Does anyone know what MF's penalty system is? I've probably done around 500 shops for them over the years and its obvious that after you cancel or reschedule a shop, fewer and fewer shops appear on your dashboard search. I compare my search results with new shoppers that I know and the availability of shops is night and day. It would be nice if they would reveal their performance metrics.

They are not going to reveal their performance metrics. Their standards appear to depend on a lot of factors in addition to actual performance. In some areas, there is an overload of shoppers and it appears to take very little to lose shops and/or be deactivated. In other areas, where there are fewer shoppers, more mistakes seem to be allowed. And, depending on your demographic and your area, you may be in more demand and thus have a little more leeway. For example, if you are 60+ but live in a college town, then you are in great demand and might get away with a lot more errors/problems than a college student. Or, if you are a 22-year-old in a retirement community of mostly seniors, MF seems to be more forgiving.

It does not appear to be only performance-based. There appears to be a metic that inputs how valuable each shopper is based on location/demographic. There also seems to be an appreciation for "new" shoppers because newer shoppers present a new viewpoint and will probably work for less money. I was told by a MF employee that MF prefers experienced shoppers who do 5-15 shops a month rather than brandnew shoppers or shoppers who do 20+ per month. I have no way of knowing if this is accurate or not.

I may be completely wrong, but this is my best guess based on having been a MF shopper in 3 different states since 2010 and talking with many other longtime MF shoppers and a couple of conversations with MF employees.

I have worked for MF for 6+ years and I am not aware of a penalty system. I do not do a lot of work for them since I am anti-FF but I consistently get job offers with bonuses by email, text message and phone calls,

Sybil, you say "I have worked for MF for 6+ years." No shopper works for MF. You are an independent contractor.

As for MF's penalty system, it is three errors and you are out for good. It isn't possible for a person who love's life like I do to perform 1000+ shops (as I did) and not make three errors. In my case, I submitted two reports on the same night, but entered the same time of entry and departure on both--and that counted as two mistakes. My third sin was asking a car hop to correct my order. All three of my mistakes occurred during the same week (my last week) at this company.

Fortunately, karma has dealt harshly with MF.

@Sybil2 wrote:

I have worked for MF for 6+ years and I am not aware of a penalty system. I do not do a lot of work for them since I am anti-FF but I consistently get job offers with bonuses by email, text message and phone calls,

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2017 09:44PM by Big Time Shopper.

Thanks for the laugh.

4 Posts
Member Since: 02/15/2017 09:18PM
Last Activity: 02/15/2017 09:50PM

I'm fairly certain Big Time Shopper is a reincarnation of an old poster who got booted under several screen names for going on rampages about Market Force after they dumped him. Unfortunate because when not on a rampage he did bring some interesting viewpoints to the forum. Oh well.

As for the 3 strikes thing. I've done maybe 100 shops for MF and I'm pretty certain I've had 3 "strikes" as occasionally I have had to cancel shops. I still see the same shops I've always seen.

@bgriffin wrote:

I'm fairly certain Big Time Shopper is a reincarnation of an old poster who got booted under several screen names for going on rampages about Market Force after they dumped him,

I'm fairly certain that griffy is 99% correct in his reincarnation theory. He (BTS, not BG) is from Texas, right?

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]
The second paragraph gave him away, Big Time!

"I was probably the most successful gas station auditor for a single year. All of my travel to interesting places in the southwestern US was paid for by gas station audits, and all of my junk food was paid for by Market Force."

Edited for clarification.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2017 10:52PM by Sybil2.

Big Time Shopper: You are wrong. It is based on MANY factors. The amount of shops calculated by how many times you cancel, how many times you are late, how many times you do your shop incorrectly, the range of time those infractions occured and so on and so forth.

Let me give you a little example: Let's say two shoppers did 1,000 shops each for Market Force,

Of those, Shopper A: cancelled 14 shops, late on 7 shops, did not give a receipt for 5 of the shops, performed 9 shops incorrectly and all those 9 shops were rejected. This was done in 2 years being a shopper for Market Force.

