It does get easier. I get an offer for an X shop for $10. I remember I have done that one before and $10 is reasonable pay for it. I accept it, I have done the shop 10 or more times before so I know the basic methodology. Now it is simply a matter of scanning through the instructions to see if anything has changed. Some MSCs are kind enough they date revisions of their shop instructions so if it is still the change from July of last year I know I'm good to go. If it is more recent I will create and save a pdf of the instructions. Most shops do not want a blow by blow of everything said but rather are interested in specific interactions or observations. Pretty standard is 'were you greeted' and some may ask how/when. 'Were you thanked?' some may ask how and when. My hypothetical $10 shop I know from the past wants me to visit the restroom, be greeted when I am within 10 feet of an associate, get a knowledgeable answer from the associate, check that the store is well stocked and tidy and check at the register whether the cashier was polite and what she said as greeting and parting remarks. I certainly do not need to check every shelf and every item to make certain they are fully stocked, nor do I need to take a white glove to the shelves to make sure they are dust free. I need to stay in store for 20 minutes and am departing 21 minutes after I arrived, having accomplished everything. The report now takes 30 minutes and with drive time (assuming this shop was done by itself with no other shops or personal errands) has taken me about 1 1/2 hrs total. Sounds like $7.50 per hour, but the shop also provided me with reimbursement of $12 of something I needed, so I have $22 for an hour and a half. Now if I had other shops out that way, the drive time attributable to this shop would be even less.
I could wait and maybe the shop would get to $12 before someone else in my market took it. Or I could look and see if that $8 shop next door and the $15 shop down the street were still available to snag 3 shops in a single run. Yesterday we needed to run some errands. I dropped off my significant other at one store and quickly went to do 4 shops. When I met up with him at the store he was visiting as a customer, he was about ready to check out. We then went down the strip mall to the other place where we were purely customers. 4 quick shops--$5, $8, $8, $9--less than 10 minutes each to report, $30 and I didn't need to stand around while he tried on jeans. Priceless.