Cooking is my therapy, so of course I want lots of different foods trying new things daily..not a fan of the same thing every night...variety is the spice of life, don't ya know? Getting paid for my therapy works.

I looked last night. >90% of my shops with them are bonused.
I had to start a list of things to stock up on, since we need nothing now. I buy food to donate as well.
The shops were revised at some point. They are very simple now.

Bless your heart. If these take you an hour you are doing them wrong. Just sayin'

@David Hoppe wrote:

A $9.00 splurge, for an hour's work your big time now.

I'm also getting huge (for them) pads to do the shops...guess auto email is in full force. Sorry, their too far, just refuse to drive or do routes, but sounds good for those that do them. I'm doing five in my town, just the way I like it. Takes me 15 minutes in store, and 10 minutes since they reduced the reports to easy easy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2019 07:18PM by Irene_L.A..

I completed my first National grocer job for Trendsource 07/03/06; at that time, I was still attempting to become a full time shopper. I quickly realized the reimbursement of $9 in food could be purchased at Aldi's for $6, therefore reducing my true pay from $14 to $11. In addition, since it required a special trip, due to not being a customer, I only applied for the stores I would normally pass while driving. When at the end of 2007, I accepted I had failed as a full timer, I only completed those assignments including a PAD of from $10 to $20.

As I recall, the client discontinued the program for approximately 2 1/2 years from early 2012 until 2014. When it was reinstated, the money was the same, but inflation had reduced the buying power and the report was twice the prior length. At this point, inflation has further reduced 2006's $14 to $10.46. Predicated upon the requirement, if it still exists, to remain onsite for 30 minutes, unless one is a customer of that grocer, profiting is not easy.

I only work for money, I do understand, though, there are those for whom shopping is a pastime or are desperate for cash and must "bite the bullet." The positive for them is TS's practices of rapid and regular payment.

Being a dedicated shopper for the grocery store mentioned above, and having over 6 in my town plus their other high end store, there is a smart way to reduce costs. Wednesday thru Sunday the store has amazing sales. I only shop on the weekends and have picked up large package's of chicken breasts reduced more than half off, my price was $4.44, plus being a rewards member brings in many coupons and at least three free things. Sunday will be free butter, extra large eggs along with a gallon of Almond milk I buy anyway. .The in store time is now 15 minutes to pick up three items and ask your questions, not a big deal, I spend more time as I enjoy shopping, but never more than 20 minutes.and the reports have been reduced to 10 or 12 minutes when you get the hang of it.
Personally I'm not an Aldi's fan, they don't have enough selection for me or a fresh butcher or a big enough fresh produce dept. Shoppers have to do whatever they feel comfortable with, the less shoppers, the better for me.

Irene shared an excellent point with respect to slicing the required time from 30 to 15 minutes. With the prior comment of the report surfacing back in 2014 also being shortened, the ballgame has definitely been changed for shoppers who are also customers. Were that to apply to me, I would definitely give the work another shot without the aforementioned PAD of $10 to $20. As it currently stands, though, I am as pleased with saving money at Aldi's as Irene is with variety at her stores and, to paraphrase her, it is whatever floats your boat.

The problem is, I think, is that we are conditioned to think that we must make one trip do it all. Of course, 50% of the time we forget something and have to go back. The trick is to recondition yourself to buy say under $11 dollars at each store. If you analyze what you spend on a grocery/household run and the time it takes to buy all your groceries, etc and then go home and make several trips to unload and then to reorganize to put up all your groceries at zero reimbursement. Then compare the time it takes to go in and ask three questions and get names and descriptions, and then input the information. You have to buy food and certain household items anyway, dish soap toilet paper, shampoo soap, etc. Does it really matter where you buy it and how much you spend if you're getting the money back anyway? Of course, if you're making 50k a year or better you may not have time to save money because you're too tired to do the mystery shop. Honestly, I wish I knew about this when I was raising my kids. When I first started mystery shopping the first thing I did was buy things I could not afford to buy myself. I was getting food stamps and struggling. Eventually, I wised up and started only buying necessities. Since my household is only 2 adults, two dogs and two cats it works for me. Someone who has a bigger household than I do may not see $9 dollars reimbursement as being adequate but since I am coming from an impoverished background I don't mind buying certain items clearance, sale, or inexpensive items than say someone else would. I buy the dogs $1 treats (canine carry outs Tbonz) from these and their dumbells and duck jerky from Walmart. This helps me to make my item count suffice. Tone soap is 4.29, k brand toilet paper is 5.99. So I buy one necessity that I need for the house and add a can of dog food or a bag of treats and have 2 items then I add either something else for the pets or something else entirely. I also buy from the floral department when they clearance items, and bring it home and feed it miracle grow. A lot of the plants can be brought back with the proper TLC. Also, produce is a great filler. I don't buy meat there normally unless it's clearanced.
I personally don't care for the Aldi shop, it's too infrequent, pays entirely too little and requires too much for the price. If you can get one that has a nice bonus on it, maybe on Make An Offer, but I'm not doing anything for $4 dollars or less.