Shopper B: cancelled 1 shop, late on none, always provided a receipt except one time when the store hand wrote the receipt, performed no shops incorrectly and had no shops rejected in 2 years.

Which shopper will Market Force want to keep? Which shopper is in danger of being deactivated? How much aggravation is one of the shoppers causing Market Force? This becomes simple math for Market Force.

I know I have had more than 3 shops rejected, one already this month and several alone last year. I reschedule shops all the time.

The last time I could not see certain shops I called. I was told they had a few email bounces so the portal restricted my access. They removed the restriction right away.

I just tried several different zip codes and shops showed up differently even though my mileage should have covered a central area all of the zip codes surround.

Also, let us not forget that some clients restrict how many locations and/or how often we can shop each location.

I was contacted by an English speaking MF scheduler who informed me that I would be seeing a lot more shops in my area. This was because a shopper who did lots of shops for them was extremely rude to a scheduler and they deactivated him... I'm in Texas... hmmmm. Could it be the poster you are referring to? This was approximately three months ago, by the way. (I never did see a change in shops, but I'm in a large city and only do a 30 mile radius for my searches.)

I made an error entering times on my first shop with MF last month. I received a sharp email stating if I was to have another error I would be deleted from their system. It was pretty harsh. Had I not shown that it was a typing mistake, I'd understand. I felt they were implying that I was falsifying a report, without giving me a chance to respond. It all worked out and I've been happily accepting shops since.

Lots of MS'ers do lie and falsify their reports. Some of them have come into the forum bragging about how they "pulled one over" on the MSC. The MSCs are tired of getting burned so they are getting more strict. Honestly, I don't blame them. What do they say about a few bad apples?

My experience with MF is a real one. I had three errors on three reports in 1 week, and was deactivated. If you make three mistakes in a short period of time, you'll get the boot from Market Force, like I did. Looking back, I made no mistakes on my reports when I first did shops for Market Force because I only did one shop per day and was very careful with my reports.

But the desire to make as much money as I could in a day caused me to do as many as 8 shops per day for MF. I was so used to filling out the reports that I barely paid attention to them--I was on automatic. That was my downfall with MF. I made 3 mistakes in two days. I was upset with myself. I remember I was driving through Katy, Texas and took a road to Brenham to do a FF shop for MF. I got terrible service and said so in my report. My reports developed a negative bias. I was so sick of poor service. MF gave me the boot. Live and learn.

Advice: Do 1-2 shops per day for MF, you can last years if you can stand it.

I once did 6 Red Gas Station audits in Denton, TX on a freezing day during a bleak winter for MF. I had to use WIFI at the local library and McDonalds. The 6 shops were bonused at $50 per. I finished my reports by 10pm, got paid $300 for the day, and slept on the side of the road south of Stratford TX during a blizzard bundled in 4 sleeping bags.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2017 03:01PM by Big Time Shopper.

@Big Time Shopper wrote:

My experience with MF is a real one. I had three errors on three reports in 1 week, and was deactivated. If you make three mistakes in a short period of time, you'll get the boot from Market Force...

I don't doubt that your experience with MF is a real one. Three errors on three reports within a 2-day period? I would have given you the boot also.

@Big Time Shopper wrote:

But the desire to make as much money as I could in a day caused me to do as many as 8 shops per day for MF. I was so used to filling out the reports that I barely paid attention to them--I was on automatic. That was my downfall with MF. I made 3 mistakes in two days...

NOTE TO NEWBIES - This is a perfect example of what NOT to do. Not paying attention while filling out reports? BTS, are you really that surprised that you got deactivated from MF?

@Big Time Shopper wrote:

I once did 6 Red Gas Station audits in Denton, TX on a freezing day during a bleak winter for MF. I had to use WIFI at the local library and McDonalds. The 6 shops were bonused at $50 per. I finished my reports by 10pm, got paid $300 for the day, and slept on the side of the road south of Stratford TX during a blizzard bundled in 4 sleeping bags.

