I have a problem with any MSC's who routinely set jobs at what amounts to slave labor pay rates. No one should be paid $3 for an onsite shop (with such minimal reimbursement amounts, yet.)

That said, those who take the shops at $3, for whatever reason (poverty, lack of knowledge, gonna be there anyway, etc) do help ensure the sliding scale will stay. In my opinion, both Flash and Steve are correct, as ultimately, that $30 has to come from somewhere in the money the client paid to the MSC. I think the specific formula they use is insignificant to us as shoppers (but quite significant to the MSC's net profits.) It all comes from that pool, in the end.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> My real issue is the pure arrogance of negotiating
> a contract that is designed to pay ANY shoppers as
> little as $3 for a shop with photographs, anything
> more than minimal cursory of observations and
> more than 3-5 yes/no questions.


I won't even do phone shops for $3 . The paperwork alone is not worth it.

shop-a-holic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I won't even do phone shops for $3 . The
> paperwork alone is not worth it.


And you are lucky you have that option. Some people shop for a hobby, fun, little bit of extra money, etc. Others have found themselves in the situation where they need as much money from shopping as they can get. To them, $3 for a phone shop may be well worth the effort. I'm not at all saying this was your motive, but I can tend to see some snobbery on this board.

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> shop-a-holic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > I won't even do phone shops for $3 . The
> > paperwork alone is not worth it.
>
>
> And you are lucky you have that option. Some
> people shop for a hobby, fun, little bit of extra
> money, etc. Others have found themselves in the
> situation where they need as much money from
> shopping as they can get. To them, $3 for a phone
> shop may be well worth the effort. I'm not at all
> saying this was your motive, but I can tend to see
> some snobbery on this board.


Or perhaps a different way to look at what you see-some of us will not take jobs that lose us money to get that money. I will do $3 phone shops, though, if the calls are short and the paperwork mostly check the box. However, I have done $8 and $12 ones that I would never due again as they wanted the next great american novel as the response, and the amount of time on the phone (20-30 minutes) was crazy.

Lisams901, it is not snobbery so much as a business decision. We are in this to make money. Shops have value either in their fees, their reimbursements or a combination of the two. Time IS money. But driving around also costs money. There are a number of shops that are not a reasonable business decision to take because of the time and money involved. This is not charitable volunteer work.

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lisams901, it is not snobbery so much as a
> business decision. We are in this to make money.
> Shops have value either in their fees, their
> reimbursements or a combination of the two. Time
> IS money. But driving around also costs money.
> There are a number of shops that are not a
> reasonable business decision to take because of
> the time and money involved. This is not
> charitable volunteer work.


I am not saying that the majority of what I see is snobbery. I agree, most of it is just deciding what is worth your time to do.... a business decision. But there are some that like to show snobbery towards others.

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> shop-a-holic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > I won't even do phone shops for $3 . The
> > paperwork alone is not worth it.
>
>
> And you are lucky you have that option. Some
> people shop for a hobby, fun, little bit of extra
> money, etc. Others have found themselves in the
> situation where they need as much money from
> shopping as they can get. To them, $3 for a phone
> shop may be well worth the effort. I'm not at all
> saying this was your motive, but I can tend to see
> some snobbery on this board.


I am not judging anyone or trying to put anyone down. I am just sharing my personal experience. I do have a full time job and use mystery shopping to get some extra free spending money. My personal reasoning in this is that I only have a finite reserve of time and/or energy to do these shops, so if I can save some of it by not doing a shop that will not really affect my bottom line that much, I don't do it. But of course, we all make decisions that suit us the best.

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am not saying that the majority of what I see is
> snobbery. I agree, most of it is just deciding
> what is worth your time to do.... a business
> decision. But there are some that like to show
> snobbery towards others.

Perhaps, but not everybody is good with words. What I see is primarily outrage that a company has so little concern and, yes, respect, about/for shoppers that they think a $3 job has any modicum of decency to it. The other thing I see is a sometimes poorly worded encouragement of shoppers to have more self respect for themselves and their time than to take a job where the pay is indecent. You are a good person, you deserve to be treated with more respect than this particular company is showing shoppers as a whole with this particular job.

On more than one occasion, I feel like the odd man out when I readily take shops that others will not - whether the reason is fee, location or report. My business - my decision.

