We are not supposed to re-type any of the forms we are supposed to leave behind. That would be a form of Copyright infringement. It does not matter that the ink and paper cost us money, it is what it is.

All other thoughts aside, why are we repeatedly mentioning both the MSC and the clients in the same thread?

Even at Costco, gas was almost $5.00 when I was on vacation in Seattle, recently. California was $5.50-6.00 per gallon for regular!

right...the forum thought police are at it again!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2023 12:51PM by salisburync.

Ask the editor where the prohibition is stated in the guidelines.

I did ask that!...and copied everyone under the sun at IPSOS.....no response so far.. crickets...does that surprise you? Update...they now have responded, and have told me that the photos (only 2 of them) taken from inside my car were too 'grainy'...as if the photo of the site needed to be in PERFECT clarity....they are searching for excuses, and it is embarrassingly pitiful to do that....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2023 11:54PM by salisburync.

Good. Hopefully, someone will re-instate your shop. Unless you photograph shows car parts, that may be why.

Error

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2023 12:42AM by sestrahelena.

@Durgesh wrote:

Can you please tell me where to sign up for Gas station mystery shop like for shell and Exon

I already have way too many competitors in my area. But if you do some research and find what you're looking for, I certainly can't stop you.

Re: certificates. jazzzyjd gave me an idea. How about keeping one one your phone and, if it's ever needed, pull it up and ask if they want to take a picture of it. You could also attach it to a text but, personally, I don't want strangers having even my secondary number.

@purpleicee wrote:

We are not supposed to re-type any of the forms we are supposed to leave behind. That would be a form of Copyright infringement. It does not matter that the ink and paper cost us money, it is what it is.

You do you boo.

I have been told at many stores that shoppers are showing the letter on the phone and not printing it at all. Many times they are not given a leave behind by a shopper they just leave they don't tell them anything or give a leave behind. At least I bother to give them an accurate leave behind and take the time to touch on the highlights and asterisk items they need to work on. Whose copyright am I infringing on? I'm not selling the form to anyone I'm not making a profit on a form. I'm giving them the requested information exactly as it's laid out I just refuse to pay for the ink for the headers and footers. And since I'm the one paying for it it's my prerogative. They aren't paying me enough to absorb the cost of unnecessary headers and footers on a form!
What would be the difference if I printed one copy covered up the header and footer with tape and then made copies of that pages? Again, it's my prerogative, and if you don't like it too bad. It's my paper and my ink, my printer my business.

Covering up the header and footer is not the document. I am not going to go back and forth on this. You do not have to make money on something for it to be Copyright infringement. Whether it is your paper or your ink does not matter, nor does it matter what you have heard about what someone else has done. Why not ask the MSC if what you do is okay?

You have a problem. I am done talking to you. You can not change my mind. I don't work for you.

What is copyright infringement? As a general matter, copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner. A derivative work is a work based on or derived from one or more already existing works. Common derivative works include translations, musical arrangements, motion picture versions of literary material or plays, art reproductions,
abridgments, and condensations of preexisting works. Another common type
of derivative work is a “new edition” of a preexisting work in which the editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as a
whole, an original work.
To be copyrightable, a derivative work must incorporate some or all of a
preexisting “work” and add new original copyrightable authorship to that work.
The derivative work right is often referred to as the adaptation right.

It's not plagiarism because I'm not claiming it as "my" own work. I'm not "adding" to it except to write the hours on the back page and the time in and time out all of which are included in the white and blue shop report.
I do not perpetuate that the white and blue shop expressly made the second two pages. I am simply giving them the information that the wholesale requested that I give them to begin with. It's not unprofessional (a handwritten note) it's all typed and printed professionally.

I have permission to use it to notify the merchant of what they need to repair. I don't know where you got your law degree but I seriously doubt you can prosecute me since I'm using the material for the intended purpose.
Have a nice day, and enjoy your printing excessive forms. I will do me. You do you.

@purpleicee wrote:

We are not supposed to re-type any of the forms we are supposed to leave behind. That would be a form of Copyright infringement. It does not matter that the ink and paper cost us money, it is what it is.

Look. I just copyright infringed your post in my post.

Here is the original post, minus the name of the client...oops...!
(MSC CLIENT) editors told me that one of my shops was rejected because I took the site photo from inside the car (it was over 100 degrees outside). They say that isn't allowed. I just checked the guidelines (twice!). NOWHERE does it state a prohibition against taking photos from inside one's vehicle. I am beginning to believe ALL of the negative stuff about IPSOS...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2023 04:50PM by salisburync.

In this business, each shopper need determine what is important for their success. As for me, it is communication, relationship, desirability and an acceptable work:pay ratio. Ipsos fell so far short in those categories, I terminated our agreement. While their speed of payment is exceptional, that is of zero importance to me. The old adage of meat and poison definitely applies with Ipsos.

If all MSCs conducted their business in the same manner as Karen Register of the defunct Strategic Reflections, my number of completed jobs would far exceed my current tally of 3943 shops.

deleted

I live in NC won’t be your competitor

An interesting thing happened yesterday....I was completing one of these "Red, White, and Blue" shops at a station in a state that, by law, requires that an employee pumps the gas....It is beyond weird to ask someone for $2.00 or 3.00 of gas.....the attendant just looked at me in strangely....

@salisburync wrote:

An interesting thing happened yesterday....I was completing one of these "Red, White, and Blue" shops at a station in a state that, by law, requires that an employee pumps the gas....It is beyond weird to ask someone for $2.00 or 3.00 of gas.....the attendant just looked at me in strangely....

yep... they just made these visits so much more awkward in the full serve states. but if we get more gas we're cutting into the small fee by even more. the only option here is just to request bigger incentives.

