Shopgal, I believe this is a trend. Sorry. Money is tighter for many families because of the increased payroll taxes. A Walmart spokesman has been quoted saying this is equal to a cart of groceries every week for a family earning $40,000. A shopper feeling that pinch may become more aggressive, and we may also see new shoppers entering the field because of economic pressure. We may be seeing a pull back by clients on their mystery shopping programs. I saw jobs missing on the Cori list in January and February. March looks no better. We have had no reports on the forum of these clients being discovered with other MSCs, so I'm thinking there's been an interruption in their programs. Thoughts?

The increase is actually a rollback to the Social Security tax rates of just two years ago and those making between $40,000 and $50,000 will take a hit of about $579 or less than $50 a month. I wasn't aware one could get a whole cart of groceries for only $12.50, even at the evil empire.

Yes, you're right. The increase is a rollback, but it feels like an increase. A lot is going on, including the increase in the price of gas and the delay in filing returns which results in unexpected delays getting refunds. Many people depend on tax refunds to pay their property taxes and clear out or pay down charge cards run up during Christmas shopping. When those refunds don't come in on schedule, there's another pinch. I agree the tax increase alone would not equal a cart of groceries a week, but apparently that is a comparison used in the leaked Walmart memo. The financial markets are reporting several low end retail stocks are down, including Walmart. This reflects the loss of spending power at the lower economic levels.

I believe mystery shoppers are positioned across a wide range of economic levels, but I also believe that a large number of us are not affluent and are affected in a major way by any decrease in income or increase in expenses. I think this is part of why shops are being taken at lower rates. I may be wrong.

I'm just saying that Walmart isn't going to be concerned about anything but their own bottom line. As far as waiting on tax returns, that is something I haven't done in a couple of decades. I found it better to take the allowable deductions which would provide the money in my pocket all during the year rather than treating it as a non-interest bearing savings account. People would freak out about me writing a small check at the end of the year and not comprehend that it meant hundreds of dollars at my disposal for the previous year.

The impact the increase is going to have will vary greatly. If the head of household earns $40,000 and that is the only income for that family it makes sense $48 a month will result in something be cut out. On the other hand, if a family of four has two wage earners in that bracket it will not be so significant. The purpose of the rollback was to help stimulate the economy and there are indications of improvements. It is hard to weed them out of all the gloom and doom which draws more viewers to the 24 hour news cycle.

Gas prices have been fluctuating wildly for years now and there is no reason to think they will stop. Since I started my MS career during the depths of the recession the biggest things I have noticed are dedicated ambitious shoppers being able to ride out the storm and come out stronger on the other side. If gas prices go up the shopper who can only think in terms of that and doesn't want to drive farther than a five mile radius will move along and leave more for the rest of us

I said 15 mi, but lots are within a couple of miles, so just starting again I will not complain about the $4. I'm not jumping on low pay to cut anyone out, but if they're around for a while and no one takes them, I will. I want to get an idea of just how many shoppers are in my area and how many reshops are showing up. I like making extra money, but don't want to take from anyone else. I'm rambling, will shut up now.

Commissions rise on those shops on a very regular basis. There really is no need to take them at $4.

Lisa, I'll bet you don't shop much at Walmart, and if you did you wouldn't be typical. Of course they are interested only in their bottom line. I couldn't agree more. They are a good barometer of what's going on in retail so they get a lot of attention and coverage from the financial sector. Whatever we think of Walmart, they are our biggest retailer. I watch what's going on with them because it reflects what's going on in the economy, and what's going on in the economy affects what happens in my little business. I try to keep an eye out for the big picture, but I keep my focus on my business.

How did you guess I avoid them like the plague? Right now their business is down, but I wouldn't contribute everything to the economy. They are also getting hit hard a many fronts regarding a lot of their less savory business practices. During the same time they have lost some business didn't some other stores actually show an increase?

Gotta confess, some of the info shared here about the CL upswing in activity becoming a potential trend has not done much to lift my spirits.

Lisa, in answer to your question about other retailers being up, I follow six low end to mid-range retail stocks. Today, two are up slightly and four are down sharply. These do not include Walmart or any high end retailers. Based on this, I would say the trend is not up, at least for today.

Oh, your talking about stocks. I don't know nothing bout no stinking stocks I was actually trying to recall some quarterly or yearly sales figures. Since my own intellectual thicket is quite overgrown right now, I may need to hunt down my machete and get back to you

I shop the gamut from WalMart to Nordstroms and I can say, without a doubt, it's a lot harder to get a parking spot in WalMart's lot than the upscale malls. People seem to be flocking to the low end stores. Stocks or no stocks, it looks like WalMart and Target will be retail winners this year.

I finally signed up for a decent paying CORI shop. I haven't seen one of those (decent paying) in months!

The February Cori board has been wiped out for a while in my shopping area. The March shops are listed, with several already taken. In particular, I notice a 20 pump station to be shopped beginning 3/1 already taken at $6.00. The last time I did that one it was well over $20.00. I believe what we see here is desperation.

The same shop I am doing today, has already been taken for next month at the starting fee. I am thinking someone fell back into rotation. I did not see any other shops get above $7.00 or so in my area for February. Most were taken under that amount.