If this is true, why didn't you take a crowbar to your wallet and get a motel/hotel room for the night? You do realize that it is tax-deductible business expense, right?

Market force offers a ton of food shops in my area and the most you can do is one per dining period. I applaud you trying to take on so many shops but it just doesn't seem like it was a good idea after the fact. Perhaps you can try entering the reports as you go, meaning do one, report it, do another, report it. I know you were deactivated but maybe there are other job boards you can take that many from. Most of the companies I work with only have 2-3 a month for me in my area to perform, tops. Then again, I'm not your typical shopper, I'm after the experience and reimbursements more than the fees.

Thanks, but I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time and got a career in disaster managment. I had been doing gas station audits for Maritz. An F4 tornado struck, and I was only 3 miles from where it touched down. I sheltered under a gas station's canopy and avoided the hail. Sirens were blaring. Death was in the air--because 7 people were tossed into the sky by the twister. I was down to $5--mystery shopping barely paid my bills. But I got a job in disaster recovery after the tornado, and now travel the country following storms, making $27.50/hour. Sadly, I find myself in a group of people that actually hope the hurricane strikes the major city and causes maximum damage. I have met people that made 100K+/year working on Katrina. They all dream of big storms and maximum mayhem.

[quote+=Sybil2] If this is true, why didn't you take a crowbar to your wallet and get a motel/hotel room for the night? You do realize that it is tax-deductible business expense, right?[/quote]

Because when I did the shops it was the beginning of the month, and I didn't get paid by MF until the next month. On that night I had $50 in my wallet. So I slept the sleep of death south of Stratford TX on 287 SB with the howling wind, blowing snow in pitch darkness on the high prairie. I remember at 3am I was awakened by a cattle truck that parked for 30 minutes. Inside was a truckload of cattle on the way to Plainview and slaughter. The hooves rattled nervously on the metal floor of the cattle truck. After they left I'd reached rock bottom and waited out the blizzard in the cold. I'm sure other who have down the SW routes have similar stories or even better.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2017 06:29PM by Big Time Shopper.

I think perhaps your problem was thinking $300 in fees in a day was good.

@bgriffin wrote:

I think perhaps your problem was thinking $300 in fees in a day was good.

Everyone I work with now in Disaster Management is happy to make 200-300/day. We work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. But no way can we compete with you, bgriffin--you make so much more than we do by video shopping. You and Sybil2--I'm surprised you both haven't bought your $500,000 house yet with your MSing windfall.

There is a big difference. $300 a day in a job that pays your expenses, benefits, and the employee share of you FICA is significantly different than getting $300 in fees a day. That was my point. To travel and do this $300 a day in fees is less than $150 in true profit.

Edited to add: If $300 was a good day you were probably on doing $200 on an average day. That means your profit was in the $75-$100 range. It's no surprise you were starving.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2017 06:43PM by bgriffin.

@Big Time Shopper wrote:

But no way can we compete with you, bgriffin--you make so much more than we do by video shopping. You and Sybil2--I'm surprised you both haven't bought your $500,000 house yet with your MSing windfall.

As a matter of fact, I do own my own house. Not a $500,000 house but it is a 6-digit figure house. I didn't need BG or anyone else to help me; I did it on my own. A great credit score, some money in the bank and stable work history helps big time.

drink!

@CaliGirl925 wrote:

drink!

Too many empty calories.

A $500,000 house isn't much depending on where you live. Our condo in California is worth twice what my 4,600 sq ft home in Texas is worth. But I get what you are saying. I'd be happy with $300 in fees for a day's work. But I'm not the provider in my household, so perhaps the next guy wouldn't be so happy.

I'm guessing you aren't comparing apples to apples.

My next route is week after next. I will leave on Sunday and return on Thursday. I won't do shops on Sunday as I am travelling to the area and will probably not do many shops on Thursday on my return home. That means I for all practical purposes will generate fees on 3.5 days. At $300 a day that would be $1050 in fees. Out of that I have to take 4 nights of hotel ($400), I'll drive at least 1000 miles ($250), and my food cost will be more than at home ($100). That gives me a profit of $300 for 4.5-5 days of work.

