I received an email to complete a 105 item price audit for what I feel is decent pay. Has anyone done such a long price audit? Wandering around a Walgreens for what I can only imagine will be at least an hour seems somewhat hard to do without being questioned. Any insight from folks who do these would be much appreciated.

I don't know - does it have to be an unrevealed audit? could you let the store know?
There have been quite a few people arrested for gift card fraud at Walgreens and CVS and they were profiled as "travelers" and one distinct observation was the amount of time spent in the store.

it's a LOT more than an hour, and there is no way to make it look like actual shopping. And Walgreens will throw you out and you won't get paid anyway.

My experience with pricing audits at smaller stores like gas stations and drug stores is that there's a great chance that you are going to be stopped and possibly kicked out. In my case, I was not paid after being kicked out. Remember, you are being asked to go into another business, without their consent or knowledge, and do a thorough audit of their inventory and pricing. What makes it look egregious and somewhat sketchy to the business is the fact that so many pictures are required. Having someone walk around your business for an hour taking dozens and dozens and dozens of photos all over without consent seems unethical to me.

If I was a business owner or a manager of a location and I saw someone attempting to do that, I would tell them that I would be happy to help them find what they are looking for. If they told me that they were doing a pricing audit, or I can tell by watching them that they were doing one, I would slightly tell them to leave if they were not buying anything. In that case, it's loitering, and that's a common and easily enforceable rule at businesses.

Of course, I would be civil about it, but some business owners and managers might not be. You might get accosted with foul language or have the cops called on you. I know shoppers that have tried these that have had both of those things happen. So just remember, this is what you could possibly be dealing with if you decide to sign up for one of these shops. I hope you make the right decision.

Several yrs. ago, a male entered my store and began scanning; I immediately stopped him. Neither he nor I were belligerent toward the other and he departed. Folks, heed thunders post, as, even if there are not any problems, the work:pay ratios I have seen are terrible.

This explains why those assignments sit on the boards and don't move...

I was doing a merchandising job in a Walgreens a few months back and a man came in and started doing a price audit. The store manager was watching him on the cameras from the office. After about 20 minutes the manager approached him and told him price audits were not allowed and was asked to leave. The man got hostile with the manager telling him that he was assigned to do the audit at the store and wasn't leaving until he was done with it. The manager called the police, and he was removed by them. And told never to come back. The manager notified the other stores in the area with a picture of the man.

Thanks for the feedback. I have done one of the 20 item gas station ones for a hefty fee. It took 15 minutes and I still felt uneasy doing it. This particular shop was already gone by the time I logged into the site so it’s all fine. Probably would not have done it anyway. No idea why people do these for $30…..

@sueac101 Too funny. Odd he didn't pull out the LOA to show he could perform the pricing audit...Oh wait.

What kind of man tells the manager of the store they are not leaving until they are done? I would've been so embarrassed and left, but then again I wouldn't be in that situation in the first place. Too bad the manager didn't pursue trespassing charges since he was told to leave and the dude stayed anyway until removed by police.

Personally I've never had an issue doing an audit at a drug store. The people who work at the ones around me have far better things to do than harass people checking prices since we don't have to scan bar codes or anything. That being said obviously individual milage will vary by store manager. You will probably have to wander a bit a decipher what the heck they're asking you for as a lot of the items will not be things you recognize.

@weatherman2111 If a new manager was in place and told you hey buddy get out. Would you leave or tell them I will take off after I am done.

First off, it'll take a good bit longer than the MSC claims it will take. For your first experience doing this, expect to spend twice the time MSC mentions.

I've done price audits at Walmart stores. Employees see me doing the audit, and no one says anything.. However, for a smaller store like a Walgreens, I'd assume there's a much greater likelihood you'll be noticed and asked to leave. I've never done a smaller store, but I pretty much envisioned it going the way thunder deacon described. There's a decent chance you'll be sent packing without getting paid for it. I'd only do this shop if it were close by and I could afford to waste an hour or two.

Don't know the details of your offer, but I did one and it took me WAY longer than expected, partially because I didn't understand the app. I had to scan, then put in the promo price(which EVERY product had), besides actually searching for the exact correct product. Never again, unless it's heavily heavily bonused. I did mine over a couple days since I was close, so not sure if that made me more or less suspect.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

Personally I've never had an issue doing an audit at a drug store. The people who work at the ones around me have far better things to do than harass people checking prices since we don't have to scan bar codes or anything. That being said obviously individual milage will vary by store manager. You will probably have to wander a bit a decipher what the heck they're asking you for as a lot of the items will not be things you recognize.

Good point. That's one of a few reasons why these audits take much longer than MSCs claim it will take. I typically shop for a very limited variety of items at retail stores, so a lot of these items and the sections they're in are not at all familiar to me.

Just curious. Could you not go into the store and photograph every aisle then leave. At home crop the pictures to show what you need?

I have a Galaxy A3 which has a 13 megapixel camera. That's large enough to print an 8×10 FOOT picture!

It's been good enough to take pictures on grocery shop shelves for another MSC.

I used to do the Walgreens close to my area but stopped when they lower the price to do it. I've never had any problems. Sometimes they just assume I'm clearance shopping and tell me about the items that just put on the clearance aisle. For the most part they don't really care but it depends on the area and the manager.

I should prolly try one of these shops, given they provide a decent fee (not likely). I live in South Florida. In general, retail employees here are loathe to approach anybody and tell them they can't be doing something no matter how suspicious it is.

I have thought about doing those, but at 6'5" and 200 pounds, I assume it would be hard to stay in a store for very long without being noticed.

I haven't done one of these for exactly the reasons mentioned.
I did a whole bunch of surveys that took 45-70 minutes each depending on how much actual shopping I was doing at the same time. I had security follow me that I noticed twice. But, because I was actually shopping, not just answering questions on a survey site, they never said anything to me, just watched. They mostly get nervous if you spend time in the drug and cosmetics area.

Years ago I was doing a Wetzel pretzel photo shop in a mall in NJ. The security guards without first approaching me called the police and then once the police were there led me to the mall office and threatened to have me arrested for photo taking in the mall. This was shortly after 9-11 and New Jersey being close to NY had lots of security issues. I was able to get away without arrest but neve did such a shop again. NOT WORTH IT

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2025 10:44PM by Fatlady.

@Momomomo wrote:

@weatherman2111 If a new manager was in place and told you hey buddy get out. Would you leave or tell them I will take off after I am done.

I would start by explaining what I'm doing. If they don't like it I'll find another location nearby.

I'm holding out for a pricing job that offers maximum pay for minimum items, and I get paid beforehand.

I'll let you know how it goes...

@Cool- you don’t think that company will ask you to send them gift cards back do you?