I too have a farm with a bunch of spoiled mix breed goats, African Gray geese and some foolhardy guinea hens. It is called an "agricultural exemption" But the goose eggs in the spring are something to really look forward to. Didn't have much luck with chickens as the area had too many fox, raccoon, possum and skunk (to say nothing of stray dogs and cats) when I tried raising them.

I understand the AG Exempt concept perfectly. The only problem is that it got a little carried away and now I'm in the Black Angus business, too. It's fun and I love them all. I was in the goat business, too, but between, pink eye, and coyotes, they are now gone. Fine with me, makes more room for the cows. I have Amy the 400 pound plus pig, raise golden retrievers, geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits, and offer a safe place for animals that need a home. Not to forget the neighborhood hang out for all the kids. I've lived here 19 years and have watched them grow up. It's quiet and peaceful and definitely a place to escape the rat race of life.

We have a fenced field we lease out to a guy who puts cows there from time to time. I get to enjoy his critters while he gets to pay for the wormer and deal with the headaches when one of his girls has birthing issues. But I get the sweet babies to be "mine" for a while because when it is weaning time the moms are the ones who get hauled away We did rabbits briefly but one day while we were away something large crushed and tore open the 1" hardware cloth cages to get at them. Had a beautiful flock of mallards who decided to migrate off with their kind. One male would stick around here during winters or if he was off on other waters would at least revisit at meal times. The geese work well for me because they are big enough and threatening enough that I have watched a fox slink through the barn lot well away from them and hightail it out when a goose decided to attack him.

Our lives are very similar in lots of ways. I've been through the birthing issues, but in my situation the roles are reversed. It's the babies that get taken away to market,not the mothers. They make more babies. I've experienced all the rest of the same issues you've faced in some fashion or another. Aren't you in New York? I may not have remembered correctly. The geese can get aggressive. I have one named Charlie. One day he decided to come at me and take a bite. I picked him up and bit him back and he's never messed with me again. The neighborhood kids have all learned not to mess with him or his girlfriend, Angel.. Can't say I blame the ducks for flying south for the winter. I've lived in Florida all my life.

I am a fellow Floridian--though I've only been here for just under 30 years. I'm down in SW FL. My geese know that when I extend an arm and point a finger at them I am being as aggressive (or more so) than they are and they will back down--sort of my own version of stretching out the neck and pointing the bill. I pick them up only when I am having to free them from getting stuck somewhere or if they have managed to get their feet tangled in baling twine from the hay rolls we bring in during the winter or, of course, if one of them is injured and needs to come to my "infirmary" on the back porch. I try to keep them not-too-friendly with people because I have had some 'disappear' that I figure ended up on someone else's dinner plate.

I grew up in a very small town in MA where we had farms, but this is so far outta my experience. You two amaze me. :-) I am in awe of the fact you own property where this could be so, and that you just want to raise the animals! I have no desire to get that close to any animal life. I am a beach girl at heart, and a beach city dweller for life, i think!

Ah, but that is the glory of Florida I am about 12 miles away from the Gulf of Mexico and about 21 miles from one of the world's "top 12" beaches. Certainly "motherhood" was one of the most satisfying and fulfilling 'jobs' in my life. Now I can continue the caring and nurturing of that on some level with the animals and although they will never go to Harvard or Yale, they will grow strong, stay healthy and produce more life.

Why can't they go to Harvard or Yale?

They haven't learned to bubble in the answer sheets on the SATs. They keep wanting to drop pellets on all the little circles.

If they went to Harvard or Yale, it would probably be as research victims, so better they don't! :-)

I have nothing to add, except thanks. I'm raising teenagers and reading about your Norman Rockwell lives is a nice break from my reality!

Hi all!

Being somewhat a new kid of sorts, in relation to this forum, I feel so thankful I went in search of it. Finally somewhere I can relate to others what's going on and to ask questions. No one in my world even understands mystery shopping and all of you are such a blessing to me.

