@SteveSoCal wrote:
@VinnyRoo wrote:
I think you guys are way too pessimistic about mystery shopping in Nevada, it's by far the best state to mystery shop in. We get paid every two weeks rather than sometimes 30, 60 or even 90 days with other companies. Our base pay is generally higher. I really just wanted some opinions on what might be the cause of one MSC asking you not to work for another MSC.
I think the question was answered, though, Vinny. Some felt that it had to do with proprietary information being shared and my opinion is that is firmly planted in competition between the PI firms for the MSC business.
My work card expired in November and I have chosen not to renew for now, mostly because of the problems discussed above. Nevada is not the best state to shop in, IMHO, since you are severely limited in what companies you can shop for now. The only company I was disallowed to shop for in CA as a registered PILB cardholder was Marketforce, and that was fine with me (You can either be a Nevada shopper or "everywhere else" shopper with them, since they code your account differently for Nevada). I've grown tired of the payroll process constantly changing and the infighting between PI firms. It wasn't worth the hundreds of emails I received each month for the few jobs I would occasionally take in Vegas, and it's not like Vegas is lacking offers of free food without a report attached!
On top of that, the paycheck for your time may have come every 2 weeks, but the reimbursement was sometimes tied to the same mystery shopping payment schedule that everyone else is subjected to. The main advantage would be the protection of the PI firm if there was an issue with the shop, but you also don't get nearly the amount of shop offers in NV that I have access to in LA, since so many companies are unwilling to foot the extra costs of shopping Nevada outlets.
Thanks for the response, this was more of what I was looking for. The e-mail specifically said proprietary information, so that was not speculation on behalf of the company who sent out the e-mail at least. What you wrote about speculating that it had to do with competition between the firms is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. The firm we are being asked to resign from pays significantly less than the firm that is asking us to resign. If they are making this decision to protect the business from companies coming in, significantly undercutting the price and mystery shopper pay along with it, I think I'm quite fine with the decision actually. I wish they had a more legit reason than just that, but I understand if they want to keep their margins up, especially if shoppers get compensated for their profit along the way. My main concern was never losing this company since the pay was so low, but the fear that they would ask us to do this again with other companies. There are other companies in Nevada that pay quite well, and it would be an unfair position to hold to ask us to quit those companies as well. For the time being, that is not the case though.
As for best places to shop, I really enjoyed your opinion. I do travel sometimes for mystery shopping, but I think like most people, I strongly prefer to work where I live. So, opportunity costs that I may lose in Florida or even nearer states like Colorado or Arizona don't weigh on me too much. I have found a few MSC's that will not allow to sign up since I reside in Nevada, but without trying to get anyone in trouble, there are usually easy ways around that. Most companies have no problem hiring someone from Nevada though, as there's no legal issue as long as we are not completing shops for them in Nevada. Once I leave the state, I'm the same as everyone else.
I'm not surprised that there are more shops in LA than Las Vegas, it's a much bigger place. I'm not sure if that has to do with the structure of mystery shopping in Nevada, but I certainly agree, that there must be some loss of shops just from clients not willing to deal with the extra fees. What percentage that is, I have no idea. I think generally speaking, we probably have a lot more fun shops in Las Vegas particularly. I know mystery shopping is a job, so perhaps how cool the job is should not be much of a factor, but all other things being equal, I like doing something is fun rather than a routine shop. At my age, it is definitely a perk of mystery shopping in Nevada. I don't think any of us should think of this as a long-term career unless we have plans to move up in the world of mystery shopping or are able to get coveted video shopping accounts, which I heard are quite lucrative. Other than that though, I think our ceiling is generally capped at some point, and I don't think that ceiling is extremely high. Some posters on here may refute that claim though, as several of them give the impression that they do really well. I do well myself, but nothing to brag about.
This is the first time that infighting between PI firms has reached the shopper level. I don't dispute that they may fight all the time, but this is the first time it's directly affected me. It was certainly disconcerting, that's why I started this post. I hope this is not a constant thing; otherwise, I think they will be kicking themselves as they lose shoppers. I probably don't have as much of a basis of comparison as you do as it sounds like you travel to many different states for shopping, but so far, Nevada has been good to me. I'm definitely trying to stay open-minded to your opinion though, you made lots of good points. I could learn a lot from what you wrote.