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Ipsos/Presto on drugs again!

December 31, 2025 04:30PM
They just dropped a slew of Famous Highway regular and darkness shops in my area. Info prior to claiming for both programs indicates they do not start until Monday, January 5th. This is one instance where I won't @#$%& about Daylight Savings as I can get started on the darkness jobs way earlier.

The regular jobs have 120-hour pin windows and deploy just fine when claimed, with the delayed start date clearly indicated.

The darkness jobs have 72-hour pin windows that start as soon as they are claimed, which will make them cancel before the program even starts.

I grabbed all that made route sense within about a 75-mile radius. A bunch of them are a prominent convenience store brand that now have their own gas branding, resulting in a bunch of $5 closed reports, but I'll still make good bank provided they address the flaw.

And then we get to sit back and see how many don't get taken on my route down to SoCal and back beginning on the 18th.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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More About Presto Mobile
December 31, 2025 05:10PM
I saw that too, lol. I grabbed a few, fully expecting they will likely drop off after 72 hours. If I recall correctly, this happened before with another project, and they ended up fixing it eventually after people complained.
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December 31, 2025 05:16PM
I hadn't even noticed what it said after I accepted it. Thanks, cool. I would have been running out there on the 5th thinking I had stuff to do and will have none of those on my log.
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December 31, 2025 05:18PM
Funny how an MSC can screw up regularly and often without so much as an acknowledgement. The gall.
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December 31, 2025 05:30PM
In reading the guidelines, I note this sentence:
"Check for the presence of current credit card brochures. Visible? Take a photo of the credit
card brochure displayed. Don’t see them? Take a photo of the counter area."

But, but, I cannot find mention of this photo need in the required photo section.

So, is it really needed/required?

I suppose this is why the clever shopper does at least their first report while on site.
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December 31, 2025 07:10PM
@French Farmer wrote:

In reading the guidelines, I note this sentence:
"Check for the presence of current credit card brochures. Visible? Take a photo of the credit
card brochure displayed. Don’t see them? Take a photo of the counter area."

But, but, I cannot find mention of this photo need in the required photo section.

So, is it really needed/required?

I suppose this is why the clever shopper does at least their first report while on site.
Doing the report immediately in your vehicle is my go-to even if I have done the same shop scenario many times. I remember once I had to run back in and pretend I thought I left something behind because I'd forgotten to get a name. It prevents all sorts of troubles.
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December 31, 2025 10:09PM
MSC admitted the flaw, but it could not be fixed in-house. I had to manually delete and re-claim 37 shops, wasting about 45 minutes.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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December 31, 2025 10:11PM
@Deedeezthoughts wrote:


Doing the report immediately in your vehicle is my go-to even if I have done the same shop scenario many times.

That is certainly my preferred MO, as long as time is not a factor.

I have a photo checklist for the client that I verify before departing to make sure I have all required photos. I average about 18 minutes per stop when using my checklist and submitting reports later in the day. They take me about 25-30 minutes completing the report while onsite.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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December 31, 2025 10:46PM
@mystery2me wrote:

I saw that too, lol. I grabbed a few, fully expecting they will likely drop off after 72 hours.

See my recent post: you have to manually delete them and re-assign. The 24-hour freeze does not kick in, so you can claim them right away.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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January 01, 2026 12:29AM
@CoolMusic wrote:

MSC admitted the flaw, but it could not be fixed in-house. I had to manually delete and re-claim 37 shops, wasting about 45 minutes.

I'm sure the MSC offered fair compensation for the time it took you to correct their mistake. HAHAHA!

But at least they offered a heartfelt apology, right? HAHA!

No? Just shifted blame onto a glitch or something? Frikkin classic.
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January 13, 2026 04:41AM
I observed on Presto on Saturday there were "dozens" of $5 gas station shops...tons of locations in every town. I waited thinking they would be there until afternoon (maybe 3 hours later). When I went back to app, they were 100% gone. I thought there were too many for people to claim. But, after reading these posts, is it possible that someone claimed them all??? Or, did the app possibly pull the jobs for some reason? There may have been like 200 of these jobs...then 0 in just a couple hours. Any explanation on what happened?
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January 13, 2026 05:27AM
The MSC may only need so many done, and once the quota is reached, the rest go away. This is the most likely explanation. It also sometimes happens that the MSC pays Presto $X, and once shoppers claim $X worth of shops, the rest disappear until the MSC provides more funding.
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January 13, 2026 01:08PM
@mystery2me wrote:

The MSC may only need so many done, and once the quota is reached, the rest go away.

No quotas for the big gas station brands. Every location gets shopped.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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January 13, 2026 01:36PM
Thanks that makes sense. I believe those jobs just disappeared by design. That makes sense on your explanation. Btw....is MSC mystery shopping company? I would interpret that as the ultimate customer for our reports and sonforth.
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January 13, 2026 06:49PM
For the famous highway brand, there is a quota for each cycle. Only a certain percentage has to be done each cycle. If a location did not get done the previous cycle, then it does have to get done the next cycle, however. That's why some will be lightly bonused and allowed to go undone while others get insanely large bonuses at the end of a cycle.


@CoolMusic wrote:

@mystery2me wrote:

The MSC may only need so many done, and once the quota is reached, the rest go away.

No quotas for the big gas station brands. Every location gets shopped.
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January 14, 2026 12:53AM
I'm sure they paid you for the 45 mins.....
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