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Super frustrating K grocery store drops

March 26, 2025 06:21PM
Is it just me or does the website and app crash every time the K grocery stores drop? Not to mention no bonuses and more work has been super frustrated...
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More About Grocery Store Mystery Shopping
March 26, 2025 06:47PM
Yes I agree super annoying! Website needs upgrades.
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March 26, 2025 07:22PM
Usually we have 78 or more shops drop. The first time I could get them to load there were only 55. And then when I tried to get the first one that I wanted it said it wasn't available and the website kicked me out and made me sign in again. When I got back there were only 45 available and I was only able to get 4 shops total, and 2 of them are remote, in another state.

I don't know what's going on, I don't know where all the usual shops went to. I'm going to have to find a way to get groceries some other way.
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March 26, 2025 07:29PM
Same experience here when I tried to sign on for shop the screen would go to zero shops, had to log in again. Then when i finally signed up said I was not signed on…i clicked on shops and dates then screen blank again but when I looked at home page showed shop was assigned. Very frustrating! site definitely needs ti be enhanced

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2025 07:30PM by OldmanJames.
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March 27, 2025 01:18PM
I had the same issues. We would usually have 80 shops available and today there was only maybe 60 and out of them the website kept crashing and I only got a handful of the locations.
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March 27, 2025 01:21PM
Yep, same. Logging in repeatedly, lags in loading, etc. I did OK because I am in a lower demand area but I suspect there are more people pursuing fewer opportunities.
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March 27, 2025 02:47PM
Sad to say but with all the website glitches and the lack of the more lucrative fuel and pick up shops I wonder if some shoppers may say they will simply not be bothered. It is VERY frustrating and annoying- for the extra $1 in fee and reimbursement there is a lot more expected with the deli and bakery components. I am a very experienced shopper- over 30 years and I find the in store shops to be much less appealing. As for the full serve with the addition of waiting in long lines and having to note an extra person- a hard pass on that one! The low $10 reimbursement means that I do not have a cart full of items so being stuck behind someone who does is not in the least appealing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2025 02:48PM by Fatlady.
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March 27, 2025 03:39PM
As I travel, my radius is set for 50 miles. Of the stores in that area, I will visit, over the course of a year, 39. All but 2 have self check and each of those quickly opens any closed registers if customers are waiting. Due to having been burned by being in line 24 minutes at a location with 10 registers, but only a single one open, I no longer select full service shops at stores I have, in the past, noted as very busy.

I am certain Kroger's is aware of the situation, but unless shoppers refuse the work, they will continue to post cashier/bagger jobs.
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March 28, 2025 03:09AM
Not you at all. I revolve my schedule around these shops posting so I can get the locations I want and all I got this month were 4 shops. The site kept kicking me out and then told me my "credentials were invalid."
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March 28, 2025 06:18PM
As Yogi Berra might have said: "Nobody takes those jobs anymore because they're already taken".

It didn't used to be so bad when they dropped at a random time. Now that everybody and their dog knows what time they'll show up, they all hit the site at the same time and the system just wasn't designed for that much traffic all at once.
If their system allowed it, I'd suggest they drop them by region, staggering it out over a few hours, but they haven't called me asking for my advice. Yet.
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March 28, 2025 07:54PM
Posting by region rather than all at once resulting in the system crashing would be a GREAT idea!
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March 29, 2025 12:33AM
@Fatlady wrote:

Posting by region rather than all at once resulting in the system crashing would be a GREAT idea!
I was thinking the same thing.
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March 29, 2025 03:21AM
You all can have them. I took three just to keep my name in the hat. With the fuel and pick ups gone, the in store shops are pointless IMO. Way to much work for the return.
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March 29, 2025 05:47AM
I really can't afford not to take the grocery shops. I *can* eat without the grocery shops, but I like eating meat now and then. And I like Oatmilk in my coffee.
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March 29, 2025 01:20PM
For me, the elimination of both the fuel and pick-up jobs has been a double negative. The fuel because it was an opportunity to easily earn an extra $10 in the store's parking lot. As it applies to the pick-ups, of which I had zero interest, some of those shoppers have migrated to in-store work, reducing availability for me. It is not even 3 days since posting and in my area, where in he past there would still be 50 to 75 shops, there are only 18.

