Seems like things are slow with the companies this week. I had a lot of things already scheduled and still have some scheduled but I'm not getting the job offers I was getting this time last month. Could it be the companies have closed for the 4th?

I anticipated the slow over the 4th but expected to have a constant inflow of jobs after the weekend.
I've spent the morning checking all my companies and there are some new listings but not the typical things in my area.

Anyone else noticing a change?

And I have also noticed there seems to be new site web structure going on with the companies. Are they regrouping or is this typical for this time of year.

Surprisingly this month started veeerrry slowly but has gotten pretty decent. I have so far 33 shops on the books (as done or to be done). The fees aren't great but putting them together on runs I have a few days already that will exceed $100 between the fee and reimbursement. But I see only 5 days of shops between now and 7/20 so I'm still looking for stuff to fill out the month.

Often software upgrades are done at the beginning of a quarter. It is a time in the business cycle where the books get closed so is more amenable to upgrades. A 3 day weekend is often a good time to do this in any event as you pose minimum inconvenience to the office staff.

WEll that's me too Flash. I was busy before the 4th and have been busy shopping since the 4th. Even did two shops on Sunday. But now I have about 4 things until the 15th. Then I have 2 really fun shops coming around the 15th. After that I have a few things starting around the 20th.

I don't mind the low fees as long as they are at least $10. 10 of those and you've got yourself $100 and had some fun. I consider these with low fees fun shops. And free eats shops!!

A low fee with a good useful reimbursement I will rarely turn down. But the low fee low (or no) reimbursement shops aren't worth the gas and some aren't even worth the time for the report even if you are driving right by them.

I won't do those either. I won't do the $4 fast foods either. If it's $8-10 with a good reimbursement I'll jump on it with both feet. LOL!! We've gotten to eat out free a lot since I started mystery shopping.
And I like the little coffee shops too. The ones I have done pay at least $8 with reimbursement. And I've gotten bonus money for some of these little shops too. I like the bonus money!!!

My most frequent shops still are a grocery chain with $7 fee and $10 reimbursement. I figure the reimbursement is worth about $8 to me because of requirements in a store that is more expensive than where I normally shop. But their "come on" specials are usually interesting and this year I am doing a lot of BOGOs with coupons to get prices really really low and take any excesses on to a local friendly church that runs a food bank.

I'll do the restaurants but tend to stay away from the donuts and greaseburger fast foods as I don't need the empty calories.

What's a BOGO?

I do a big grocery chain too. There are 4 of them in my area and I hit them all. I like the grocery shops. They get me a couple or three nice things basically for free. Put my reimbursements together and I have $40 worth of groceries. We like Good coffee and I average a pound per month. My reimbursement gets me our coffee free at least. My fee is a little higher than yours but I think they are easy shops. I shop at this chain anyway and my shop pretty much runs with when I'm getting groceries anyway.

Nope I don't like fast foods either. Only Hardee's and as far as I know at this point there isn't a Hardee's shop. I would jump on it if there was one.

I like the coffee shops and I don't have to buy a donut or anything else but have a nice cup of Great coffee.

I do the electronics stores too and like them!! I'm learning a lot about electronics!! LOL!!
I have three grandsons so I'm seeing things for their birthdays and Christmas doing the electronic shops.

My favorite of all the shops I do is the shops you don't have to buy anything. Like Apartments, senior living, community living. The pay is great and the paper work isn't too bad. A little more than a coffee shop but not that much more.
I've taken the video course so I can take video on apartment shops. More money for each shop. And less than half the paper work...it will all be on video and voice recording.

Just a few common abbreviations in this crazy ms(computer) world:

AR - After rebate
B&M – Brick and mortar store (A physical retail store as opposed to an online merchant)
B1G1 or BOGO – Buy one get one free
BTW - By the way
CC – Credit card
CPN - Coupon
CSR - Customer service representative
GC – Gift certificate
GDA – Good deal at
IMHO - In My Honest/Humble Opinion
IMO - In my opinion
LMK - Let me know
MFG - Manufacturer
MFR - Manufacturer
MIR – Mail in rebate
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
OOS - Out of stock
OP - Original Poster (author of thread)
OT - Off topic
PM - Private Message
RAOK – Random act of kindness
SASE - Self addressed stamped envelope
S/H – Shipping and handling
TIA - Thanks in advance
TRU – Toys R Us
YMMV - Your mileage may vary

Buy one get one free. I like those too!!

I'm pretty familiar with abbreviations in this computer world but I'm not going to let my self get too familiar. I don't want to take the chance of using a abvd when I'm writing a narrative.
I had my first computer in 1995. It was a Windows 95 and very expensive. Now they are cheap compared to the price when I bought my first computer.