Mert, I'm glad you're the one raising teenagers. I believe that raising animals is way easier in this day and time. It's funny to me to read you compare my life to a break in reality. I know it gets hectic at times, but I can't imagine trying to raise teenagers.

Dee Shops! Thank God my critters aren't at Harvard and Yale, because you are exactly right. A close friend's horse went to the University of Florida for exactly the reason you write. I love to hug my animals and it's as though they are part of my family. I can handle it when one has to be put down. It's all part of life and Mother Nature. My goal for this farm is to make it a non-for-profit organization for children of all ages to come, play, and experience Mother Nature in all Her glory. Our community needs a safe place for this and like you, so many others have very little knowledge of what life on the farm is even like. I know because I used to be the same way. I'm born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida and a city girl through and through. Now, life is different to say the least. But, I watch the expressions on all who visit and most don't want to leave when the time comes. So, mystery shopping helps with the hay, feed and whatever else is needed. I understand your love for the beach, as I love that, too.

Flash, I have three Aunts in Ft. Myers, Florida and the closest thing to a son I'll ever get in Delray Beach on the other coast. He and his new wife of almost two years just had a son and I have to figure out how to get away and visit before too long.

My question about Certified is that since they are owned by Market Force, why can't Market Force simply list Certified's assignments on THEIR own site? I am a member of Market Force, however my screen name and password with market force are not valid to log on to certified's site. I just think it would make things less complicated to just combine it on one site. Has anyone heard any talk about them possibly doing this soon?

At least for the moment Market Force is keeping Certified free standing. Who knows why? It may be part of their purchase agreement of Certified was to retain the employees. It may be that they find Certified's systems effective for the types of work to be performed. It may be that they feel their other operational units are not set up to be able to handle the Certified jobs. It could be that Certified's clients would depart rather than be incorporated into different database/reporting system. Certainly there has been marked disappointment among shoppers that SG Marketing's jobs have been incorporated into the "blue portal".

Flash wrote:
> Certainly there has been marked
> disappointment among shoppers that SG Marketing's
> jobs have been incorporated into the "blue
> portal".

Ya, that's for sure. I miss the contact and personal relationship with SG people. I don't like the impersonalness of MFI.

Hi.

I'm not a fan of MF or Certified. I've had to cancel shops from Certified many times becuase I didn't receive the necessary items in the mail or the paperwork wasn't ready for download. I've also noticed both companies are two of the lowest paying companies out there. MF acutally has telephone shops for $1.75 each. They say it's only 7 questions, but really isn't our time and experience worth more than $1.75? Seriously! I wish there weren't people out there who take jobs for less than $10, which is what MF and Certified consistently offer. I use their work as "filler work". If I'm in the area and going right by something they have to offer...

Susan

I think the absolute winner on cheap phone shops was CORI a year or so ago at 50 cents per shop. I've done a handful of $3 MF phone shops that were pretty fast and straightforward. The only bummer was still having to do the CPI to upload in order to get paid. The CPI has got to be one of the more archaic requirements left in the business. Since the 1980s electronic signatures have been legally binding. Most of our ICAs have electronic signatures--often in the form of just typing in "I AGREE". So why MF retains a requirement for a manually signed document then converted for electronic submission is a mystery to me.

I, too, hate the whole CPI thing. Even though I never print them, just sign electronically, it is just one extra thing, always to remember upfront (or can't get one) when entering a shop. Why in this age they do this is beyond me. Its extra record keeping for them, too.

I so agree. Deciding to take a low to mid paying job leaves no pennies to spare. Paper and ink aren't free. It is so unnecessary.

