I'll be honest, I've never bothered to do the Maritz Yellow gas shops. You know the ones, their name is what one might find on the <ICA>.
Has anyone any advice for these? I have not been able to get a feel for what it entails to perform one of these shops.

Cheers!

Tatjana CN

Its a mystery shop/audit combined. Fairly simple once you do a few. About 15-20 minutes on sight.

The same message posted twice somehow.....??? Weird.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2014 10:14PM by quilter.

They take me about 15 minutes each to do. A lot of people complain about having to time the gas pumps start up and pumping time, which I don't understand. You just lap your stopwatch app on your cell phone while you're pumping your 2 gallons or reimbursed gas.....does not add any time to the job.

You do have to take a picture in the safety vest, and you do have to take a picture of both restrooms....other than that, this station actually has fewer standard required photos than the blue or green stations. Overall, a pump, the building, and the sign, plus the restrooms, counter, vest, and receipts.

You count islands and bollards, and then count how many have damage. You count pole signs, how many have signs, and how many sides are <ICA Violation> POP.

If you have a small gas tank, be aware that you can't do very many without carrying gas containers with you. 2 gallons per location adds up fast.

I did 34 of these last week....no problems with any of them, and they all took about the same amount of time on site to do.

The reports for them are longer to input than the blue or green shops, due to the interminable questions about what impacted your satisfaction as a consumer with your visit. Other than that, they are very easy to input.

There is a pay differential for day and night shops. The night shops pay $2.00 more per location. Same shop requirements for both.

Hope that helps...

The new book they sent out for this year does not state a photo of yourself in the vest is a required photo this year. I have only submitted 2 with that photo and so far none have come back. I am not saying not to take that photo though. I am just saying so far mine have been accepted without it. But then again maybe they just haven't edited them yet.

I think I steer away from these BECAUSE of the silly satisfaction questions. I'm not sure why, they are the easiest on the form, but I hate them. I get tired of why, would you, do you questions. It has gas, if it cheap I will go there. If it isn't I move on down the line. I won't go if it is a dump, but if it was the only gas station in 100 miles and was a dump, then I would go there.

I don't go to the green British gas station here in town because the store is too far from the pumps. Weird? Yes, probably, but if I have to go in to get a receipt I don't want to walk a half mile to do so because I then have to take my daughter out of her car seat and walk her in. I don't go to the bedding gas station either, because the store is too busy with not enough cashiers and they removed the canopy over the walkway so now when it is raining I get wet. I do go to the grocery store gas station because its kiosk is 15 feet from the pumps making in convenient when I have the kids to get a receipt or prepay when needed. We all have our preferences, and it doesn't always boil down to a 1-10 would you, could you, do you kind of answer.

It's on the certification test as one of three photos that you are only required to take one of....the vest and the receipts. It's also on the photo checklist that you download separately.

I learned my lesson with these guys....did the dinosaur shops and followed the photo checklist in the book only to be told that there was a new photo checklist as a separate download that I needed to follow instead.

I always take more photos than than I think I need.....I can always erase them, but I'm sure as heck not going back to some of the stations I do when I'm out of town.

pamala Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The new book they sent out for this year does not
> state a photo of yourself in the vest is a
> required photo this year. I have only submitted 2
> with that photo and so far none have come back. I
> am not saying not to take that photo though. I am
> just saying so far mine have been accepted without
> it. But then again maybe they just haven't edited
> them yet.

I second what SecretAgentMom said. Why would a cashier's efforts to sell me additional products improve my satisfaction? Normally I am annoyed by upselling because it wastes my time. Now I am annoyed by the form I have to fill out. I'm not a fan of Maritz' software even though many seem to like it. It is dated technology as every possible option for each question is displayed on the screen, making the forms oh so long.

I do many of the yellow stations. They are the most difficult of the stations Maritz has in my opinion. The report takes longer to enter than the onsite audit. The night shops are harder for me - for some reason it's much harder for my camera to focus at night (might be time for a new camera!). This morning at 4 AM I had to take all my photos without using the flash; the humidity was so high that the flash was illuminating the water molecules in the air. That was frustrating.

I am returning to MS and just got on this site to get a feel for what I need to be looking for.

quilter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you have a small gas tank, be aware that you
> can't do very many without carrying gas containers
> with you. 2 gallons per location adds up fast.

I spoke with one of their schedulers a while back about this. The scheduler was trying to fill additional locations for that program, and I was ready to pick up a few more without an incentive but stated I would have to use a gas can in order to do so. The scheduler was adamant that shoppers on this program are absolutely not to use gas containers for these shops/audits. She told me it is a safety issue and that if I were to be caught using gas containers at those stations, I would be removed from the program immediately. They ended up paying a significant bonus for me to make an additional trip at a different time so I would not have to use a gas can.

I haven't seen anything in writing about that, but I figured I would pass along what I was told.

A scheduler told me we could not use a gas can, but it would be OK to pump the gas into another customer's car to get the activation, flow rate, and receipt.

