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What was your favorite shop project that is no longer?

May 08, 2026 06:02PM
My two favorites were the USPS Box Dimension shops circa 2009-2011 and the Papa Johns program.
The USPS shop paid well and more remote locations had large bonuses. Only downside was the monetary outlay involved. It was not uncommon for me to be out +$300 in expenses any given month while waiting for reimbursement.

The Papa Johns program was also a fave. I could get the entire shop done in under 30 minutes including report. Reimbursement was usually pretty quick. After that, probably Vet shops (the MSC I used stopped offering them), billboard shops and greyhound shops. All of those paid well and the work was easy.

What's your fav project that ran for at least 6 months?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2026 06:30PM by jdyeah.
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May 08, 2026 06:19PM
Warehouse directed pricing audit. 60 min of work for $100 every two weeks. Ended recently but I'm missing that project.
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May 08, 2026 06:23PM
Yes the box shops were good. They did them around 2015 as well. I guess I miss the McDonalds shops. Not for the food or because they were fun, but because the fees could get pretty high and there were a lot of them. Same with the Sonics, although a few locations are still shopped. And the Western Union shops where with a straight face you act like you won the lottery and have to send $5,000 or whatever to collect it.
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May 08, 2026 07:02PM
Chipotle with the original MSC. I did several locations per month. I did a few with another MSC where the client was testing the online ordering features, and those ran for about a month. I really wish they'd start getting shopped again. I miss that food and I am to cheap to buy it on my own dime.
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May 08, 2026 07:04PM
Flemings steakhouse.
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May 08, 2026 07:06PM
@pegleg2000 wrote:

Flemings steakhouse.

Yeah, that one too.
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May 08, 2026 09:09PM
My love is for reimbursement shops for things I need./want...so years since I had good ones but my faves were the Veterinary shops, Ragg and Bone who reimbursed me over the years for an upscale wardrobe, and Aveda who has hair products that work on my hairtype.
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May 08, 2026 09:37PM
Cheesecake Factory
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May 08, 2026 11:42PM
@DRJ wrote:

Cheesecake Factory

I was coming to say the same. Grand Lux too. If you did happy hour after 5, you got paid as dinner and would come out ahead. No payment, but we loved the food and they weren’t hard shops.
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May 09, 2026 12:53AM
Disney Store, Barnes & Noble where you got a small item reimbursed, 99 Restaurants
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May 09, 2026 01:03AM
@sandyf wrote:

the Veterinary shops,

Vet shops would probably be third on my list. Pay plus reimbursement for care was always pretty good.
I haven't done one in 3 years. Are those no longer a consistent thing?
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May 09, 2026 02:06AM
Publix, I miss having an excuse to go in and buy sourdough bread.. you used to have some pretty good deals and vegetables every now and then too.
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May 09, 2026 02:08AM
Chase Bank gathering information. Famous Footwear. The shoes I bought there are ready to be replaced.
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May 09, 2026 04:29AM
@jdyeah wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

the Veterinary shops,

Vet shops would probably be third on my list. Pay plus reimbursement for care was always pretty good.
I haven't done one in 3 years. Are those no longer a consistent thing?

I just read your post about Amusement Advantage...they do still exist but one of my fave shops was one of theirs. It was a one time only shop. A winery tour out in the beautiful hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We wound thru the hills in a wagon and stopped at several scenic spots for wine tastings. They also had roaming (each group in large enclosures) exotic animals which we stopped to see along the way. .It was a several hour tour that I took with my two adult children. We saved many hundreds of dollars and had a delightful day. I read about a year later that the winery tour was closed down due to not having correct permits for their animals.
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May 09, 2026 04:53AM
Swarovski, Pandora, Ermenegildo Zegna, specific hair salons, Chipotle, Rag & Bone, Cosmetics.
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May 09, 2026 09:11AM
HyVee Market Grille, Famous Dave's, Pizza Ranch, Hardees, Taco John's, Black Bear Diner, Casey's General Store, Cinnabon, HuHot, Dairy Queen, Quiznos, Red Robin. All of these shops were extremely easy and we used to get so much food for very little work.
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May 09, 2026 10:44AM
Mine will probably always be the same: Cheesecake Factory. I treated my family to see many meals at their locations and we loved their breads, sides and desserts. Entrees were ok. The shops were very easy to do.

Life was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2026 10:48AM by BarefootBliss.
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May 09, 2026 02:06PM
Hopefully it will return, but right now I'm sure missing the Chrysler oil change shops. I married a Jeep owner in 2019 and last week was the first time we've ever had to pay for an oil change for that car.

