusting. Dirt, dead bugs, dust. Ugh. This needs to be addressed. If they want us to start cleaning them, my fee just went up to $25 minimum. I've started wearing gloves.
3. Pillows on the bottom tiers tend to be super dirty and should be discarded imo. Not addressed in the guidelines, so I've been leaving them.
4. CI needs to better address the past seasonal items. Asking a gas station to make a secondary display to put 2 Christmas Items on it with a sign saying its Clearance is not a workable plan. They don't want to do this. They don't know how much to charge for this "Clearance" item as they ring up at regular price. They don't have Clearance sections as they are gas stations. This seems to be an issue between Ty and their retailers, and should be addressed that way. Or CI should work it out with TY, but for a $10 project they are over-reaching asking us to sort it out.
5. Gas Stations and Drug Stores are pretty easy and quick.
6. I sort all the items by type and then count them as I straighten them...saves a ton of time.
7. For grocery stores, looking for backstock is a huge time suck. I'm going to avoid large grocery stores moving forward. 20 minutes is easily chewed up looking for a manager and then having them look for backstock. The way to address this properly is for Ty to communicate to CI where the backstock has been shipped, and this info should be in each location project. They know where they sent inventory, no need to ask us to run around looking for it.

Yes, accurate. I did a few add'l locations this weekend and found some dirty displays, a handful of dirty items with no guidance on what to do and the grocery stores definitely need more time to just figure out where the merchandise is. Good way to get extra steps in by hunting through the warehouse, I guess?
And I'm not sure who handles the ordering - one store had a box that was basically all Spiderman merch, not much variety at all.

None of the drug stores want an additional display or to clearance out last Easter and last Christmas's stuff as they are gearing up for all the Halloween merch.

I do agree with what Daniel said in either an email or on this forum, if you are consistently going to the same stores, they will likely get faster and easier.

@shopnyc wrote:

Years ago, all merchandising jobs used to be done by hiring W2 employees who then serviced their assigned routes on a regular basis. That was always the major difference between mystery shopping and merchandising. Then merchandising companies started copying MSCs by paying people as independent contractors. Hiring employees is much more expensive than paying ICs. However, many types of merchandising assignments do not translate well to the IC model. Quite a few should still be handled the "old-fashioned way." In my opinion, the subject of this thread is one of those kinds of shops that needs regular merchandisers to be in charge of their routes. The idea that any merchandising project can be easily or practicably managed by ICs as if it were a mystery shop is bogus.
.

Yes, there's many projects that are better served by a regular, consistent, merchandiser, and in a lot of cases, some of these should have employees that are covered by workman's comp insurance because going into warehouses, moving heavy merchandise, etc all comes with risk.

How are these going for folks? Sounds like prices vary quite a bit, as do the store conditions and stock. Are you willing to continue your routes now that they are in order and should be easier?

@Nikki21 wrote:

How are these going for folks? Sounds like prices vary quite a bit, as do the store conditions and stock. Are you willing to continue your routes now that they are in order and should be easier?

TBD for me. I'm going to do my 2nd visits at the stores in my town this week. I am guessing the drug stores will be faster/easier this time around.
The grocery store, I'm not sure. The manager that handles ordering them was on vacation during my first visit and they had no add'l inventory. At this point, I don't know if I will show up and they'll have no merch, or if they'll have 400 items.

It is hard to determine from one or two visits but I have encountered all types of scenarios. Some stores have no inventory at all while others are swimming in it. I had a store on my second visit who was almost less than 50% full so I left her their number to place an order. Are we supposed to encourage that? I mean, I can be a sales rep but not for the pay I am getting. Managers are also hard to find in the larger stores, takes time to track people down and get access to store rooms. It is not as easy as they make it out to be and I am sure they are going to get pickier after this round.

My concern is the holidays are coming, holiday inventory, holiday displays.. in addition to what we are already doing. The pay is not great. Even on a second visit, some of these displays were trashed. I was just there and I had to re-do the entire thing again. It looked like they moved it and everything fell off so they just threw it back on.

I like the steady work, I will probably keep some of the stores but others I will ask for more pay due to multiple displays. My area still has many locations available and the fees have gone up. I am taking a few here and there at the higher fees.

I am also taking detailed notes for each store for my own sanity. Who the manager was, who had stock, how long it took me, how many displays, etc.

@Datagirl wrote:

It is hard to determine from one or two visits but I have encountered all types of scenarios. Some stores have no inventory at all while others are swimming in it. I had a store on my second visit who was almost less than 50% full so I left her their number to place an order. Are we supposed to encourage that? I mean, I can be a sales rep but not for the pay I am getting. Managers are also hard to find in the larger stores, takes time to track people down and get access to store rooms. It is not as easy as they make it out to be and I am sure they are going to get pickier after this round.

My concern is the holidays are coming, holiday inventory, holiday displays.. in addition to what we are already doing. The pay is not great. Even on a second visit, some of these displays were trashed. I was just there and I had to re-do the entire thing again. It looked like they moved it and everything fell off so they just threw it back on.

I like the steady work, I will probably keep some of the stores but others I will ask for more pay due to multiple displays. My area still has many locations available and the fees have gone up. I am taking a few here and there at the higher fees.

I am also taking detailed notes for each store for my own sanity. Who the manager was, who had stock, how long it took me, how many displays, etc.

I agree with all your points.
I visited a grocery store that's out of my normal area for the higher fee this weekend. They only had one display but, everything was just thrown on there so it was basically a complete re-do.

Stores with more than one display should have higher pay.

Things will definitely get trickier with the holidays and I personally don't want to be involved in the sales/ordering process since that's out of the scope of this project for the pay. There were two stores I did last weekend that had no inventory - they were sending emails to schedule the second visit on Monday - I emailed that they did not have any inventory and the displays would need to be cleaned. I didn't receive a response but they should have a way to flag stuff like this in the system.

I've only encountered a few that had dirty or stained items, so we'll need some better guidance on that, I'm sure.

@Nikki21 wrote:

Are you willing to continue your routes now that they are in order and should be easier?

What are they doing differently now? Since I generally ignore their emails for these and have not done this assignment, I wasn't aware that they decided to do anything differently. There are only two stores that come up near me, but they are very close by, so if they've improved this one somehow and are paying more, I might consider it.