I absolutely love grocery shops. They are my favorite. I tell my family I would not know how to bulk grocery shop anymore. I shop 9-20.00 at a time over a number of different grocery stores and pretty much get all we need. Pair them with shopkicks, ibotta and other grocery saving apps and they are a great way to save money (and make a little too). I am one who would prefer they were reimbursement only though and I wouldn’t even have to deal with taxes on them for the small fee. Liz

@Traveliz It seems like everyone has different shops from different clients. The ones I've seen don't seem worth it but I'm still willing to try it.

I would agree to give the grocery shops a go.. when I first started my first shops ever was with Trendsource grocery store and I absolutely hated it and thought it was too much work for the money. I wasn’t sure if I would do one again but I was torn because even though I didn’t like it I shopped there anyways. So, I gave myself a few months to get some experience and come back and didn’t mind them. Then they changed them maybe a year ago and they are much easier, less time consuming. I love them now. So, I’d say definitely give it a few tries!

@Lissymaree Thanks for the tips I will!!

I find that with many of the shops I do the first few times. After a while they become second nature and I'm ready for something new. I figure if I have to buy groceries it's worth a little extra time to get them free! :-)

I have found most of them not worth it. One MSC wanted you to keep track of the time your entered and the time you left the 3 different departments. If there were no employees, they wanted you to go back at least 3 times. Each time keeping track of the time you entered and left the department. I gave up. Many times you cannot even find someone working in the department.

Thats 3 different but related shops all in one location. They should pay 3 to 7 times the job fee.

@johnb974 wrote:

I have found most of them not worth it. One MSC wanted you to keep track of the time your entered and the time you left the 3 different departments. If there were no employees, they wanted you to go back at least 3 times. Each time keeping track of the time you entered and left the department. I gave up. Many times you cannot even find someone working in the department.

I also like the grocery shops I shop. I shop 4 a month, $96. total, have to purchase alcohol. I usually by a $10 bottle of wine, all profit. I shop these shops with the banks next door that I also shop.

It really depends on your comfort level. There is no amount of money that will entice me to run all over an ethnic grocery store and record weights in kilos and use Google translate to convert my observations into the called for language. Yet, I will happily stop at 3 national grocery chains on the way home and pick up $4 avocados. (old shop, just an example)

@Monk-N-Nut I agree! There are a few shops that I am just not willing to do due to comfort and I'm okay with that! There are always other shops, why stress yourself for shops that bring you discomfort?

I have done a Mexican grocery store chain for two different companies. I liked both of them. One had a generous reimbursement ($80 I think???) The other had a huge bonus, which was fine with me too. Neither of the chains have locations where I live, so I only do them when I am traveling.

A good portion of the employees at the Mexican grocery stores did not speak English. They had a look of dread and went to find a co-worker when I approached the counter. Surprise. I speak Spanish like a native speaker. Don't let the blue eyes and skin tone fool you.

I do a traditional grocery shop 1-3 times a week with a bonus. I quit doing any non-bonused ones, since I don't want to go more than 3 times a week anyway. These are super easy. I have something like 30 containers of Tide now. I have a preppers stockpile of everything at this point.

The really upscale ones that Johnb974 talks about, I don't do. He's not lying that they are a pain. They are good for free wine and cheese while you shop though. I find that shop odd, since nobody that works there can afford to shop there. You'd have to be making $200K and up to buy everything these and not notice the prices.

The other major grocery store chain had shops where you had to shop every department. Ridiculous. Those took an hour. I have not seen them in months though. Even with a $20 bonus and being on my way every day, I skipped those.

@SoCalMama Wish I had those Mexican shops near me! Lol

@Kristylynnr wrote:

@SoCalMama Wish I had those Mexican shops near me! Lol

They used to have them in the 909 (that's the hot area - Inland Empire. Riverside, Ontario, San Bernadino - the cheap seats)

Ahhh okay. I'm in FL none of that over here lol

Indeed Florida ones are pretty sedate. Over the years the reimbursement has crawled up by $2 while the fee has crawled down by $2. These used to be bonused well with a previous MSC, the scheduling was more open and predictable so you could do a route of them. Mostly they are no longer worth leaving the driveway for.

@Flash Sadly you're right. Some things are just not worth leaving the house for!

If you can take a look at the report before you decide it is great. I did one for Trendsource about 10 years ago...to cut my teeth on. It was horrible. Took me hours and there were only 2 employees in a store that must have been the original store from the mid 1900's. It was a major chain with a minuscule store. I think that was why I was accepted as anyone who had done that location never went back.
Now the only one I do is the local co op which gets bonused every month. I consider the reimbursement part of the pay as I purchase things I wanted anyway. The issue is doing an upscale place where the item I wanted anyway costs twice as much so that makes the reimbursement plus pay scenario less attractive.
Recently I did a small upscale chain because they offered an attractive bonus. I had 11 interactions which would not have been so bad as they were easy except for the fact that when I got there I found only about 4 or 5 distinct departments. They had seafood, meat and deli for instance all behind the same short counter with the same employees. I had to circle back and watch to make sure the previous employee I spoke with was on break or with another customer. Awful. So bottom line, check the report requirements, consider the food you bought part of your pay if it is something you need and is hopefully on sale too and remember many shoppers love these shops. You might be one of them.