If I instead stayed home and generated $300 of fees per day locally for 4.5 days I would make $1350 in fees. I would have minimal extra expenses as dinner is the most expensive meal and I would be home for that each day. Even if I drove the same amount I would only be down mileage ($250) and extra food ($50), leaving me a profit of $1050 for 4.5 days of work.

$300 a day is just simply not enough for a route shopper. In the above scenario, all things being equal, the route shopper would need to generate $515 in fees per day (over 60% higher) to have the same gross profit. This is what I meant when I stated that the problem was thinking $300 in fees was a good day.

Makes perfect sense. $300 at home IS a lot different than $300 on the road. My on-the-road shops are what I pick up while on vacation. I will pick up a hotel, for instance, to save on a night out of pocket but swapping hotels every night sometimes isn't worth it to us. Tonight I'm doing a $55 meal with no fee, but the report is crazy quick so I'm all over it. Some people would turn their noses up at the meal without a fee. I figure I'm eating either way, and if I eat at home, that's my groceries that I'm paying for, so I might as well have someone else make the meal. Again, I like that we all shop for different reasons and that we all have our minimums that work for us. Even when I worked full-time and nearly doubled our income, I still picked up what shops I could handle. Again, not to make ends meet but to stretch the money we brought home. As a stay-at-home mom, my job is to stretch our budget and make it where my husband's income stays wth us as much as possible.
Okay... I've taken us wayyyy off topic. Either way, I enjoy MF and hope to stay on as long as they'll have me

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

.... I enjoy MF and hope to stay on as long as they'll have me

Ditto.

Newbies, if you are doing so much that you lose focus, lose sleep, or lose track of time, you are doing too much. Find out the lucrative way (do your work well and on time so that MSCs will keep you and give you more money) how much you can do based upon weather, time, health, or other factors. MF and others will appreciate this. I know.

Interesting, the same thing happened to me--incorrect timing input and a VERY sharp handslap email that I was going to be outed if i made another mistake.

I have done shops for MF for 7 years. I have never been deleted from the company, but I have been stopped from doing shops for two different clients. When I asked why, I was told they couldn't tell me. It was from the client. I figured it was because I had done many shops for the client and almost always at the same locations.

MF has been gracious to me, within n the past 3 years of shopping I have made 3 errors, once when I first started with timing at a FF and then, the past summer I did two back to back 200 mike routes in the heart of summer Texas heat. I submitted the same picture on two shops, from the two different days. I was sun blind and overheated. Both shops were rejected. Lesson learned, I no longer do 400 miles in the hot sun back to back anymore. I also carry my laptop with me and try my best to uploading reports before heading home. This allows me time to cool off, get out of the sun and take a break from the vehicle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2017 05:15AM by dmp777.

@Big Time Shopper wrote:

Sybil, you say "I have worked for MF for 6+ years." No shopper works for MF. You are an independent contractor.

As for MF's penalty system, it is three errors and you are out for good. It isn't possible for a person who love's life like I do to perform 1000+ shops (as I did) and not make three errors. In my case, I submitted two reports on the same night, but entered the same time of entry and departure on both--and that counted as two mistakes. My third sin was asking a car hop to correct my order. All three of my mistakes occurred during the same week (my last week) at this company.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but I've been in this business now a total of 33 years and not once have I ever made mistakes carrying the gravity of the three you list. And even if I had a "Three Strikes" policy, the morning I read your reports with the duplicate times, would have been the last morning I woke with you as a vendor I used or trusted. But let's say it was my day off and those invalid reports somehow were kept from my attention, the morning I saw you invalidated an evaluation by blatantly disregarding guidelines on which you were trained AND tested, would certainly have been the day I chose to give you a lot more time to go love your life.

It sounds to me, what with the duplicate timings on your reports coupled with the general disposition of your reply, that perhaps you are embittered about some underlying issue and that perhaps you might be fibbing just little when professing to love life as much as you claim to.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2017 08:34AM by CovertlyObvious.