Is it possible for a snob to be a mystery shopper ~ ~ ~ or vice versa?

Sure, why not? :-)

I see that I have a lot to learn, but one thing I have seen is the fact that CRI is CHEEP!! CHEEP!!! Thanks,deejee7

Welcome, deejee7! I see this is your first post. Yes, there is a lot to learn about the relationships with companies. Like in any/every industry there are strong, responsible, responsive and respectful companies with whom to work and there are ones for whom shoppers are as disposable as yesterday's newspaper. The human front line of these companies are the schedulers--thus you will find a great deal of difference of opinion about companies depending on the qualities of their schedulers. The print front line of these companies are their Independent Contractor Agreements (ICA) when you sign up. If they appear very paranoid and distrustful in their ICAs, things are not likely to get better down the road, so beware. Then you get to the work itself and whether it is reasonable pay for what is expected. Sometimes you really can't tell this until you have accepted and performed the work. And of course the bottom line is whether you are paid appropriately in a timely fashion as contracted for.

Of course shoppers sometimes screw up, have shops rejected and are mad, so they will post their complaints. Companies also screw up and the quality of the company really comes through in their responsiveness to getting their screwups fixed.

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On more than one occasion, I feel like the odd man
> out when I readily take shops that others will not
> - whether the reason is fee, location or report.

That is sort of my point with my above post. Recently here I have felt that I was being talked down to in a way for taking a shop that really is low paying.... the much talked about $3 gas shops. I totally agree with the idea here that it is a really low paying job. I took two of them and I gave my reasons here.

It sounds odd, but I love that gas station chain. I don't have one in my small town, but all the closest cities to me have them and I love them. So for those two shops, I would already have been doing everything except for the two pictures and filling out the form later. Since it was a new shop, I was curious what all was required and what the form was like so I took two of them. In my area, most had already been raised to $3.75 by that time, so with the reimbursements I got closer to $6 for things I would already be doing and for things I would already be buying. Will I do more of them? Probably not at their current rate.

Again, I posted my reasons in the thread about them and I was still questioned. My statement that I was reimbursed for gas I was already buying was pretty much laughed at. I did not state I got a ton of gas for that $1, but again, it was $1 that I already spend at that same station every weekend.

I'll wrap this up because my post is getting wordy, but my decision about whether or not that shop was a good choice for me was poked fun at, so to me, that is the snobbery I mention.

Lisa, methinks you may be sensitive about this, as I just went back and reread the threads and I do not see you being "laughed at" nor "poked fun at." Questioned, yes.

Lisa, please don't take it so personal. You owe noone any reasons for why you are doing or not doing anything. Everyone here is posting their thoughts. They are not necessarily directed at you. You took 2 shops for $3 dollars. I don't think you are the sole reason why the prices have gone down on these shops across the country.

shop-a-holic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lisa, please don't take it so personal. You owe
> noone any reasons for why you are doing or not
> doing anything. Everyone here is posting their
> thoughts. They are not necessarily directed at
> you. You took 2 shops for $3 dollars. I don't
> think you are the sole reason why the prices have
> gone down on these shops across the country.

shop-a-holic, intentional or not, your last sentence is accusatory, which could give reason to be taken personally. My opinion.

Everyone on this board does what they want and says how they feel about CoRI or any MSC. Bottom line for me is to do what I do best and pick up any knowledge I can. Noone else has to do it my way. I just want shoppers to know that there are choices other than those promoted by certain folks.

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> shop-a-holic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Lisa, please don't take it so personal. You
> owe
> > noone any reasons for why you are doing or not
> > doing anything. Everyone here is posting their
> > thoughts. They are not necessarily directed at
> > you. You took 2 shops for $3 dollars. I don't
> > think you are the sole reason why the prices
> have
> > gone down on these shops across the country.
>
> shop-a-holic, intentional or not, your last
> sentence is accusatory, which could give reason to
> be taken personally. My opinion.


Anything can be taken out of context and interpreted to be what it is not. Please take a look at my entire post as a whole and see what I am trying to convey.

shop-a-holic, I did read your entire post. The written word can be left open to interpretation by those with a different take on things than the writer. Apologies if I misunderstood, just letting you know how it came across to me.

