Hi everyone

I've been seeing those grocery shops for a while now. On a very popular MS website that I believe I'm not allowed to say here. Lol. It's the grocery shops that require you to buy a sandwich from the deli and then speak to someone in EACH department inside of the store. The pay is usually $5 with a $15 reimbursement.

Has anyone done these? I'm interested but I feel like a $5 fee for having to speak to someone in each department is pretty tedious. Yes, I know it offers a free sandwich but for those looking more at profit, would you guys say its worth it?

Thanks in advance

You can say the name of the MSC or the name of the grocery store, just not both.
I do not find grocery shops worth it. Some do. You might. Depends on your circumstances.

For me grocery stores are not worthwhile. It is more efficient for me to do my personal grocery shopping, hurry home, and put everything away. Then, I cook a lot of something that lasts for a few days. This works well in my world. I have completed grocery store shops, and I enjoyed my purchases. Because this is a small town and most grocery stores are elsewhere, the days of grocery store shops followed by reports are long. I would not attempt to rely on grocery store shops as a means of supplying groceries. You might find that you like these shops and can make them work for you. I know that other posters have quick access to many grocery stores and are efficient. Perhaps they will chime in...

I usually pass on base rate and do them only when they're bonused. This means that some months I don't do any. I also won't do the $15 one since the sandwich eats half or more of the reimbursement. I'd rather do the $12 reimb shop and skip the sandwich. You still have to get something sliced, but that's fine with me. I don't do as many this year as last year because of the new guidelines. Since you have to go to every dept every time you are going to get spotted as a shopper if you do a store too often. Especially with this year's questions. I find they go quicker if I do them early, around 9 or 10 AM. So is it worth it? A definite "maybe".

@bgriffin Thanks! That always confused me on knowing what I can and can't say

The ones by me, you have to put an item in the bottom of your cart and it annoys me on two levels. One, they are reimbursement only unless you get a bonus and the reimbursement is not going to get you much. Second, most things that would reasonably be on the bottom of the cart are big and therefore not really cheap. You'll eat up most of your reimbursement if you do buy it and I'd feel like a jerk if I said after I brought it to the register that I somehow don't want it.
I don't think they're worth it.

Thanks for the input guys!

There is an MSC that has grocery stores with major chains. You interact with 3 people and buy what you want. 20 minutes in store 10 minute input using app. It pays $5 and reimburses $9. I love it.

@pegleg2000 hmmm haven't heard of that one. I'll have to search around for that one.

I mystery shop the grocery store that I THINK you are referring to. They also have shops that do not require a sandwich purchase but still has a deli purchase. As far as talking with someone in every department, the good thing is that this MSC does not require names if it is the same one I am thinking of. That is such a help! By depts, if you mean bakery, deli, produce, meat & seafood, as well as asking a question of someone in the grocery aisles, yes, I do that. Report is simple. I do grocery shops whenever I can, for about 5 different MSCs in my area. They are a HUGE help in my grocery budget, which ends up helping me save for Christmas. Now, I am retired, and only shop part-time, looking to earn between $200-300/month in fees (not counting reimbursements). I actually prefer a higher reimbursement than fee as far as grocery shopping goes, because reimbursements are not taxable. Like bgrif said, grocery shops are not for everyone, but if you try a few, and find out you like them, then you will end up enjoying them. Good luck!

There are a few I do and really enjoy them. One is mentioned above $5 pay $9 reimbursement. The other one is pay but no reimbursement and I try to do a string of them when traveling. That particular one requires conversing with people from many different departments but the pay is good once bonused. The lowest pay on my last route was $31 and the highest $51. I think they start at $17 and I've even done them at that amount.

For me, at this time, I'm happy with the simple lower paying jobs (it's great when they bonus them) as they pay our gas, groceries and extra cash in my pocket. We are tiny house people living in a van most of the year traveling so we need little...it works for us. Others who have different lives would not feel those are worth their time. It all depends on what fits your life.

A tip on the shops that require an online order for a sandwich: $4.69 for a half-sized veggie flatbread. Deli requirement can be a couple of slices of chicken, ham, etc., for less than $1, and you've got the makings for a sub. There is almost $10 remaining to spend on whatever you want.

I enjoy grocery shopping so I do several each month, some at base pay, some bonused. I save a lot on my food bill. The brand here is the one mentioned above where you have to put an item under the cart. I don't have a problem with it and if I grab something large and they don't notice it, I just say I forgot it was there, but really don't need it and leave it at the register. If I actually want the item and they don't notice it, I tell them after I have paid and am about to walk away. I pay for it separately and upload both receipts. This has happened a few times, but rarely. If they notice it and it's something I don't want, I act blonde (I am blonde - so no offense meant towards blondes) and him and haw and say I don't really want it now. I prefer the stores that don't have the carts with the bottom racks though so I can skip that acting job.

While visiting my sons in SC I did one or two of the sandwich or deli buying, walk around the store 2-3 times, interact with endless employees, get names etc. That one was not for me. The one I do is easy peasy.

Edited for grammar mistake.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2019 01:28AM by MsJudi.

I have 3 grocery stores that I do monthly. One pays $15 and the other two pay $45 and $50 with $5-$10 reimbursements. I usually do 10-15 grocery shops per month. I shop at these stores anyway so it pays for my groceries in full plus some $ leftover.

I only know the ones from Trend Source, Confero, Market Force, and Second to None.

I think Anonymous Insights has some too. But, I haven't checked ..just saw the email.

I will say that I think grocery shops, in general, are horrible (as in tedious and uncomfortable tasks). BUT, I still do them. They serve as my go-to bread-n-butter strategy. At least that was the case when I still shopped a lot. I've stopped for a few months, due to other work.

