I think @Tarantado is suggesting scooping up the jobs you feel are worth it at the base rate and that you know will not last long on the board. And also suggesting holding off on the jobs you know from past experience might sit and eventually have bonuses attached. That seemed pretty clear to me, am I missing something?

That's what I understood, too.

@CaliGirl925 wrote:

I think @Tarantado is suggesting scooping up the jobs you feel are worth it at the base rate and that you know will not last long on the board. And also suggesting holding off on the jobs you know from past experience might sit and eventually have bonuses attached. That seemed pretty clear to me, am I missing something?

i think it's me that missed something?

@parkcitybrian wrote:

i think it's me that missed something?

1. Grab the assignments you know will be quickly taken by others at base fee AND is an assignment still worth it to you.

2. For assignments you're aware will be bonused in your particular area, either wait for the bonus to come to you or grab from the job board when the price is right.

Better?

@Tarantado wrote:

@parkcitybrian wrote:

i think it's me that missed something?

1. Grab the assignments you know will be quickly taken by others at base fee AND is an assignment still worth it to you.

2. For assignments you're aware will be bonused in your particular area, either wait for the bonus to come to you or grab from the job board when the price is right.

Better?

yep, but it was me that didn't quite understand the original posting. ...sorry

If nobody took any of their shops, they will be forced to raise the fees. Let's go shoppers and be smart!!!!! This has been coming for a long time and we can force then to raise the fees or let them lose the clients to a better, more stable Mystery Shopping Company. Let's "ALL" get smart on this one.

@crazyoldman wrote:

If nobody took any of their shops, they will be forced to raise the fees. Let's go shoppers and be smart!!!!! This has been coming for a long time and we can force then to raise the fees or let them lose the clients to a better, more stable Mystery Shopping Company. Let's "ALL" get smart on this one.

i'm down and f%$k them and their $3.00 and $4.00 fees.

@crazyoldman wrote:

If nobody took any of their shops, they will be forced to raise the fees. Let's go shoppers and be smart!!!!! This has been coming for a long time and we can force then to raise the fees or let them lose the clients to a better, more stable Mystery Shopping Company. Let's "ALL" get smart on this one.

We can't force them to do anything. There are 400,000 shoppers and many more wanting to join. In other words, there is plenty of work. Each shopper decides what is too low for them. You might not want the $5 grocery store but there will always be another shopper who will. You can't fight the system. Just accept what you want to do and do not take the jobs you won't

To clarify, the $5 grocery store is now the $4 grocery store. Of course someone will take it at $4. That someone doesn't have to be me.

I agree with Sunnydays we can't make a difference overall and whatever we do will not matter to them. There will always be someone to pick up any shop at any price. We have to do what seems right to us individually and that's what I'm going to do.

I bailed on a shop today that was misrepresented to me by a scheduler I had worked with for years and trusted. According to the website on that platform I will never be able to shop for any of their companies again. All righty, then. Suit yourself. That's what I'm doing.

@GrosMichel wrote:

Carls Jr. Hedge Fund owner said "I want to automate all jobs inside the restaurant to avoid paying higher wages.".

If the burger making machine or order-taking machine can do it just as well as a human, why not? That is not necessarily a skilled job, and efficiency leads to lower prices for the consumer. If you want to be paid a decent wage, make yourself worth that. When our local McD raised wages, they kept those who could do the work of more than one person and the unskilled found themselves out of a job. Make yourself valuable. As far as mystery shopping, some jobs require skilled shoppers and some don't. It's when companies try to pay the skilled shoppers at the same rate as a project that doesn't require a skilled shopper that is a problem.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

To clarify, the $5 grocery store is now the $4 grocery store. Of course someone will take it at $4. That someone doesn't have to be me.

Okay, this was the grocery store that the fee was $6 and went down to $5. Are you talking about the grocery store where the fee is naturally $4 and reimbursement is $5?

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

@MDavisnowell wrote:

To clarify, the $5 grocery store is now the $4 grocery store. Of course someone will take it at $4. That someone doesn't have to be me.

Okay, this was the grocery store that the fee was $6 and went down to $5. Are you talking about the grocery store where the fee is naturally $4 and reimbursement is $5?

That's what I was thinking....there is one grocery chain where the fee has been $4 and reimbursement $5 for some time now. The other WAS at $6, came down to $5 recently, with reimbursement of $10. HOWEVER...many of those $5 are up to $6 in my area now, with "increased fee" in red.

Maybe so. Maybe it's always been $4. I've never done it when it wasn't bonused to much more so I could be wrong. Drat! Wrong again. Sorry. But now that I'm on it, I'll let you know when it drops to $3.

