Where are the Ipsos bonuses?

The stations with the shops where the customer is supposed to be first.

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Thunder - I hear you! Do they want these done by Memoria Day or what??? I made an offer for a route of 15 of these shops in a very remote area of my state.....told the scheduler at IPSOS that this was urgent, and what I heard back was .....'Crickets'.....

I wonder if I can whine somewhere at Ipsos regarding the communication breakdown....
:-(

I'm guessing they hate these gas contracts so much that they no longer care if they get done on time or whether or not the clients care.

@salisburync wrote:

Thunder - I hear you! Do they want these done by Memoria Day or what??? I made an offer for a route of 15 of these shops in a very remote area of my state.....told the scheduler at IPSOS that this was urgent, and what I heard back was .....'Crickets'.....

I wonder if I can whine somewhere at Ipsos regarding the communication breakdown....
:-(

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2022 04:27PM by thunderdeacon.

?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2022 03:59PM by Lstockwell.

Well said!!! OPEC and state taxes have a hand in gas prices.

If you are referring to the scheduler that I think you’re referring to, you will hear back but most likely it will be after the shops are filled (or, in the rare case that they aren’t, with a counter proposal that will probably insult you).
“Thank you for your offer but these shops have been filled. I will update you if anything changes.”
I got these types of responses even when “Make me an offer - these shops have to go!” was in the title of desperation emails - and my offers were not outrageous. Sometimes a response came several days after I sent an offer but very soon after the shop disappeared from the board. I stopped emailing offers - it was a waste of time because other schedulers are responsive and timely. This scheduler has a few days after the end of the month to get all shops completed and will always find the lowest bidder.

@salisburync wrote:

Thunder - I hear you! Do they want these done by Memoria Day or what??? I made an offer for a route of 15 of these shops in a very remote area of my state.....told the scheduler at IPSOS that this was urgent, and what I heard back was .....'Crickets'.....

I wonder if I can whine somewhere at Ipsos regarding the communication breakdown....
:-(

Same here. Emailed 5 times about a green station route and crickets absolutely no one is doing them. So odd. I found other shops to do. I’ll do them when the shops pay minimum 50, but not until then

If green is what I think it is, there’s no scheduler yet and since they just started the Q, they may be accepting route requests to hold the shops for you, but only at base pay. It’s like ishopfirst except on a different platform. For better or worse that’s how they’re doing all or almost all projects now— no routes with bonuses at beginning of month or quarter. And they seem to be experimenting with how long they can go without adding or accepting bonuses, trying to keep our pay as low as possible for as long as possible.

@Mrcleandpsyahoo.com wrote:

Same here. Emailed 5 times about a green station route and crickets absolutely no one is doing them. So odd. I found other shops to do. I’ll do them when the shops pay minimum 50, but not until then

I noticed that the fuel reimbursement for these shops went from an even $5 last quarter to the price of exactly 1 gallon of gas during Q2. It is [for me] impossible to stop the dispenser and my timing device on exactly 1 gallon, so I lose a few pennies on each shop. I also noticed that the bonus for Q2's shops was $1.50 less than the bonus for Q1's shops at the same time period of the quarter. I traveled a couple of counties out last quarter for some of these shops. This quarter, I have only performed shops close to home.
The bonuses for the yellow stations have been taken in the same direction. I only performed 2 shops for this brand last quarter, but I do remember that the bonuses at this time during Q1 were at least double the amount of the fee. This quarter, they are $1 less than double. I do not see myself signing up for any of these this time around unless shoppers balk and the rates increase again.
The company is banking on shopper desperation during a horrible bout of inflation. Shoppers are being held to the same standard as they have been (or higher) and are having to spend more money traveling while the company rakes in millions of $$ on that $1.50 difference per shop.

@pieslapper wrote:

The stations with the shops where the customer is supposed to be first.

I loved Maritz and Stericycle especially their bonused gas stations.

I did take a few yellow stations $1 short of double base pay. There was a convenient route, and a shop that paid well in the area. So i signed up for the gas stations, then went back for the other shop that I wanted to start with, and it was gone. So now I'm stuck doing a bunch of gas stations for less than I want. Thank goodness its not a big route, it's just not close to home.

Who is taking these way out of the way locations for a bonus of 22.50? It was just a short time ago that some of the far out area in my state had bonuses north of $60…. You can’t be making money on these!!!

@turfman wrote:

Who is taking these way out of the way locations for a bonus of 22.50? It was just a short time ago that some of the far out area in my state had bonuses north of $60…. You can’t be making money on these!!!

Im not, I only took them to pay for gas for a shop that I wanted to do that someone else grabbed while i was making my route. So now I'm stuck with them. And they aren’t really out in the boonies so much as they are in the rural area between two largish cities. Where I would have been traveling anyway.

MLZ- Agree, sometimes the route allows one to pick up a couple of convenient gas shops..... and I like your handle!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2022 01:58PM by salisburync.

Does anyone have a clue as to when the yellow gas station shops will see an increase in bonus from IPSOS?

The yellows are quarterly, but they are M1,M2,M3 for which month of the quarter they want them done (or they have to be done? I was never clear).
So the bonuses will be higher for the M1’s that weren’t done in May. BUT I did M1’s at this time in February (should have been completed in January) for a bonus of $24.50. Now the bonus is still sitting at $11.50, so less than half. (I had done them for even more in 2021). This is going to be their M.O. this year I guess.
The $1.50 bonus for the other brand is such an insult I get mad every time I see them on the board.