A final comment: In this age of MSCs reducing fees, the Kroger shops, in the past few yrs., have increased from $5+$9 to $10+$10. What is even more surprising to me is that these are food oriented. No one NEEDS to see a movie, go bowling or attend a sports event, but eating is a life's requirement.
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March 30, 2025 02:30PM
Funny, I forgot about the drop this week and saw it as I have the webpage opened. I was still able to get the shops I wanted in my area without the hassle. I am not doing any away routes, and the 5 of the 6 closest locations had 2 or more shops available.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230
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March 30, 2025 02:33PM
I find them relatively easy. No narrative. I have the shops completed within 20 minutes, and only review them at home to correct the end time and to save a copy on my computer.

I miss the gas station shops. I used that as the fee, picked up a snack or water while shopping and could use the full amount of the in-store shop for stuff.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230
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March 30, 2025 03:59PM
@whosear wrote:

I find them relatively easy. No narrative. I have the shops completed within 20 minutes, and only review them at home to correct the end time and to save a copy on my computer.

I miss the gas station shops. I used that as the fee, picked up a snack or water while shopping and could use the full amount of the in-store shop for stuff.
Ditto! The gas station add on made me more willing to take a location they were struggling to fill.
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April 01, 2025 07:52PM
I wonder if fuels and pickups will actually come back. The in-stores are really almost not worth it alone.
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April 06, 2025 08:55PM
I also wonder. I have done a few of the in stores and not thrilled with them. They take quite a while longer if done as instructed Standing at the deli counter like a fool and at the meat counter and trying to get within 6 feet of the produce man are the pits. As for full serve no thanks. he fuel and pick up made these worthwhile starting to rethink doing them
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April 07, 2025 03:21PM
I'm speculating that the pick ups and fuel are on pause possibly due to uncertain economic times. I visited Kroger employee site and found that these shops factor into employee evaluations.

On another note, were there competitor shops this round? They dropped first before the Kroger ones last time. I forgot about the drop date and signed up later. Fortunately, there were many around me so I got 15 shops this time.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230
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April 07, 2025 03:23PM
No, I didn't see any competitor locations this round.
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April 07, 2025 05:35PM
No competitors seen. I speculate that if they are dropping fuel and pick up that competitor may also be on hold. I also wondered how they pick the competitors. There is an Aldi across the street from a Kroger and 2 1/2 miles from another Kroger yet it is never shopped. Very strange. Yet there is an Aldi and Traer Joes a good 5 miles from the nearest Kroger which is shopper. Makes no sense to me at all.
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April 16, 2025 12:33AM
Confirming no competitor shops in my area. I hope the "pause" in pickups and gas isn't just the first step in phasing out these shops entirely.
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April 16, 2025 01:45AM
You want to lose grocery shops? I heard, or read somewhere when they scaled back, that the pause in pick up, gas and competitors shops was going to be for at least 1 year. I hope they reinstate them sooner, but I won't hold my breath.
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April 16, 2025 03:50PM
Speaking about competitors, does anyone know if these competitors have mystery shopping going? I only know of Kroger.
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April 23, 2025 03:50PM
Harris Teeter if still around had some through the same MSC about 8 years ago in the Nashville, TN area. Occasionally Amazon Fresh. That's it.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230
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April 23, 2025 03:52PM
In March, the competitor shops dropped first and separately. I got 3 before they were gone.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230
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April 23, 2025 04:12PM
Harris Teeter has the same parent company as Kroger. They are shopped, but not as Kroger competitors. The job is very similar to Kroger but a little easier IMO.
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