I'd have to be crazy to do Aldi's (no offense) but they have only one store in my town, rather than the Source's groceries, as they have 6 within three miles and one I adore very upscale, which I don't always get, forget about the bonus, quantity counts for me and makes up the cost of having to travel on our L.A. freeways with the traffic and cost of gas. Doing one tomorrow and 4 next weekend, not doing it to get rich, but I am eating well without having to travel and yes without bonus. I get well over a couple hundred in food per month...being retired, very nice. Not an argument, we all in the shopping business do and take what benefits us. I will add for me, I always shopped around, as I like certain things from Sprouts,Trader Joe's, and Whole foods and the other, limiting myself to one doesn't make sense, being a foodie requires the best of the best. Happy shopping.
#trying to figure what there is to complain about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2019 04:36PM by Irene_L.A..

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

#trying to figure what there is to complain about.

I just want to complain that the Source has none of our grocery stores. However...that's probably because none of the grocery stores here are high end.

@Jenny Cassada wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

#trying to figure what there is to complain about.

I just want to complain that the Source has none of our grocery stores. However...that's probably because none of the grocery stores here are high end.

They also do a very low end one, have three different stores....you'll see t on their site.

I love the low end ones. I stock up on canned goods and you can't find anyone to evaluate. Win/win.

I only paid $7 and it is for a year.

I picked up one of their ink audits thinking it would be a good filler as I would be in the area for another shop. Never again. For just $8 they want many photos, counts and other info. It took me a long time just to prepare and understand the requirements. Then the audit itself and uploading all the photos at home. To make matters worse, my first submission hung up and the report was lost so I had to enter all the data again. I forgot to “save” before hitting submit so couldn’t go back. I guess I’ll just stick to grocery stores with them.

I do the unrevealed ink shops for $8.50 and have been doing them for years. Not worth a trip, but a stop along the way - I do them whenever I can. I am usually in and out in under 10 minutes. it may depend on the store that you visit. The ones I get are usually drug stores.

Mine was an electronics store so there were many pegs to count and numerous out of stock items that required a photo and reporting the product ID for each. I can see where a drug store might be easier as they would carry less product.

You only count up to 5 out of stocks.
I just did an electronics store today and was in and out in 15 minutes, that included the 5 OOS, pic taking, etc.

Actually, you report the TOTAL number of out of stocks, but only have to take pictures of no more than 5 labels of the out of stocks. I do these whenever I can. Love 'em. I've even gotten a nice feedback email once thanking me for the clarity of my tags on the out of stocks.

I do see where this shop can be easier the second and subsequent times it is done. It took a long time to completely digest the long instructions and then to start at a store with many stocked items.

I will say, as a disabled person, I found the grocery shops very, very difficult. By the time I circled the floor two or 3 times to find associates with whom to interact, checked out, and got home, I would be so exhausted I couldn't complete the report. At that time, each report took me an hour. I would always (ALWAYS) be docked $1 on my pay for a late report.

At the time, I was working a minimum wage job ($7.25 an hour), and usually doing a grocery store shop on my way home from work. The $19 total ($14 reimbursement, $5 pay) looked pretty darn good to me compared to $7.25 an hour.

I would do 4 or 5 a week, as we were in a metropolitan area with many grocery stores within 2 miles of either work or home.

I have a background in taxes, finance, and business.

So I was kinda trained to look at it a little different than someone who has no business background.

Frankly, the $14 reimbursement, non-taxed, was much, much better than $7.25 an hour minimum wage. That $7.25 had federal income tax, social security/FICA, state tax, and city tax deducted from it. No one subsidized my commute to work and home; the $5 pay was basically offset by the mileage deduction.

I freely admit the chance anyone else on this forum is working at minimum wage is minimal; but that was MY situation, and the grocery shops worked just great for me.

I only wish, with the easier report, that I now lived somewhere that offered grocery shops. Alas, the nearest one to me is 5 HOURS away.

LOL!!!

As far as the grocery shops, I love that I can complete the shopping part of it, come home and do the report on my phone with my feet up watching tv. That's good stuff.

I have never done the ink job. I have always found something that paid better and I'm all about the money, honey.

I've been doing the ink jobs for over 5 years, so that is why I can get them done fast. The first couple that I did when I started took me about 45 minutes, then after I knew what I was doing, they got faster. I try and get them so that I can make a route of them, as I get at least a dozen stores and they are all fairly close to each, a couple are next door to each other and a few are on separate corners from each, so I can just walk from one to the other.