As I sit here this morning after taking the test for my "Blue" gas station shops, I ponder some of the following random observations:
I note now, that the test asks the question about performing more than 10 gas station shops in one day. As Marvin Gaye once said, "I heard it through the grapevine" before it became an apparent fact. How about an Email advising the shopper specifically of this new wrinkle?
Another one: Why can't the report ask first, "including gasoline and non-gasoline, how many pumps were present at this site . After submitting the amount, the report would gray out all pumps not counted. It would shorten the report time, that's for sure!
Another: If the report would ask, "is this an unmanned site?", then it could gray out the question about the attendant.
Likewise for:"Is a public bathroom present?". Gray out the remainder of the questions if not present.
Or this: Inform the shopper that if the outdoor lights could not be turned on, then a photo must be provided of the canopy and perimeter light pole.
Commenting: If I must ask the attendant about the rewards program folder being present and they pull them from under the counter, do I report that in the comment field?
When the attendant voluntarily tells me that the previous shopper brings additional people with him (or her), is mean, nasty and downright rude, should I report that?

BTW, I am not in the habit of "tattling" on the previous shopper (unless it is so egregious in my opinion that it must be reported). I try to be pleasant, objective and understanding. And, figure that the attendant will report the shopper's behavior to their superior anyway if it is outrageous. But, like i said, I will say something if, in my opinion, it is warranted.

Last of all, I found a $10 bill on one of my shops (on the ground, near the edge of the property). So, I thought, okay, this time, I'll mention it to the site's attendant.
After explaining the find, she looked at me, grinned and said,

"Well, lucky you!"

I did notice the new 10 station limit question and didn't have to search the documents for the answer as it was supplied on this forum.

Please don't open up that PC can of worms about finding money. I agree "lucky you". However, I am sure someone will suggest an independent, bi-partisan investigation.

And no, I would not report that the attendant felt the previous shopper was rude. Hearsay.

What bothers me most is the tightening of bonuses, at least in my area and the fact that the blue station supervisors do not respond, negative or positive to my route bonus requests. Well, they do respond positively if accepted or counter offered but it would be nice to let me know if the answer is no so I can make other plans. Actually, if I don't hear back in a couple of days I assume it is a no and move on. I realize that they are waiting for a better offer and delaying but it is still annoying.

There, now I feel better and I'll keep my eye out for a $10 bill.

@French Farmer wrote:

Another one: Why can't the report ask first, "including gasoline and non-gasoline, how many pumps were present at this site . After submitting the amount, the report would gray out all pumps not counted. It would shorten the report time, that's for sure!

In regards to this... this assumes the pump numbering starts at #1. Now, before anyone states, "why wouldn't it?", there is a station close to home that starts at #3, and not #1. At the station you can logically see where another pump would have been at one time. I am sure there other examples of this in spots across the country.

I've had another one where a 10 pump station did not have a 6 or an 8 (one of them, I forget the number), because the pump became one-sided.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2017 08:36PM by tcurione.

Is this company always such a royal PITA? I did a bunch of shops for them for very low pay, but I was going to be by there anyway. They come back with extra questions and claim receipts can't be read. I never had so many issues with any other companies. Just me, or they are always this way?

I have some miscellaneous thoughts about maritz as well:

Wouldn't it be nice if you could speak to an actual scheduler via email or phone?*

*the people who call you are not schedulers, they are go betweens be the shoppers and the schedulers

Wouldn't it be nice if you could call them up and say "I'll take all the XXX shops in my state for the quarter if you'll give me a slight bonus that is still under your average for the group and give me the first 10 weeks of the quarter to do them with no stipulation on a particular number having to be done per week."

Wouldn't it he nice if you could call them up at the beginning of the quarter and say "hey I'm passing by this shop next week that you have never gotten done at less than $50 because its in the middle of nowhere, I know it's early in the quarter but I'll do it for half that now."

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a pay discrepancy you could get it corrected via email?

All of that would be nice, bg but l would settle for being able to speak with a decision maker (supervisor) when negotiating instead of a gate
keeper (scheduler).

@iShop123 wrote:

Is this company always such a royal PITA? I did a bunch of shops for them for very low pay, but I was going to be by there anyway. They come back with extra questions and claim receipts can't be read. I never had so many issues with any other companies. Just me, or they are always this way?

Pretty much. I've done a few of their hardware stores in the past and don't find them to be very responsive. I also hate that I can't self-assign shops. I wish they had better software and that we didn't need to take a quiz and submit an invoice for every report.