OH I was going to come back and add something to this thread. Sometimes when you are doing a shop in unfamiliar places you meet some of the neatest people.
Yesterday morning I was doing a coffee shop. Just as I got my order 4 men and a woman came in the shop. They sat down at the table next to me. One of the men yawned and smiling looked at me and I asked "are you sleepy?" They all spoke at once telling me they had been up for 70 hours looking for someone and they were on their way to fly out to Germany for 6 weeks.
Course the obvious question for me to ask was "Are you Military?"
"No we are FBI" Well I nearly fell out of my chair!!!
Then I noticed their shirts, shoes and pants. Took a quick glance outside at the parking lot and sure enough there sat a car with FBI all over it!!!

We talked for 30minutes or more. I had no difficulty getting enough time into this coffee shop!!
And I enjoyed every minute. I know the coffee shops don't pay much but the education I got with this coffee shop was priceless.

This is the busiest month I have had for several months. I have over 200 shops scheduled for the month. I have shops scheduled up until the 26th. I don't usually go that long in the month. I have shops with Companies I have not worked with before because they don't usually have anything around here.

I too am finding companies that never had shops around me do right now. I'm trying to space the first shops with companies out a bit so I have plenty of time to go through their instructions super closely to make sure I get everything I need rather than take a chance on screwing up a first shop.

I had two offers in my email yesterday evening and I jumped on them. I've signed with several new companies not being sure they had shops in my area. Turns out they do have shops.

Two fun shops I'm doing notified me my items were in the mail. I should get them by Friday. I'm looking forward to these shops.

So looks like things are picking up somewhat.

Things are pretty slow here because of the fires. I did a shop yesterday and the parking lot looked like a war zone. There was an inch of ash all over the parking lot. Breathing has become a chore. The air quality is hazerdous and tyring to get anywhere is getting worse because of the evacuations. Hopefully, they will be able to get the fires under control soon.

OH MY MO I've been seeing about the fires in California. I know things are very difficult there and I hope things get better soon.

Be great if you could get a heavy rain like we've been having everyday for the past 3 days and looks like more is coming soon this afternoon.

WEll suddenly I'm jumping!! Several great shops have come my way.
I got the things for the "fun" shops and have them scheduled for the weekend, plus I've been contacted by a company I didn't know existed and now I'm doing two shops for them tomorrow. Nice paying shops, higher than usual.

I might have to consider doing some shops 50miles away for these folks if they are available at the rate of pay. I'm anxious to see what comes for the next few days.

There is more info about slow in forum discussion under

Marketforce jobs availability

billienicolosi Wrote:
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Sometimes when you are doing a shop
> in unfamiliar places you meet some of the neatest
> people.

I had a long talk yesterday with the owner of a few Carvel stores. He had left Iran long before the revolution, was now a teacher almost ready to retire, and he owns 3 Carvel franchises. He wanted to know what I make MSing because he wants to take some part-time work after he retires. How much per job, how much a month? I was embarrassed to tell him, and as I waffled, a few customers came in and saved me. So I just gave him the URL mspa.org, and told him to become informed.

I met another owner who runs a tiny Carvel by himself, and was happy as a bug in a rug. I met a banker few months ago who I would really like to have as a friend, and we chatted long after the official shop info was obtained.

You revealed yourself as a mystery shopper?
I would never do that at a place of business.

No one but family know what I'm doing. Anyone asks what I do I tell them I'm an independent contractor. And they don't seem to want any more information.

Some shops are open audits where you even call ahead to make an appointment to go "do your thing".

Some shops are reveals where you do the "mystery shopping" part and then do the reveal.

Some shops are pure "mystery shop".

I find the open audits are a PITA in part because they are ready for you with lots of questions about what it is like to be a mystery shopper and to tell you about the scam checks they or friends got (and to warn you that what you are doing may be a scam).

The reveals usually go so quickly that they haven't had time to figure out the 1001 questions they always wanted to ask about mystery shopping.

I will only do an open audit at a place where I have never seen mystery shops available because I don't want to blow my cover. I do reveals at places where the turnover is so great that there is little danger of jeopardizing future mystery shops. There is little point in doing a reveal for $18 once when you could otherwise be mystery shopping the place for $10 every month.

I know there are reveals but so far I haven't done a reveal.

I like to think no one knows what I'm about doing my mystery shopping. I'm the little ol' lady with her shopping list on her PDA (keep from having senior moments)
I like to walk away from a shop with the idea in my head "these folks don't have a clue they've been shopped"
That's one of the things makes mystery shopping fun.

I understand that full well. At the same time there is a series of gas stations near me that mostly only do reveals. It is a shop that pays a flat $15 and suggests I purchase "at least $3 in gas". It has 3-5 photographs. There is also an inside purchase required. I find that the shop is worth the reveal on some several levels. One of the same places I shop for the brand, but that requires pay at the pump and inside so the gal recognizes me as the company shopper from the reveal shops but I don't think has a clue about the mystery shop one since I paid my gas at the pump.