Channel surfing I heard a snippet of someone talking about CEOs making 400X what they're willing to pay their workers. Thought they were talking about this MSC. But no, it was about the writer's strike. Same thing

Thank you for realistic overview, my sides are killing me from laughing. I feel sorry you could't find the .59 cent Cowtails. I splurged the .18 cents to get 2.

I have taken the picture showing the vehicle in front of the pump and made note of situation in comments. I have alwayd been paid for them

I am sure they probably have a budget to work within.

Blue and red wholesaler charges the merchant $500 for every mystery shop. They pay the MSC who pays a scheduler, an editor, the platform, and a payroll service. We are offered $18. We are the ones actually doing the work. They sit behind a desk in one spot to do the job. Do you still think it's an even split? So the MSC makes $482/5=$96.40 Do you honestly think the scheduler is making $96 for every shop they schedule? If they are I'll quit shopping right now and become a scheduler. We put gas in our car, change the oil, change flat tires and sweat in the heat, freeze in the cold but they have the nerve to continue to reduce the pay, while someone is pocketing a lot of money. And it's NOT us.
I know I'm not supposed to say this. I'm just supposed to be a quiet army ant and do what I'm told. (by the queen/king ant).

@F and L TeleComm wrote:

Blue and red wholesaler charges the merchant $500 for every mystery shop. They pay the MSC who pays a scheduler, an editor, the platform, and a payroll service. We are offered $18. We are the ones actually doing the work. They sit behind a desk in one spot to do the job. Do you still think it's an even split? So the MSC makes $482/5=$96.40 Do you honestly think the scheduler is making $96 for every shop they schedule? If they are I'll quit shopping right now and become a scheduler. We put gas in our car, change the oil, change flat tires and sweat in the heat, freeze in the cold but they have the nerve to continue to reduce the pay, while someone is pocketing a lot of money. And it's NOT us.
I know I'm not supposed to say this. I'm just supposed to be a quiet army ant and do what I'm told. (by the queen/king ant).

To be fair, IPSOS has other expenses too -- sales effort, legal, accounting, interest, currency exchange, cash management and payment fees, insurance, program management, employee benefits & etc. They likely absorb all bonuses - which can run to $100 or so to the shopper for some shops - but I concur that the shopper gets a small slice. The editors and schedulers likely get paid less per shop.

A few years ago, a rather small MSC accidentally sent me a copy of the invoice they sent the client for my shops. They billed them out at 4x the base shop fee. I don't know where you get the $500 fee, but I wouldn't be surprised that IPSOS charges big clients far more per shop than the small MSC charged the small client for my shops.

First of all, I've seen the merchants invoice. More than one merchant has told me how much it is. Some stores I've shopped so long that I'm on a first-name basis with the owner. I didn't say what the MSC charges I said what the wholesaler charges the merchant.
Let me break it down like this: the average 6-cylinder car gets 20 miles (maybe more if it's newer, I know but let's just say 20 for easy numbers depending on the car or truck used it can get from 15-40). The store is 30 miles away. so 60 miles total driving, that's 3 gallons of gas. 3*3.5=10.50 If your car gets 30 miles to the tank that's still 2 gallons of gas and depending on where you live that gas can be 3.50 like it is in Georgia or a whole lot more. So 7 dollars for gas, plus 5 pieces of paper if you don't have a printer that's worth another 1.25. Now you're at your cost without mileage, or other incidentals and that's 8.25. 15-8.25 That means you're making 6.75 for at a minimum 1 hour of your time. If you run synthetic in your car (as I do) that's another $85 for 5000 miles(another .02 a mile so that's another 1.20 (60 miles*.02) so now your cost to run that 1 $15 dollar shop that took you at a minimum of 1 hour of driving time is 1.2+8.25=9.45. So in essence your doing the shop for $5.55.If they reimburse you for 2.00 worth of gas that $7-2 right? ok so instead of making 5.55 you make 7.55 which is still less than minimum wage....because if it takes 30 minutes to get there plus 30 minutes to get back plus shop time, plus input time...
Do you still think it's not a rip-off?
All the rules we had for the original MSC have gone out the window. Now we have new rules for how much we'll take...then there are situations where you have no money or very little money and we have to do shops for less money or drive further to get the same amount of money that we used to make closer to home. I used to charge 30-35 dollars including shop fee to drive 30 minutes from my house, here lately that rule has been broken I can't count how many times. The rich get richer off the backs of poor people and you wonder why I'm a die-hard dem and will continue to be.
PS: (Convenience stores do the same thing to poor people who don't have a car and get food stamps etc. They charge $2 for a 20-ounce drink but you can buy a two-liter (if you have a car, if you have a way to get there etc) for as little as $1 or $2...I stopped drinking soda but when I did I REFUSED no matter how thirsty I was to pay for 20 ounces. I'd buy a can. It's colder too...
PS: I'm one of those people who can NOT afford a $700 printer. I'm blessed to have a $75 HP Envy cheapie. It is what it is.

My solution to the problem of unacceptable fees, is to employ Keep It Simple Sailor; I pass on the work. I am able to absolutely state that shopping fees have not only not been adjusted for inflation, some are actually lower than 20 years ago. It is, therefore and in my opinion, the responsibility of self-employed contractors to determine the conditions under which they are willing to perform.

hmm I was told by a franchise owner that he was charged $60 for each inspection. He only has the one garage and 3 dispensers, no canopy and no store. So it might vary by locations or by amenities.