Don't forget they raised the reimbursement on the Hedgehog shops by $2.00 now you can afford something besides the hot dog. Which still puts even the hotdog over the reimbursement for some of the shops out in the boonies. I had to pass on a $60.00 shop the other day because that would have been $0.35 a mile for the round trip. No other shops to pick up in the area to make it worth my while.

@guysmom wrote:

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

@MDavisnowell wrote:

To clarify, the $5 grocery store is now the $4 grocery store. Of course someone will take it at $4. That someone doesn't have to be me.

Okay, this was the grocery store that the fee was $6 and went down to $5. Are you talking about the grocery store where the fee is naturally $4 and reimbursement is $5?

That's what I was thinking....there is one grocery chain where the fee has been $4 and reimbursement $5 for some time now. The other WAS at $6, came down to $5 recently, with reimbursement of $10. HOWEVER...many of those $5 are up to $6 in my area now, with "increased fee" in red.

Is that the store from Germany?

Yes, the store from Germany is the one that in my area has a fee of $4 and a reimbursement of $5. They are putting a hurt on Walmart's grocery bottom line....read that in the news last week. This chain is popping up with new stores all over the US. And at the beginning of March, they started accepting credit cards, which they never used to accept, in addition to the debit and EBT and cash that they had been accepting.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2016 03:55PM by guysmom.

Does anybody know what the companies requesting the mystery shops pay for the service? When I first started mystery shopping about six years ago, I was very surprised how little they paid. I just saw one for retail that paid $10 plus $2 reimbursement for a purchase, and they wanted interaction with names with about six employees.

I would like to know why people take all of these low paying shops because factoring in travel expenses (my car uses gas, and yeah it is lower priced right now but still...) they are working for pennies. I am not even factoring the time required to do the reports.

If the companies want reliable shops one would think that they would pay more than pennies. I guess that they don't care as long as people are willing to work for pennies. Oh well.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2016 04:02PM by indy101.

You are right. One can not compete with people willing to work for nothing. I wonder how good there work is.

I do some of the $10 plus $2 grocery stores but I usually pick them up after they have a bonus. Normally I don't work them at 10/2, not because $12 doesn't interest me but because I can do one or two other shops in that same amount of time that's more lucrative. My best guess from my own area is that about half to two/thirds of those are picked up at 10/2 and the rest of them are bonused.

It's not hard to understand why they're being picked up at 10/2. The limit (so they say) on those shops is three per cycle, which means three per month. At base, that's $36 per month or $432 per year in gross income. Add to that the possibility of picking up some additional ones that are bonused with rotations waived and desperation knocking and you have a chunk off a grocery bill, looking at it annually. A lot of families need that and a lot of parents are willing to make it work.

It's impossible for any of us to influence the overall picture. All we can do is look out for ourselves. Some things that don't work for me work great for others. I'm not criticizing anyone over what they choose to do or need to do.

On the other hand, I'm becoming less and less of a joy to work with myself in general and not with any one company in particular. It's getting pretty crunchy at my house, especially this past month. I seem to be putting up with less and less.

I've been at this since early 2010 and I'm wondering if it takes about that long for the romance to die off. While I still want to work and I've knocked out 101 shops so far this month I'm less and less agreeable. Yesterday I bailed on one that was due yesterday. Yea Mary way to go. I've been making some snippy comments not here but face to face with schedulers when I've felt misled or handled.

Q: Am I in some individual phase of a bad moon or is anybody else more fed up than usual?

@MDavisnowell wrote:

I do some of the $10 plus $2 grocery stores but I usually pick them up after they have a bonus. Normally I don't work them at 10/2, not because $12 doesn't interest me but because I can do one or two other shops in that same amount of time that's more lucrative. My best guess from my own area is that about half to two/thirds of those are picked up at 10/2 and the rest of them are bonused.

It's not hard to understand why they're being picked up at 10/2. The limit (so they say) on those shops is three per cycle, which means three per month. At base, that's $36 per month or $432 per year in gross income. Add to that the possibility of picking up some additional ones that are bonused with rotations waived and desperation knocking and you have a chunk off a grocery bill, looking at it annually. A lot of families need that and a lot of parents are willing to make it work.

It's impossible for any of us to influence the overall picture. All we can do is look out for ourselves. Some things that don't work for me work great for others. I'm not criticizing anyone over what they choose to do or need to do.

On the other hand, I'm becoming less and less of a joy to work with myself in general and not with any one company in particular. It's getting pretty crunchy at my house, especially this past month. I seem to be putting up with less and less.

