@LisaSTL wrote:
Has anyone checked to see if this crosses the line for Independent Contractors? If it hasn't, it is sure is getting close.
How would this cross an IC line? If anything, this is exactly the point of ICs... the company is free to choose whoever they want to complete the business. If they want to choose shopper B who is willing to take crappy job X and great job Y over shopper A who will only take great job Y - that's their prerogative. Cannot see how that is possibly "crossing a line" when it comes to the IC/contracting company arrangement.
Also, companies who hire MSC could care less about this practice. All they want is good quality data (to whatever their standard of good quality data is). They DO NOT CARE how that data is obtained. They DO NOT CARE what the relationship between the MSC and the shopper is and they DO NOT CARE how much the MSC is paying the shopper. I have hired MSCs (including ACL, and others) and ran mystery shopping programs as a client and I can guarantee you that I never paid attention to how those shoppers got picked. I cared that my guidelines were followed, my data was good, and (in my case, cause photos were important), my photos were clear.
However, I do think that in the end - this is going to be a bad business move for ACL. In the end, I think quality of shoppers will suffer, and businesses will walk to competing MSCs who offer a better quality product.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2017 07:05AM by MickeyB.