Did anyone here do any of their pizza shops when they use to do more of those? I was doing so many at one time that my freezer was packed with frozen pizza! I don't know how I didn't gain weight during those days. Good thing I worked out! They also had some decent steak shops with a few popular chains I believe. I have to agree with you guys though. The rates are way to low! ;-0

toolguy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did anyone here do any of their pizza shops when
> they use to do more of those? I was doing so many
> at one time that my freezer was packed with frozen
> pizza! I don't know how I didn't gain weight
> during those days. Good thing I worked out! They
> also had some decent steak shops with a few
> popular chains I believe. I have to agree with
> you guys though. The rates are way to low! ;-0


I still do some of the pizza shops. They did several in my area until a few months ago, now only around 3 are still shopped through CoRI. The rest went elsewhere.

There is one thing I find odd though since we are on the topic of low paying CoRI shops. The other company that does those pizza shops in my area starts out as just reimbursement only, they don't pay any sort of fee until after the shop has been on the board for a month.

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> toolguy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Did anyone here do any of their pizza shops
> when
> > they use to do more of those? I was doing so
> many
> > at one time that my freezer was packed with
> frozen
> > pizza! I don't know how I didn't gain weight
> > during those days. Good thing I worked out!
> They
> > also had some decent steak shops with a few
> > popular chains I believe. I have to agree with
> > you guys though. The rates are way to low!
> ;-0
>
>
> I still do some of the pizza shops. They did
> several in my area until a few months ago, now
> only around 3 are still shopped through CoRI. The
> rest went elsewhere.
>
> There is one thing I find odd though since we are
> on the topic of low paying CoRI shops. The other
> company that does those pizza shops in my area
> starts out as just reimbursement only, they don't
> pay any sort of fee until after the shop has been
> on the board for a month.


yes, that is who does pizza for my area. I only do them if they call me and offer me a high bonus. This company is cheap, too. But I have gotten excellent bonus shops from them, but only when they call me and I spout out a number I find acceptable. Otherwise, I stay away. :-)

lisams901 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> There is one thing I find odd though since we are
> on the topic of low paying CoRI shops. The other
> company that does those pizza shops in my area
> starts out as just reimbursement only, they don't
> pay any sort of fee until after the shop has been
> on the board for a month.


I agree, I got an email today from the "other" company offering a $5 bonus to complete that pizza chain's shop. To add to that, I will recieve pay for it in April. I signed up with the same pizza company with CoRI for $21 fee + reimbursement and I will get paid next week(Friday). That shop I took started out at $4 shopper fee + reimbursement. A typical no brainer to me! $21 vs $5. 2 week pay period vs 2 months. You do the math. I don't have a lot of experience, but I can surely count.

I have to say my very very first mystery shop was this pizza shop for reimbursement only. I still can't forgive myself for doing it for free, but of course that is what started this all, so am happy.

Since then, I have found pizza shops to be the most profitable to me as a shop category so far. Between CoRI and the other company my fee average is around $18 + free mangled pizza. I wish all my shops were that way.

I have found the pizza shops to be profitable too. I've only done one for the other company, but it was with a $20 bonus. And for CoRI, the lowest fee I've ever gotten for one was around $18. The highest was $40 something.

My CORI shops have decreased significantly since many of the pizza shops went away. Well, first they switched to delivery only, then they went away, and now the ones that are left can be carryout.

Anyway, I liked the shops & still do if the fee is reasonable (which is subjective, I guess). My favorite was when I had a route late in the month (last year sometime). Anyway, 3 Pizza Shops on my way home from work. I carried out all 3 & got a $35 fee for each one! My family had pizza for a few days & the fees were worth it.

My poor kids think it's normal to have a mangled pizza to this day. It's pretty much the only time we order pizza out!

Ahhh...the good 'ol days.

I got a call to complete a pizza shop a few months ago. From past experience, I know when they call, they are willing to give a bonus if they hear any hesitation. I said, well, I don't know if I can do it or not. Then they started throwing the bonus at me. And they will go higher if they need it done. Before I knew it, I had a $35 bonus + reimbursement to have a pizza delivered to my house. Talking about getting paid to shop! ;-0

I do a lot of shops for them. You have to wait til the end of the month and the pay goes up. The only positive thing about them is that they pay weekly so you do not wait long to get paid. I have never had a problem with pay.