Megabus was great. I essentially went back and forth between to NYC and other cities for years doing it. Even though they only paid 50%, the Southwest ones conducted by the same MSC were pretty good too.
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May 09, 2026 03:39PM
BTW Chipotle just popped up on the Five Guys MSC. You have to have a food scale to weigh two bowls: One that you buy online and one that you buy there.
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May 09, 2026 03:42PM
@Rho wrote:

Chase Bank gathering information. Famous Footwear. The shoes I bought there are ready to be replaced.

Chase Banks are still being done monthly.

*****************************************************************************
The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain
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May 09, 2026 03:49PM
I miss Aveda shops because I found I love their products, but they are so stinkin' expensive. Also,I miss Longhorn Steakhouse. I used to enjoy going there and another upscale steakhouse chain here called Roots that was superb. Oh, there are so many that used to be goodies.

I, however, do not miss the dimensional weight post office shops at all. I remember storing massive sized empty boxes that the company mailed to us. Crazy!

Edited to add: I really, really miss the Billy Casper golf course shops that included everything for a fun day on the golf course; range, cart, fees, food, shop purchase, bev cart purchase.

*****************************************************************************
The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2026 03:54PM by MsJudi.
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May 09, 2026 03:54PM
Lego shops (helped to feed my addiction/hobby), Chipotle shops (helped to feed me), McDonalds shops (helped to feed my bank account) and Baby Formula Shops from Mintel (Helped feed my bank account and were a once a month easy shop which paid really well), PickleBarrel Shops (Love their food, but only get there a couple times of the year now).

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper


Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2026 04:02PM by Lady Marius.
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May 09, 2026 04:11PM
Oh yes, Swarovski. Does anyone else remember doing ones where you would give out a very nice reward if the jewelry store personnel recommended a Swarovski item? The pay was great on these and I did a boatload of them. Also, the beer billboards was another crazy but very well paying job.

*****************************************************************************
The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain
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May 09, 2026 06:17PM
@mjt9598 wrote:

HyVee Market Grille, Famous Dave's, Pizza Ranch, Hardees, Taco John's, Black Bear Diner,.

I remember doing Black Bear Diner shops in college, circa 2008-2010. Those reports were anything but easy with the MSC that had them. The only shops that I can think of that require more writing are amusement advantage shops.
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May 09, 2026 06:27PM
@MsJudi wrote:

I, however, do not miss the dimensional weight post office shops at all. I remember storing massive sized empty boxes that the company mailed to us. Crazy!

Now that I think of it, I can't remember what the size was. I think I put 12" cubed in a different thread that discussed those shops, but now I'm thinking they were were at least 14", if not 16" cubed?

I was allowed to go buy them and get reimbursed. I bought packs of 10 at a discount and kept them folded in my garage until needed.
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May 09, 2026 06:35PM
@Lady Marius wrote:

Lego shops (helped to feed my addiction/hobby), Chipotle shops (helped to feed me), McDonalds shops (helped to feed my bank account) and Baby Formula Shops from (Helped feed my bank account and were a once a month easy shop which paid really well), PickleBarrel Shops (Love their food, but only get there a couple times of the year now).

I love working for the MSC that did those baby formula shops. I wish they had more stuff. They never have shops on their website. The only way I get shops from them is when they email about upcoming projects.
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May 09, 2026 07:31PM
Yeah the same here. I always get them from a personal invite and they are not enough shops. They pay so well too.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper
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May 09, 2026 08:48PM
Are there exact specifications for the food scale that you have to buy for Chipotle?
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May 09, 2026 10:16PM
Bowling shops. My daughter and I used to go bowling all the time on those shops, and they were pretty simple, considering how much was reimbursed.

I loved a baseball stadium shop for a now-defunct mystery company. It involved buying two tickets, eating in the on-site restaurant before the game, purchasing (if I remember correctly) three different food/drink items from the seats, three different food/drink items from the concession stands, and at least one (maybe two?) souvenirs. All reimbursed. I did a couple of those - my daughter was young and was amazed that I was buying all that food (our stadium allows you to bring food and water in, so, she was used to me just packing snacks since stadium food is usually so expensive). I see another company has stadium shops, but they have you buying from something like 20 different concessions, and there's no way I'm keeping track of all that, and the amount of absolute food waste would drive me crazy.
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May 10, 2026 03:41AM
Do tell about Chase being done monthly!
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