@Luna126 wrote:
Just reach out the scheduler and ask. I always send an email stating the dates I will be in the area and how I would like to add that shop to my route.
Sometimes there is a legitimate reason like another shopper has a date too close you the date you want. Other items the date can be changed if requested.
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
Because I don't do this full time, I do not need to worry as much about this subject. However, there is a popular restaurant that is offered by Mercantile that is put on the board in the middle of the prior month for the next month. As soon as its' posted, they are all taken within 10 minutes. I know this, so I just have to pick a date in the following month I might be able to do it. They are willing to adjust the dates within reason if something comes up.
for the Marketforce shops posted for March (already on the board, I don't even worry or bother. I wait for the bonuses before I even get interested.
I know the end of the month has a hard deadline for the popular national fast food Chinese place. Those bonuses are highest in the last week of each month. I do my best to make sure I'm available for those.
My suggestion would be to grab the better paying shops (or maybe your favorite type of shops even if they are not the best paying) and then work your schedule around the $$$ or what you enjoy the most. Fill in the gaps.
@luckygirl0100 wrote:
This is where long standing relationships with schedulers make all the difference. Start building them.
@walesmaven wrote:
luckygirl is absolutely correct. Doing things as simple as emailing a "thank you" or "good news, problem solved" to a scheduler can be part of the process. Schedulers so often only hear from shoppers when things are going wrong or when confusion reigns. So emailing to say that anything good is happening can be a real attention-getter. Adding a sig line to your emails that reminds schedulers (and editors) where you shop, that you shop routes, that you have video equipment, or any similar positive things about you that may make a scheduler take notice, is an essential part of building your MS image. These things may not make a difference with MSCs that are gargantuan, unless the schedulers have particular territory or clients, but getting into the habit will not hurt.
Medium-sized MSCs like A Closer Look and Servimer tend to have schedulers that are particularly likely to respond. Also, Curinos, once you have some solid banking MS experience. And, all 3 of those are good about moving shop dates around once you have shown your reliability. Finally, once you have established a good record of, say, overnight hotel shops, or banking, apartment shops (for instance), make it a point to find all of the MSCs that you can that offer those sorts of shops. Then respond to emails from those new-to-you MSCs with emails explaining how much experience you have with shop type "X" and asking to be considered, even though you are new to that MSC.
@sestrahelena wrote:
I plan ahead. It's just my personality. So when those last minute, well bonused shops come up, I almost always have something else planned.
@olympia tennenbaum wrote:
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
I have not dipped my toe into Mercantile shops. The only one I was close to doing seemed like a bar integrity shop masquerading as a fine dining shop. Are many of them like that?
@Morledzep wrote:
I schedule shops long range, sometimes a month out. And then the day or two before I go on my route to do the shops that I have scheduled, I looked at the available immediate shops, like food and cell phone shops, in the same area where my shops are. If there aren't any shops available I just do what I already have scheduled.
@walesmaven wrote:
olympia,
How many MS companies are you currently sighed up with? If less than 75, you really need to sign with more. One easy way is this: on any day when you want to shop but have no assignments, sign up with 5 more MSCs. Easy peasy. 75-100 MSCs is what busy MSers need to stay busy. Enjoy!