@DRJ wrote:
I've only run into it with MAO's with Market Force. I've been literally on the road and approaching the casual hamburger place with no response to a MAO that I have placed the day before. I have no problem cancelling it at that point. Chump don't want the help: chump don't get the help.
That's also one of the reasons I tend to avoid Samantha offers. "She" takes forever to accept an offer sometimes.
@Nikki21 wrote:
With some MSCs you can add a note. I always add that I need to know by X time. Once that time passes, or my schedule has been filled, I cancel the application.
@foodluvr wrote:
Samantha is the automated offering system that sends emails out from Market force. The emails come with her name on it but she's a robot/computer. So it takes a while when you reply to her on what dates you can do if you actually get the work.
@DRJ wrote:
Samantha is essentially Market force generated spam in.my view. YMMV.
@GinnyLynn wrote:
There is one scheduler that I've done a pretty good amount of work for who doesn't seem to even look at the date you say you can do a job, and this is after you are required to say what day you can do it before you can even apply. I look carefully at my schedule before I request an assignment on a particular date. Then they take forever to schedule, and it is hit or miss whether you are even assigned the date that you signed up for.
It's okay on a slow day, but it is not okay when the schedule is full. I've had them get quite snippy and put me on some kind of bad shopper list, like totally out of good graces, when I said that a schedule change wasn't even physically possible. There is no doubt that such as that is a problem. But the good thing is that there are so many MSCs out there. It is easy to get in a rut dealing with the bad habits/utter disregard of any particular scheduler. It takes some doing, but one can pull away from such and there are also a lot of good folks in this business. Back to the other, I try to go back and check/pull the applications on any that lag if my schedule fills up before an assignment is filled.
@GinnyLynn wrote:
Most are fine, and such is seldom a problem. However, sometimes it is, @olympia tennenbaum, and I try to go back on one scheduler and MSC in particular on any outstanding apps. If I don't, I'll end up with a surprise assignment three weeks after the date requested and long since forgot. I am not sure things are as abundant as I seem on paper. Sometimes I get aggravated and in a rut as well, but I try to remind myself that the list of MSCs is really quite long. Any time you pull away from one, you do have to make up the slack somewhere else. That is surely a reality, and it does take some doing, but I find it to be worth it.
@BirdyC wrote:
If you have applications outstanding, but have filled the route or have already gone to the area and can't go back, cancel the apps as soon as that situation arises. MSCs are not going to cancel them for you if the date passes for which you requested them!
It's very frustrating to put in an application well ahead of time, then see the date approaching or even a little past, and have gotten no response. I cancelled an application after holding it open longer than I usually do, only to see the same job come up the next week. At that point, I couldn't get to the out-of-town location, so I didn't re-apply.
athPower used to be notorious for this! At least for shops in my area.
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
I'm newer to doing this and had no idea that an application didn't expire when the date you applied for passed. What is the point in inputting a date if they don't respect it?
@BirdyC wrote:
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
I'm newer to doing this and had no idea that an application didn't expire when the date you applied for passed. What is the point in inputting a date if they don't respect it?
I doubt it's a matter of not respecting it. My guess is that most MSCs don't have an automated way to delete all open apps once the shopper-requested dates pass. If you have, say, 50 apps for one shop, and there are seven open dates, all of which have applications in for them, you, as a scheduler, probably would have to manually go into the job, look at each date, then delete each application if that date has passed. Multiply that by the dozens of shops each scheduler has on her/his plate at the same time.
I'm not entirely sure that's how the process works, but even if there is some degree of automation involved, it's still a lot of work for a scheduler.
That's good to know. I'm newer and I assumed that the date I put is what it would be or nothing.@BirdyC wrote:
I don't know that what I imagine happens is actually what happens. But bottom line is that the application stays active until the shopper cancels it. At least for the companies I do the most work for.
@myst4au wrote:
I keep track of every shop I apply for in the same spreadsheet that I record assigned shops. I got burned early on by a few MSCs that did not notify me of shops that were assigned to me, or assigned me a shop for a later date. So, I track them. When it gets close to the date I requested, I look at the MSC website to see what is going on. If it has disappeared (like on Sassie), I just delete the entry in Excel. If it has been assigned, I change the cell color of the date I plan to do it from yellow to light green. If it is the day before or the day of my planned shopping visit, I delete the application from the MSC website and I delete the row in Excel.
Sometimes I apply for multiple shops from the same MSC for the same date. In that case, I only enter a single "placeholder" row for that MSC on that date so that I know to look at the MSC website to see what is going on. If I find assigned shops, I enter each one in the spreadsheet. If all of them have disappeared, I have one row to delete in Excel. If the MSC has not done anything about my application and the date is close, I delete all of them on the MSC website and the single reminder row in Excel.
@purpleicee wrote:
When you put a date that you could do the shop and the date passed by and you are still assigned...this happens because the system they use only cancels the application when the actual shop date expiration arrives. Yes, it is not a good system. They can code the parameters to also drop the applicant's date that has passed by. I think they do not have that built in because they are hoping all who applied would consider still doing the shop, while they drag their feet deciding on who to choose or when they get around to looking at the applicants they received. Like everyone has stated, this is not how we plan our routes, waiting for the last minute to pop up and go do it. We try our best to plan the most cost efficient and logical way as possible and in advance.
I had a few shop applications recently, that sat there, too. I really wanted to do them and the pay was good. But I am sick of waiting and the inconvenience as well. So, this morning I logged on and withdrew those applications. After all the years I have been doing this business, I still have to remind myself that I work for me.