Are ACL shops not being taken as quickly this month?

The other problems with gift cards is so many restaurants are going out of business..... a gift card would also be worthless really fast.

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Sad to see June assignments followed Mays - still using good clients as a reward to "anyone" who is willing to do a bad one too. .. I bet very shortly we are going to see the hotels, timeshares or high end steak place show up with a new MSC.

Only one shop is this way (gift card reimbursement) and this is the clients choice.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2017 08:26PM by tnewton2112.

Actually, we are still required to use the same caliber of shopper we have always used for high end shops. The idea that any shopper can get any shop if they perform a "bad" one is false. We want great shoppers to do all shops, and thankfully, many great shoppers are willing to do a good mix of high end and less desirable shops.

@tnewton2112 wrote:

Actually, we are still required to use the same caliber of shopper we have always used for high end shops. The idea that any shopper can get any shop if they perform a "bad" one is false. We want great shoppers to do all shops, and thankfully, many great shoppers are willing to do a good mix of high end and less desirable shops.

I'm confused...are you denying that ACL will only assign "good" shops to shoppers who agree to take the less-desirable shops? Because that is exactly what ACL has done to me, with 2 different schedulers. I've gotten high marks from ACL every time. I've had ACL editors praise my work and one telling me that my report was the best one he's edited and that he wished all shoppers were like me. Yet....when I request a winery shop that I've done at least 5 times in the past I'm now told I will be assigned if I take a less-desirable pizza shop that is 80 miles roundtrip for me.

Since you appear to work for ACL, perhaps you can bring this to corporate's attention. ACL is truly losing out with this approach, and I'm sure the clients would not be too happy to learn of this.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2017 02:44PM by DareWright.

Also has anyone else noticed that one of their clients has disappeared recently? It is a Mediterranean fast casual style restaurant chain, similar to Chipotle. I haven't seen it on their boards for the past 2 months now.

They are on the board here. I did one Sunday and have scheduled another for lunch in early August. All the local locations are posted for August. I've noticed that the lunch shops go pretty fast but the late dinner and mid day shops sit on the board a while. Toward the end of the month, they have been adding a $5 bonus to get them done.

@DareWright wrote:

@tnewton2112 wrote:

Actually, we are still required to use the same caliber of shopper we have always used for high end shops. The idea that any shopper can get any shop if they perform a "bad" one is false. We want great shoppers to do all shops, and thankfully, many great shoppers are willing to do a good mix of high end and less desirable shops.

I'm confused...are you denying that ACL will only assign "good" shops to shoppers who agree to take the less-desirable shops? Because that is exactly what ACL has done to me, with 2 different schedulers. I've gotten high marks from ACL every time. I've had ACL editors praise my work and one telling me that my report was the best one he's edited and that he wished all shoppers were like me. Yet....when I request a winery shop that I've done at least 5 times in the past I'm now told I will be assigned if I take a less-desirable pizza shop that is 80 miles roundtrip for me.

Since you appear to work for ACL, perhaps you can bring this to corporate's attention. ACL is truly losing out with this approach, and I'm sure the clients would not be too happy to learn of this.

No, popular shops are often paired with less desirable shops. My point was to the other commenter who stated that high end shops were no longer given to the best shoppers but rather any shopper that would take the less desirable shop - that point is not true. The same caliber of shopper is still required for a "high end" shop.

Tnewton2112.

Do you think the below is reasonable request to ask someone to take a low fee/reimbursement only shop in order to get a "high end" shop?

"I will be assigned if I take a less-desirable pizza shop that is 80 miles roundtrip for me."

Do the clients of popular shops know that we shoppers, are being asked to take on less desirable shops in order to get the popular shops ?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2017 05:41PM by 7star.

Has anyone checked to see if this crosses the line for Independent Contractors? If it hasn't, it is sure is getting close.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Sinclair is famous for this exact thing. take the spatula shop and get the min box food store....

@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.

It would cross an IC line if the ICs were forced to take the jobs regardless of the company's selection process. Or if the company waited until an IC completed an assignment and then said another, less desirable shop must be done in order to get paid. Thankfully, neither of those are the case. As ICs, regardless of how the MSC determines which IC to choose for their shops, shoppers are free to to choose when to request shops, whether to accept them, and whether to work for the company or not. None of this is mandatory, and shoppers are free to walk away or to use their own negotiation techniques.

@badbeatking wrote:

Also has anyone else noticed that one of their clients has disappeared recently? It is a Mediterranean fast casual style restaurant chain, similar to Chipotle. I haven't seen it on their boards for the past 2 months now.

Moved to Ann Michaels. Now with a higher reimbursement I believe, and a fee.

proudly shopping in the D.

The fact that the questions asked here are unanswered speaks volumes.

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Are ACL shops not being taken as quickly this month?

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