Over half of the March shops within 75 miles of me have already been taken. I guess I should take a look at the sky, just in case.

Are you sure they are really scheduled or do they have the backup icon because the February shops are being done too close to the start date?

Walmart sales dropped because they tried to move away from their low prices and they cutback the number of brands they carried drastically, hoping consumers would just buy whatever brand walmart chose to carry, which they found out the hard way this wasn't the case. They didn't have that much control over their shoppers, yet.

So now they reversed course and are adding back all the brands and refocused on their low prices.

Walmart now also matches any grocery store so you can just walk in and get their prices.

Walmart is also moving towards a cashierless system and has been testing it in several markets for several months now.

What they are doing is having all their suppliers put rfid tags on the products. This way you can fill your cart up, pay at a pay station or on their smartphone app, and just leave. It leads to them saving on cashier costs(though they claim they will be redeployed throughout the store) and more important to them, is it elimiantes shrink entirely, since you can't walk out of the store if the tag hasn't been paid for.

It's the future of shopping, and walmart is leading the innovation on this front.

I looked at one isolated station way out west showing right now on the current February list and also showing on March as being available to shop 3/1. So, No, I think the March stations are actually already taken. I don't think they have the backup icon on for spacing purposes.

Techman, I agree that several months ago Walmart made a change in what they offer and I'm sure this did affect their volume. I am referencing the fact they are saying February is the slowest starting month in seven years. This is unusual and interesting. I've been following this pretty closely, and many observers in the financial community believe this is the result of three combined issues: the 2% adjustment in payroll taxes, the increase in the price of gasoline, and the delay in income tax refunds. Income tax refunds will eventually arrive, gasoline will continue to fluctuate, and the 2% adjustment in payroll taxes will roll on forever as far as we know. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. A family earning $50,000 will have $1,000 less per year to spend. Of course, that money is not "gone". Now the government has it. Even worse.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you sure they are really scheduled or do they
> have the backup icon because the February shops
> are being done too close to the start date?


I didn't realize they did that. Maybe that is what is going on.

It is gas prices more then anything else. Wholesale gas is at 3.30 a gallon right now, and it is only Februrary when gas is usually lowest. For reference, last year during peak summer season wholesale gas briefly went as high as 3.42. They have 2 months before they switch to the more expensive summer blends.

Barring some sort of big market change, that supports gas at the wholesale level going to over $4 which at retail that means anywhere from 4.60 a gallon to 5.90 a gallon depending on what the gas tax is in your state.

Florida gas is already near $4 and NY and Califronia avg is over $4.

People will have alot less money to spend.

Biggest mistake the gov't ever made decades ago was allowing oil which is vital to everything, is to be traded on the stock market.


It's a no brainer if gas was only $2 a gallon, people would be spending alot more and the economy would improve quickly.

I'm guessing the CL's will have a high flake rate once they figure out they could clean one house in three hours for the same $50 they would make spending all day and night doing 10 $5 shops and filling out the reports.

In fact they could probably make more money standing on a street corner holding out a tin cup than doing 10 $5 shops. AND they wouldn't have to wait to get the $50.

Glad others are now understanding that I haven't been kvetching without reason about all the CoRI assignments being snatched up.

Mary's right. There's gotta be an element of desperation in a shopper grabbing for these assignments at the low starting fees. Just as she had mentioned seeing in her area for a gas station audit with 20 pumps, $6 was the same going rate for a gas station audit here way out in the boonies that has 18 pumps.

March assignments were picked over quickly in the last 8 hours. Bay's on the mark. The sky must be falling. Over half of the assignments are already gone.

This is just sad.

Don't hate me, but around here there are a lot of shops are sitting and increasing at a steady rate. Many that have been taken made it to $15 and above. I've also heard from people in other parts of the country where jobs are sitting. Just saying it isn't necessarily a nationwide pattern.

Who could hate you, Lisa? Even if you do get all the good shops.

This may be a dumb question, but how do shoppers get March shops with the 3-day assignment window? It's only 2/20. Can you email or call them for future assignments? I do that once in awhile when I can't assign a shop or want one that doesn't have a date showing, but I didn't realize shops just posted could be grabbed already. I assumed they were on hold if they had a B by them. The ones that I'm not eligible for show up with the B until my rotation is over.

B means they are taking backup shoppers. If you want the shop, apply for it. I think some of the CL's grab all the goodies then cancel the ones they can't do and they're given to backup shoppers. When I first signed up with CRI everything I wanted had a B. I applied for a dozen or more of them and a few days later I was given the chance to take them. Then I saw the fees and changed my mind about wanting them.

There are other fish in the sea. Find something else to do while the CL's peck around.

I think rotation is the issue. In looking at one client, all of the March shops are listed as backup despite the end date not changing. The details show the shop dates as 3/1 to 3/31 and if they were assigned the actual shop date would be there. The February shops for those same locations were just taken this week. For most CORI clients they require at least 7 to 14 days between visits.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2013 02:28AM by LisaSTL.

I saw a March shop the other day that showed as available but had no dates to select. After trying a couple times, I emailed them asking what was up. The assigned the shop to me. I don't know if that is normal for them, as I've never tried it before.