I wrote a LONG post here a few days ago as to why I think they are worthwhile - [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

One good thing to know is that in the absence of other shops, grocery projects can serve as a back-up plan that is always valuable. You can get your essentials in life paid for through them. When things are slow, I wouldn't mind doing a grocery shop.

I do the same ones as pegleg2000 and find them worthwhile. I add them to a group of other shops nearby and use them to buy staples like; milk, eggs, bread, dairy, and sale items. It works for me.

In 6 months I have made $604 in fees and gotten $1,054.16 in free groceries. That is just from Trend Source. I love doing them.

@pegleg909 I wonder how. To me, the ones on Trendsource are just like the other ones I was discussing on MF. They pay like $6 with $9 reimbursement to speak to someone in each department. Ugh why does this not seem worth it to me?? Am I just being lazy??

I'm guessing the difference with the reimbursements is that with MF its the sandwich and with Trendsource you can buy whatever you want?

@jtrinidad2002 Well I have never seen any for a $45 pay with a $10 reimbursement lol. That would certainly be worth it

@Kristylynnr wrote:

@pegleg909 I wonder how. To me, the ones on Trendsource are just like the other ones I was discussing on MF. They pay like $6 with $9 reimbursement to speak to someone in each department. Ugh why does this not seem worth it to me?? Am I just being lazy??

I'm guessing the difference with the reimbursements is that with MF its the sandwich and with Trendsource you can buy whatever you want?

Trend Source only has 3 interactions not every department. Trend Source are very easy to do.

The nearest TrendSource grocery shop location is one hour away, and the second nearest is two hours away. Considering the mandated time frames, it is extremely difficult for me to do these shops. They are easy, though, and I would never discourage any shopper from at least trying these or other grocery shops. I have completed other grocery stores-- I forget for which MSC. The pay and reimbursement were excellent. That money could go far for some shoppers! In the past, I applied for diverse distant locations, in hopes of building shopping days around those time frames. That never materialized, and grocery store mystery shops never rose high on my list of things to do.

@pegleg2000 This is what I'm seeing under program information.

Part 2

Engage and assess service of ONE associate in each of the required focus departments;
Departments with a Service Counter: Deli, Meat, Seafood, Bakery and Pharmacy
Departments without a Service Counter: Produce, Floral and Center Store / Dairy / Frozen Foods


Doesn't that imply one from EACH of the departments listed?

TS has several different grocery Clients, depending which part of the country you live in. And the requirements for each Client are NOT the same from Client to Client. So, for example, the stores done by TS in my area may only require 6 interactions, while a different Client done by TS in another region may require 8 or 9 interactions. It's hard to say specifically. You just need to try one or two and see if you think it's worth it to you. I can do these in my sleep now!

In my area they randomly pick 3 areas per store.

No. The form will choose 3 at random out of all of the possibilities. (or it seems random to me.) These shops have gotten a lot easier and faster. I only feed 2 people and I can get TS to pay for the bulk of our groceries if I want to throw in a route of them one or two days a month. You can either report onsite via the app or you can do what I do, come home and report via the app with your feet up while you watch tv.

@Kristylynnr wrote:

@pegleg2000 This is what I'm seeing under program information.

Part 2

Engage and assess service of ONE associate in each of the required focus departments;
Departments with a Service Counter: Deli, Meat, Seafood, Bakery and Pharmacy
Departments without a Service Counter: Produce, Floral and Center Store / Dairy / Frozen Foods


Doesn't that imply one from EACH of the departments listed?

Hmmm okay maybe the best way to do this is to just try it myself and see if I like it. Thanks guys!

Great idea and I'd suggest that for any shop you might be interested in. What is worth it to one shopper may not be to another, it's all about perspective and you may love the shop.

@Kristylynnr wrote:

Hmmm okay maybe the best way to do this is to just try it myself and see if I like it. Thanks guys!

@Jenny Cassada You're very right. It definitely doesn't hurt to try.

I used to the the ones for Marketforce since I shopped at that store anyway, but for what they paid, I wouldn't go out of my way.

Northfork has one chain in the Northeast that I would do if bonused. Then they got some editors that made in un-enjoyable to submit shops, I don't think they never did a shop in their life. One store didn't have a bakery and they fought me on this issue. Finally they relented and told me I should have taken pictures of the baked goods on a table somewhere in the store.

They also questioned one of my pictures stating it was out of focus. I asked them why I could plainly read the sign at the farthest distance in the picture. Their reports are also long for the amount of pay and reimbursement without a bonus.

Pricechopper is also shopped but I don't recall the MSC. I did one of them and it seemed like too much work for too little pay.

All of them seem to have you interact with someone in each department in the store. I've noticed that many of the meat departments, the butchers leave by five and it's almost impossible to find somebody in produce.

Another pet peeve is you need to get each person's name you interacted with. One store they all had nicknames on their badges like "T". One employee had two different badges one when he was working customer service and a different one when he checked me out. And many of the employees would wear their badges on the side of their hats so you would be obvious trying to read the name if they didn't turn their head the right way.

I'd say it definitely depends on which grocery stores for which MSCs. Marketforce has grocery shops for a regional client in Ohio that are super easy, $15 reimbursement only but there are only 3 departments with no names, descriptions, or timings required (other than time in store and time out). They only take about 25 minutes and I can buy whatever I want. They don't require any narrative or details about what question you ask the department associates. It's a store I shop anyway, so why not?

I have read other shoppers post about shops where they have to do a LOT of observations for what seems like little pay, but if it works for them, who am I to say don't do them?