It scares the tar out when I hear about the other shoppers. I never hear about them when they were good, you know?

One more thought about Martiz...they're different than other MS companies because they're part of a huge company. MS is one tiny part of their business. A lot of other companies just do MS. They're a big corporate company that has grown and merged over the decades. They can't exactly change easily. [en.wikipedia.org]

It's been over two months of getting approved. They get hot on it for a minute and I sent what they needed and never heard back so I apply for more gas stations and get the message that I need to send a sample photo. I send it again and then don't hear anything. I used a photo resizer program so I know the photos sent were the right size. But I don't get responses to my emails. I am stuck in limbo with them. I've done other shops for them with no problems but I really only want the gas stations.

Wouldn't it be nice if the schedulers were allowed to use email or for that matter anyone at Maritz. Don't get me wrong I don't mind talking to them on the phone its just email could save a lot of time.

They aren't particularly good at returning phone calls of any kind. And if I get someone on the phone with the blue team when I call, I'm surprised. Usually someone from the yellow team has to take a message and have blue get back to you.

The monthly assignments instead of quarterly this year are annoying. Especially when they keep calling me to take the same dogs for the same price. How often can you tell them that shops are too far or too difficult to get too.

I've had four scheduled shops 'cancelled by the client' on the day I'm out doing them. They just disappear with no pre-warning phone call. I've gotten where I sit and submit the shop before I move onto the next and then check to make sure my next planned shop is still there.

LeslieKay111. Call and ask to speak to a supervisor. That's what I ended up doing to get through the photo test. I got tired of messing around with the phone reps.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

Wouldn't it be nice if the schedulers were allowed to use email or for that matter anyone at Maritz. Don't get me wrong I don't mind talking to them on the phone its just email could save a lot of time.

i get emails from team leaders. i get any contract variation in writing.

@bgriffin wrote:

I have some miscellaneous thoughts about maritz as well:

Wouldn't it be nice if you could speak to an actual scheduler via email or phone?*

*the people who call you are not schedulers, they are go betweens be the shoppers and the schedulers

i speak to schedulers or team members all the time. They can assign shopos at base or with a slight preapproved bonus. For high bonus, must get approval from team leader. I get bonus in writing or take screen shot from website.

They can make absolutely no decisions outside the norm. To me a scheduler has some leeway to get the shops scheduled.

But please don't talk to one team and ask to be transferred to another team! I did that once and was told that the teams are not even in the same building and they cannot transfer the phone.

@bgriffin wrote:

They can make absolutely no decisions outside the norm. To me a scheduler has some leeway to get the shops scheduled.

I get my shops scheduled many times on first call. maybe you are approaching the calls wrong.

You are missing my point. My point is there is a difference between a true scheduler and the people on the phone at Maritz who can only put them on your board at base rate and only within the exact timeframes available on the website. To me those are not schedulers. Schedulers have more control than that. If you want to call them schedulers that is fine. I don't though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2017 02:36AM by bgriffin.

@bgriffin wrote:

You are missing my point. My point is there is a difference between a true scheduler and the people on the phone at Maritz who can only put them on your board at base rate and only within the exact timeframes available on the website. To me those are not schedulers. Schedulers have more control than that. If you want to call them schedulers that is fine. I don't though.

npot missing your point. i don't call them schedulers. i call them team members. no need to put words in my mouth. what do u mean by time frames? banks have hours of operation & most gas stations. ive never been told that i have to be at a bank or gas station at a specific time frame. dark audits have a smaller window,

Your reply to my original comment seemed to indicate disagreement with my statement that they are not schedulers. I wasn't attempting to put words in your mouth. That is simply how it came across to me.

As for time frames I'm speaking of their available date ranges. They often, at least on the shops I like, have a very limited date range even though they are quarterly shops.

Edited to add:

As far as particular times, the shops I prefer also have will sometimes have a 6-3 or 3-10 timeframe. Their client allows them some leeway on those but getting them to switch is near impossible.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2017 03:22AM by bgriffin.

ok. time frames are different than date ranges so makes more sense now.

Dates are still a measure of time. Hour and Dates are both timeframes.

do u really need to argue about everything? good grief.

Nah. I'm just wrong enough that I make sure to explain myself when someone corrects me when I'm not wrong.

So Maritz is a huge global company which handles rewards programs and plan business events..Really ? With their turn-of-the-century communications style, I find this almost funny.