What was your favorite shop project that is no longer?

jdyeah · 2026-05-08T18:02:40+00:00

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.

What was your favorite shop project that is no longer?

May 24, 2026 09:27PM

@AZwolfman wrote:

Fantasy Springs was my best shop ever.

You must have won big? Indio doesn't sound great at any time of year.

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May 25, 2026 11:40AM

Days gone by- the eyeglasses shop (about an hour) where they reimbursed for the glasses plus paid a reasonable fee.
Rosetta Stone shops when they had mall kiosks were pretty good, The 'chirp' phone repair shops way back when was another where the fees would go way up, and the reports were so easy to complete

Philadelphia Based, covering Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland

May 26, 2026 12:00AM

Fantasy Springs = casino?

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

May 26, 2026 02:43AM

I just thought of another--the swoosh logo shoe store where I ordered the shoes online and drove 4 miles to the store to pick them up. Then wait about half hour and return them. I was telling husband about this yesterday because we were walking past the store. He became agitated thinking there is no reason to return a shoe half hour after picking it up. I ribbed him about being a professional and thinking of reasons to return new shoes.

May 26, 2026 03:40AM

@BarefootBliss wrote:

Fantasy Springs = casino?

Yep Bare, Indian Casino in Indio, CA. I saw George Carlin there.

May 26, 2026 10:01AM

Thanks. I miss George.

As well, I should make another trip to Indio.

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

May 27, 2026 03:54AM

I spent most of the 30 something years I lived in the Inland Empire trying to avoid going to Indio. Indio smells bad. We saw Alice Cooper at the Indian Casino in Jurupa. That was a pretty good concert, thank goodness it was cool that night, so we didn't have to smell the dairy farms.

May 27, 2026 06:53AM

I like the desert southwest, all of it.
Luckily, there's always something for everyone.

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

May 28, 2026 12:32AM

My favorites were the Circle K/Holiday stores and Panda Express

May 28, 2026 03:00PM

PLCB (Fine Wine & Good Spirits) that was handled by different MSC's

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

May 28, 2026 03:01PM

Cirle-K still exists.

Shopping Eastern Pennsylvania since 2009

June 15, 2026 12:03AM

This was 20 years ago when there were far fewer Starbucks in my city, but they still had many locations.
Each Starbucks store had 4 shops each quarter: Inside morning, Inside not morning, Drive-thru morning, Drive-thru not morning. She shops were very quick, very few questions, yeah you did have to take the temp of the beverage and weigh it but the MSC sent you all the equipment (I still have and use the thermometers and scales). There was one quarter where I did 75% of all Starbucks shops in my city. I would regularly get emails from the scheduler explaining that another shopper flaked/ghosted and she would be asking me if I could pick up the extra shops. Sure no problem!
Well. that was until I got a call from the schedule one day and I was told that I was fired from the project. Shopper rotation issues. Oh well.

June 18, 2026 04:16AM

The Circle K/Couche Tards on the otter. Boy do I miss never paying for gasoline and all the free snacks I got. They were easy peasy.

Shopper since 2005

June 18, 2026 02:24PM

Various departments of the City of Oakland Park were shopped for a while. Utilities, recycling, etc
Go to the office, ask a question, report on the response. There was never a line, and the employees were always helpful and knowledgeable. Didn't pay much, but it was easy, convenient, and the employees were always pleasant.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

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