I've been at this since early 2010 and I'm wondering if it takes about that long for the romance to die off. While I still want to work and I've knocked out 101 shops so far this month I'm less and less agreeable. Yesterday I bailed on one that was due yesterday. Yea Mary way to go. I've been making some snippy comments not here but face to face with schedulers when I've felt misled or handled.

Q: Am I in some individual phase of a bad moon or is anybody else more fed up than usual?

hey mary, after going on 3 years i feel your pain in a lot of ways. the mscs (don't know if it should be...msc's) have definitely gotten: cheaper; misleading with general and non-informative-luring shoppers to their site(s); silly editors that ding you for "grammar, etc" without divulging what is/was wrong, etc., etc., etc. also i'm about done carping about fellow shoppers who continue to prostitute their time and fellow shoppers by taking the low hanging fruit (yep, you know who you are).

Q: Am I in some individual phase of a bad moon or is anybody else more fed up than usual?[/quote]

Mary I was at a meeting at a friend's home last night and when I mentioned that this March was the most stressful month I remember ever having the others there all agreed...So hang in there for a few more days. April has got to be better. Seems to me March has been the Perfect storm of things that can go wrong.

@guysmom wrote:

Yes, the store from Germany is the one that in my area has a fee of $4 and a reimbursement of $5. They are putting a hurt on Walmart's grocery bottom line....read that in the news last week. This chain is popping up with new stores all over the US. And at the beginning of March, they started accepting credit cards, which they never used to accept, in addition to the debit and EBT and cash that they had been accepting.

I think this is why the German grocery store will survive. They have stayed with the times, offering customers the choice of using a credit card and other important services. I do know Walmart prices and the German place is competitive with pricing. They are very near each other, so the threat is real.

If businesses adjust to the "Walmart's "that are built in the area, they will likely survive. You have all heard where a Walmart was built and other stores closed around it (true story here). If the German grocery store keeps their eyes open and adjusts to what the customer demands, they will move Walmart customers over to their domain.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

@guysmom wrote:

Yes, the store from Germany is the one that in my area has a fee of $4 and a reimbursement of $5. They are putting a hurt on Walmart's grocery bottom line....read that in the news last week. This chain is popping up with new stores all over the US. And at the beginning of March, they started accepting credit cards, which they never used to accept, in addition to the debit and EBT and cash that they had been accepting.

I think this is why the German grocery store will survive. They have stayed with the times, offering customers the choice of using a credit card and other important services. I do know Walmart prices and the German place is competitive with pricing. They are very near each other, so the threat is real.

If businesses adjust to the "Walmart's "that are built in the area, they will likely survive. You have all heard where a Walmart was built and other stores closed around it (true story here). If the German grocery store keeps their eyes open and adjusts to what the customer demands, they will move Walmart customers over to their domain.

i'm a big fan of the German grocery store and i wish there was one in park city, ut. i actually go to slc once-in-a-while to hit up Costco and the German grocery store. i'm bummed that they are offering such a paltry amount to do their shops. I hope the msc is not just going for shoppers that would accept a lowly $4 or $5 and keeping a bundle of their client's $$$ (but that would not surprise me) and to the MSC that might be accepting these low-hanging-fruiters...YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR !!!!!

I am relieved the local grocery stores in my area have not lowered themselves to Walmart standards and are doing just fine.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

If businesses adjust to the "Walmart's "that are built in the area, they will likely survive. You have all heard where a Walmart was built and other stores closed around it (true story here). If the German grocery store keeps their eyes open and adjusts to what the customer demands, they will move Walmart customers over to their domain.

I will admit that I do take some of the low paying shops. I am still fairly new (1 year) and only do so to get established with new companies. I have been with MF 5 months now, completed 42 shops last month but, cut back to 15 this month. There is a shop available that I drive by almost every day but, for $3 pay I would rather go home and make a sandwich.

They have dropped everything by at least one dollar and even more. They are being picked up just as quickly, there is no incentive for them to discontinue the fee cuts. I have stopped but unless more shoppers agree to not accept the jobs at the lower fees this will continue, until there is no pay at all.

@helpmehelpyou wrote:

They have dropped everything by at least one dollar and even more. They are being picked up just as quickly, there is no incentive for them to discontinue the fee cuts. I have stopped but unless more shoppers agree to not accept the jobs at the lower fees this will continue, until there is no pay at all.

yep...exactly

The German store is really headquartered in Belgium! Those $3 shops in Houston have mostly been picked up except a few sketchy locations.

Just saw "new" cell-phone shops for $7.50.

They lowered the fee from $8 to $7 on a fast casual restaurant I used to do for them. Prices at the restaurant have also gone up, and now the reimbursement does not cover the cost of the meal plus the mandatory hot beverage you are required to order even if it is 100 degrees outside.