I've had to cancel numerous Certified shops becuase they don't get their paperwork ready or items mailed out to me in time, and becuaese of this I've had to cancel/reschedule shops with MarketForce (I can't make a special trip for a shop less than $10, not worth the gas), and now MarketForce decided I'm not "reliable" and they took away my available shops! I tried to explain the reason, but they want no part of it. Very frustrating that one of their companies can be unreliable and that's ok. I've never had a real problem with any other company before, in the 9 years I've been shopping on and off, but them. Such a bummer becuase they have what I call "filler shops", ones for $10 or less that I can stop in as I go past a store on my way to another shop. I should know better than to deal with a comapny that offers $8 shops.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2008 02:03PM by SusanMB.

dee shops Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I, too, hate the whole CPI thing. Even though I
> never print them, just sign electronically,

I do that too. Capture it with Snagit, superimpose my sig with Paint Shop Pro. It IS nonsense, but I think they need that UPC code on it. Their software is primitive. However, MFI is one of the few companies that gives me bonuses. Shows you how slim the pickings for me are here!

I have never gotten a bonus from them. Calls yes, bonus offers, no. Now SG I think I got a bonus or two, in the older days last Christmas, before they were absorbed.

I've gotten a bonus from them once, but only becuase a $4 job needed to be done so they raised the fee to $9. Anyone could have gotten the "bonus" that I did. I just don't understand why shoppers take $4 and $5 shops? And their $1.75 phone shops are an insult to my abilities, in my opinion anyway.

All the jobs I have done with them, even the ones they call me for, are on the board and in the emails they send me...

SusanMB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've gotten a bonus from them once, but only
> becuase a $4 job needed to be done so they raised
> the fee to $9. Anyone could have gotten the
> "bonus" that I did. I just don't understand why
> shoppers take $4 and $5 shops? And their $1.75
> phone shops are an insult to my abilities, in my
> opinion anyway.

I was referring to MFI. Certified bonuses only if you put a gun to their head. I've done all of one $9 job for them bec I was in the neighborhood.

Me too. I've never gotten a "bonus" from MFI. Maybe because I don't take the shops that are $4 and $5?

Of course there are various parts to MFI. There is the Certified part and there is the old Shop 'n Chek part. My old Shop 'n Chek part bonuses directly on their job board pretty frequently and if/when they call you to take a job there are almost always bonuses involved.

Ah, I'm talking right from MF. Not Certified. Either way I only take the $8 $9 shops if I'm in the area. I am (We are!) worth more than $6 in my opinoin, for me to park and get out of my car!

I figure that a lot of folks are 'trying' mystery shopping and will take what they see available. While I do believe you need to take a couple of cheap shops with a new-to-you company, that is not the same as making a steady diet of them. I do know shoppers who are in full time jobs and pick up all the ff shops around them to use for their daily lunches. For them it works to subsidize lunch and most of them take a couple of minutes to report the shop on their employer's time when they get back to the office. I am not recommending or condoning this but just acknowledging that it happens. It certainly is not a reasonable assumption for a full time shopper to make a special trip to a ff place, lay out the $ and then return home to report the shop for a tiny fee. If I were out running for the day on a number of shops, I would look for a lunch break and if all I could find was a cheap ff shop I might take it.

I have seen these shops get minuscule "increased fee" notices on MFI, but not ever on Certified. Either way, the most I have ever gotten was exactly what any other shopper would get - "bonused" or not. Bonuses that minuscule as this MSC does them are not bonuses in my mind, they are readjustments to make the job palatable! And even then most are too low.


I like the movie shops as I like to go to the movies. It works out for us and saves us the cost of tickets and refreshments. I like some of the MFI shops as they pay fairly (esp. the SG bank shops) and others because I like the place (steak etc and want to get a "discount" on my meal in return for my efforts. There are others I wouldn't do even with a huge bonus. The majority are ones I would consider if the pay is right, but most often it is not so I ignore them.

I also am in Flash's camp on the FF thing-if I am going to be in the area, and its open, I will add it in to supplement the trip and buy my lunch, but I won't go looking for it as a money making activity at that price....