Thanks for everyone's advice!

I'll give them a try - there are so many listed!

Tatjana CN

When I asked about these I was also told that using a gas can was a no go. The person I spoke to suggested having a large gas can at home and pumping the gas out of my car in the morning.

Lelou Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I asked about these I was also told that
> using a gas can was a no go. The person I spoke to
> suggested having a large gas can at home and
> pumping the gas out of my car in the morning.


Yikes. If they're concerned about danger and liability.....

I mentioned using a gas can and nothing was said. I guess it depends on who you talk too. I have had to buy a gas can,filled it up and called my sister in law to the gas station I was at so I could pump the gas in her car. Luckily, I was in the same city she lives in or I would have been screwed.

I think that it does depend on who you talk to....I have mentioned it before with no response as well.

I see the listing for these, but the shoppign company's page is incredibly vague. What exactly does one have to do for these, and why the heck do you need a safety vest?

The safety vest is required in the guidelines and makes the auditor more visible. The job consists of a mystery shopping portion and a brand assessment portion. Several photos are required, plus photos of any infractions reported. The instruction manual is detailed and extensive and there are several additional added items to be studied to understand the job. In addition to the vest you will need a timing device and a camera. This will probably not be your favorite shop but if you are in an area with a lot of these stations, you may be able to pick up some steady work. The company is highly dependable. I suggest starting out with only one or two of these. In the beginning, they can be burdensome, confusing, and frustrating. You will become faster as you do more of these and eventually they will no longer be confusing and frustrating.

I see. Wow, the safety vest sounds really dumb. Haven't taken any yet. Not sue if I will.

Is that your reaction any time you see someone wearing a safety vest? What's dumb about it?

It is obviously a client request since they have other stations that don't require it. I would assume it is from a litigation stand point. I think it does give the client another small layer of protection if one of us was to get hit out there. Anything to make you more noticeable keeps you safer.

I just got assigned one of these for next week and the first question I was asked is do I have a safety vest. I think it's for safety as well as to make you look official. I know in some of these areas the cops might think your casing the place if your just there snapping pictures lol.

After you do gas stations for a while you will see why the vest is nice to have. People are idiots, they fly into the pumps at the same speed as the road. They are distracted. It just makes you visible. I sometimes wear the vest on non Maritz shops because I want to be seen. When you are walking between pumps and trying to get pictures with your back turned to traffic, it is a hazard. The vest helps a little.

I haven't signed with Maritz yet, because they seem to want me just for bank shops. At least that's all they say in their e-mail offers. For some reason bank shops don't look appealing to me.

So, I'm just guessing here, Could it be the yellow stations are the ones that remind me of scallops? If so, I just might sign up with them. You make it sound pretty easy and I already do the MFI ones. That is, when they reach a certain price.

SecretAgentMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After you do gas stations for a while you will see
> why the vest is nice to have. People are idiots,
> they fly into the pumps at the same speed as the
> road. They are distracted. It just makes you
> visible. I sometimes wear the vest on non Maritz
> shops because I want to be seen. When you are
> walking between pumps and trying to get pictures
> with your back turned to traffic, it is a hazard.
> The vest helps a little.

I agree 100%. I wear my vest now on all fueling station audits, whether I have to or not. The vest actually makes it easier to do my job, especially during those night visits. I like that people can see me and will actually slow down for me. Plus, the vest adds strong legitimacy to my presence. Customers, arriving employees (or stations owners) and the police are much less likely to question me when I'm walking around taking pictures at a gas station if I'm wearing a bright reflective safety vest. There's just no reason to suspect I'm doing anything sneaky if I'm the brightest thing on the block and am clearly not hiding anything.

Fair enough I suppose

I did the first of these today. I think there is a little learning curve. This station required tons of photos. I can see if everything is compliant how this can be a quick shop.
I hope to pick up more of them.

Alesia
Shopping Mid Mo

If you get a vest make sure it is lime green that is the new safety color. Orange is out.
I am lucky I have a vest I use when directing traffic so I can use it for shops.
I did this shop the other day, one photo needs to be retaken but I chose a shop near my house I go by a lot. I have to wait two days to take it though because I work 13 hour days on the weekends. This shop was confusing when I did it, and the cashier mentioned it showed that when I was lookin g at the book to see what photos I needed. Figures I missed one. I do take a ton of photos at these things though for the same reason mention by someone else that it is easier to delete than to retake.
I used the shopit app to time the pump, it is nice to have that file sitting on my phone later when I need to check it.

I have vests in flo orange, flo lime, and flo pink. I wear all of them (not at the same time) and I've never had a shop kicked back over vest color. I'm not sure it's an issue. Is there some brand new rule it has to be lime green? Years ago the instructions said lime and then they changed to orange.

Around these parts, blaze orange is an essential fashion colour for fall. I haven't found a nice blazer in Mossy Oak yet to complete the look.