@salisburync wrote:

Does anyone have a clue as to when the yellow gas station shops will see an increase in bonus from IPSOS?

Even for the M1 locations, they will wait until the very end of the quarter to significantly bonus. They will even let many locations spill into the dead period. They want them done in that month, but they are not going to pay a significant bonus to do so. They will wait until the end of the quarter and/or let them go into the dead period.

That seems to be the case this quarter, but it wasn’t any quarter in the past 2+ years. Last q was the first one they even let M1’s go into the 2nd month. Last q like I said the bonuses were $24.50 at this time in the quarter, and in 2021 they were even higher. So this is new this quarter of this year. (Same for the ones with the $1.50 bonus. It was bad last month (hence this thread), and even worse this month.) But most of the M1’s have been done in my state at the lower bonus, unfortunately.

@thunderdeacon wrote:

Even for the M1 locations, they will wait until the very end of the quarter to significantly bonus. They will even let many locations spill into the dead period. They want them done in that month, but they are not going to pay a significant bonus to do so. They will wait until the end of the quarter and/or let them go into the dead period.

It is my opinion that their algorithm for applying bonus amounts is based upon the amount of other gas station shops offered and not taken.
In other words, if there are paltry few shops left to do on their "Job Board", the bonus amounts of the remaining shops are much less than when there are so many still due.

$1.50 bonus with a due date of 6/22 NOW !!!!
Where is the middle finger emoji !!!

That is definitely true and has always been the case. However, they’re also based on certain dates. And the bonuses have gone down and the dates at which they offer those bonuses have been extended, even with roughly the same number of shops left. Monthly projects that paid $100 and up on the last few days of the month (no matter how many were left) are now paying $40-$50 on the 7th of the following month. so half the pay a week later. I thought the change was big last month, but it looks to be even worse this month.

@French Farmer wrote:

It is my opinion that their algorithm for applying bonus amounts is based upon the amount of other gas station shops offered and not taken.
In other words, if there are paltry few shops left to do on their "Job Board", the bonus amounts of the remaining shops are much less than when there are so many still due.

I did 2 M1 locations in western KS during the last quarter of 2021 on 12/23 (well into the dead period). Those locations sat on the board for almost 4 months before I was able to negotiate fees to entice me to make the drive.

It must vary by region. I have seen a lot of M1 shops go into the following months, every since they started separating them like that. The usual pattern was that the bonus would drop off at the end of the month, and then oddly it would go up slowly again, but not as high as the M2s. For whatever reason, the bonuses would stay lower than the other monthlies, causing it to go to the end of the quarter or beyond before they finally considered bonus offers. It seemed like once they missed the first deadline, they weren't too worried abut it.

The home improvement shops that I only start to consider with a $12 bonus now have an insulting $2 bonus— when previously the first bonus was $5. I guess this is what we can expect from Ipsos for all projects from now on. This shops take so much time because you have to give associates 3 opportunities to offer help while you wait at each stage, then go seek help and interact with an associate. And then repeat the process in another department. And buy something and return it. It takes me at least an hour and a half usually because I’m almost never actually offered help even when I stand right next to an associate looking confused.

Be strong and don't accept the shop until the pay is commensurate!

I set my profile for this company to "Email shop offers = Off" after this spiraling trend began. It is absolutely amazing how much one company can clutter up an inbox with repetitive offers that have one or two different words in the email subject line. Their success in filling jobs at lower fees every month is equally amazing. I do not plan on shopping for IPSOS until they start offering decent fees. Perhaps I'm done - but I will not work for less than minimum wage.

@patman9760 wrote:

I set my profile for this company to "Email shop offers = Off" after this spiraling trend began. It is absolutely amazing how much one company can clutter up an inbox with repetitive offers that have one or two different words in the email subject line. Their success in filling jobs at lower fees every month is equally amazing. I do not plan on shopping for IPSOS until they start offering decent fees. Perhaps I'm done - but I will not work for less than minimum wage.

That's a good idea! "EMAIL shop offers = OFF" I had considered blocking the Queen of Retail Oil due to the amount of SPAMY emails received. I'm just going to turn email OFF. I noticed the $2.00 bonus for home improvement was added before a scheduler was assigned. But it's currently still the same bonus with a scheduler. Huh?

Someone is always taking these shops !! 1.5 hours for $23 !! Plus, there is travel time and fuel costs !! I have not done any shops like this, since Maritz. Food, clothing and other work is NEVER worth what they pay ! Shoppers just keep doing them !! There is no way it is a profitable business model, for shoppers to do this !! 6 shops for $50 (fast food, grocery shops, etc.) I do some gas stations monthly on auto assign, they are local and been doing them for 15 years. But, I will do anything for 10+ days (3rd week of the month) until they actually pay something worth MY TIME to travel for more. But, some knuckleheads just can't wait and take stops with that whopping $1.50 per stop pathetic bonus. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, Stop this stupid crap !! You are worth more !!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2022 08:42PM by claabe.

Preach it!

At this point it will probably only be worth mentioning if the fees *don’t* go down from one month to the next. Still at $5 bonus (down from the usual $5.50 bonus, just to put us in our place) on the 20th of the month for the monthly (mystery then reveal) blues. They seem to care about finishing in the actual month of the project only slightly more than they care about shoppers.
Though lots are off the board, too in my area (but not everywhere I’ve traveled to in the past). I wonder how many were to route shoppers, how many to people taking them for base-base+5, and how many have dropped off the program.

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