@sandyf wrote:

If you can take a look at the report before you decide it is great. I did one for Trendsource about 10 years ago...to cut my teeth on. It was horrible. Took me hours and there were only 2 employees in a store that must have been the original store from the mid 1900's.

Trend Source ones are hard. But even worse if it's a Super Big Box store. Those Super big box stores are gigantic. I decline those and only do the small stores around me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2019 12:05AM by shoptastic.

Shoptastic yes a smaller store might be great if I did not have to ask questions in so many depts of the same two employees over and over. And I could not hide from them anywhere to check my notes. I purchased one of the exotic cheeses and used up my entire reimbursement on that because after asking about so many items, including the exotic cheeses that she spent at least 10 minutes explaining to me,I felt when I went thru the cashier line with one of those two I had to actually buy something I asked about.

@sandyf wrote:

Shoptastic yes a smaller store might be great if I did not have to ask questions in so many depts of the same two employees over and over. And I could not hide from them anywhere to check my notes. I purchased one of the exotic cheeses and used up my entire reimbursement on that because after asking about so many items, including the exotic cheeses that she spent at least 10 minutes explaining to me,I felt when I went thru the cashier line with one of those two I had to actually buy something I asked about.

Interesting. Our "smallest" stores here don't even have many of the sections requiring the question asking. No seafood & meat section, for example. I like these, as they are very easy.

Then you have the mid-sized stores that do have them. These are still do-able for me. Not fun, but I do them still.

Do you use a recorder? I do on these shops and will speak into it to record things so I don't have to write much. I've memorized the guidelines and don't have to check nowadays.

@shoptastic wrote:

@sandyf wrote:

Shoptastic yes a smaller store might be great if I did not have to ask questions in so many depts of the same two employees over and over. And I could not hide from them anywhere to check my notes. I purchased one of the exotic cheeses and used up my entire reimbursement on that because after asking about so many items, including the exotic cheeses that she spent at least 10 minutes explaining to me,I felt when I went thru the cashier line with one of those two I had to actually buy something I asked about.

Interesting. Our "smallest" stores here don't even have many of the sections requiring the question asking. No seafood & meat section, for example. I like these, as they are very easy.

Then you have the mid-sized stores that do have them. These are still do-able for me. Not fun, but I do them still.

Do you use a recorder? I do on these shops and will speak into it to record things so I don't have to write much. I've memorized the guidelines and don't have to check nowadays.

This was the most interesting store I have been in. It was a major, major grocery chain where each current store around here is as large as 4 or 5 groceries back in the day when I grew up. This one was tiny but had most of the departments. For instance for exotic cheese they had an upright floor cooler that was 3 ft by 2 ft with at least 50 different labels of exotic cheeses and their foreign names on stickers all around the rim with no way to tell which label was for which as there were 50 or so different packages of cheese not in any order. You had to peer down into it to read the labels and find the one you wanted. The tomato section was small but with 10 or more fancy types of tomatoes all piled high together and again those general labels with no way to tell which label was for which tomato. This was in an upscale small beach town on the south bay of LA area and I think probably they kept that store so close to the beach for those who wanted to stop in and buy fancy beach picnic food. Real estate is so expensive they probably could not afford to either expand or close the store that gets impulse buys. Or perhaps this store was protected by historic building rules I don't know but it was a throwback with just a few of each of the currently "in" foods. The Veggies stocking cart was blocking the entire small fancy and non fancy veggie section and I had to keep asking the stocker (one of the two employees I saw) to move it this way or that so I could find the items I wanted behind it. To be fair, this job turned out to be an audit unbeknownst to me when I applied as it was my first grocery store shop.

I have basically retired, but never on my favorite groceries, love them, they add a lot to my household expenses, doing three a weekend brings needed stuff into house, and reports have gotten easier, plus they pay twice a month...no complaints here.

I do the one with the item under the cart. I only do it when its bonused. I generally put a 38-pound box of scoop away cat litter under the cart.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2019 11:44PM by nooopy.

Tomorrow I'm doing their high end grocery sitting at the newer improved bar area and getting food to eat for a 20.00 reimbursement and another 10.00 fee due to the fourth....looking forward to their food and the three typical ones I'll do next weekend. I can also pick up my allergy medicine and some great wild fish and other goodies I love...I have expensive taste in food, so this is definitely a plus in my world. The store I;m talking about sends coupons as well and tracks what you buy, so coupons don't go to waste, helps cut the cost. Easy peasy to say the least.

I was tracking my coupons and Ibotta rewards for my last trip. I ended up getting $32 in food for $14. It requires planning ahead though because finding associates and remembering to check the bathroom can interfere with the shopping plan. I have to check my coupons, make a list of what I"m buying and find the rebates on Ibotta so that when I go into the store I just buy the things on the list while completing the shop. But the rewards can be significant. I have a nicely bonused grocery store to do today. I plan to come out with $25 or so in groceries and get rebates and coupons for $9. All completely free. Like Irene I like to buy some good stuff.

I do the MF shops and love them. It's a very simple interaction and the questions change every month. I hit the deli immediately to check the line and circle back if it is long. Generally I can knock these out in 20 minutes, and the report only takes about 5 minutes. I plan them on my way home from other shops. Base pay is low but the reimbursement makes up for it