I did reveals at Quiznos and Subways.............I also did a reveal mall shop once. It can limit you for future mystery shops at the locations so I tend to stay away from them BUT at one Subway...........whenever I go in......as regular customer.............the guy who I revealed shopped (he passed w/flying colors) always loads up my sub...........just another bennie from shopping I guess..HA!

Yep just another perk. And a great perk at that.

So far I haven't had any reveal shops. I've got a little thing coming up that could possibly be a reveal but if I work it right no one will ever know. LOL!!

I like to be sthneaky. LOL!!

We all have diff preferences. I prefer open audits to MS shops. I can be myself, be a figure with a little authority, without having to conceal my agenda and make up phony stories. They go faster, you generally get help from a staff member. I've been taking more of them as I build self-confidence. I've done Verizon Wireless, a nearby supermarket chain, Carvel (about 80% audit) a few business verifications. This week I have 2 storage facilities, a KFC, a Pretzel Time, 2 Carvels and a supermkt.

In one supermkt, the sole bakery person was on her cell phone with her head bent down on the counter. After a few minutes I called her attention with, "Hello, I work for XXX Supermarket." She almost hit the ceiling and said "I was talking to the boss." Now haven't you always wanted to do that?

There are 1 mill people in my county. Doing an audit wouldn't preclude my doing a mys shop another time, as no one would remember me. Chain stores are not like privately owned neighborhood stores.

Sneakers I have no desire to exert authority or go on a power trip. I had enough of that in my career.

I will report accurately about any given situation I find in the process of a shop. And most likely I've done a couple shops that have caused the associate involved to be "reprimanded" and even did one I suspect the person was most likely relieved of their position.

Open Audits? I guess I'm new at this - what is an open audit and what company does them. I also see a lot of bank shops but I have not tried to get any of them. What is your experience with band shops?

There are several versions of open audits. The most blatant is when you call ahead and make an appointment, then go in and check a list of items, sometimes take a bunch of photos and usually have the manager sign off that you were there and often you leave him/her with a copy of your checklist.

Then there are the ones that are combination mystery shop and reveal where you first do your song and dance as a "normal customer" then whip out your authorization letter to do whatever it is you need to do--take photos, fill out check lists, take measurements etc. Reveals can also include reward shops where the crew gets prizes for doing what they are paid to do--be polite and friendly, upsell you for additional items, be prompt, handle your transaction properly and thank you.

Many many companies offer "reward" shops, "reveal" shops and open audits. Sometimes on their site you have a choice to see "telephone", "mystery" or "reveal" shops. Service Intelligence does a bunch of these.

I've done some "reward" shops and like them.  I'll take all the award shops I can get. And I like bank shops. You go into the bank and go through the motions using that bank for a checking account. Nothing to buy. Or you can go into the bank and go through the motions of opening a savings account.  You do everything except actually opening either of the accounts unless you want to open them with the bank. 
Your shopping the person who opens checking accounts for the bank you've been assigned.  The savings account is done the same way and you shop the person who opens savings accounts. There are some bank jobs you apply for a mortgage.Then there's the bank shop where you actually have an account with that particular bank and you shop the window teller. I've never done an audit yet.  I have seen some offers for an audit job but I'm not really interested in doing them.  Most of them the pay isn't enough to allow for taking photos and doing everything else plus do a long survey.

But you need to read the preliminary information carefully because many of the bank shops are exploring credit card options, CDs, HELOCs, refis, moving 401ks, setting up retirement or investment accounts, auto loans etc. Some require you present yourself as having a quarter to a half million in assets or more. So read the preliminary description and take those with which you are comfortable. Generally these require a fair amount of narrative--which is why they generally pay better than gas stations.

Yes be sure and read the instructions!! There are things relating to banking I'm not comfortable doing on a bank job. So I read very carefully.

I had a funny in a bank job just this week. I drove up to a little community in Ky. One horse town but a very beautiful little town. Only one bank. The name of the bank I was to shop was different than the name of the town bank. I parked across the street in the PO parking lot and went into the PO and asked about the name of the bank I had been given. "Never heard that name of bank before" was the response when I asked. "That bank over there is the only bank in a 30mile radius. What address and phone number you got?" I told the man and he picked up the phone and called the number. "It's that bank over there, Julie answered the phone?"

So I go in and do the bank job. In the process I casually mention the name of the bank I have been given with my assignment. And the gal says "Oh yes there one of them banks in Boling Green. This bank is a family operation, not a corporate bank. The one in Boling Green is a corporate bank they got banks all over KY cept around here til you get closer to Boling Green."