I'm kind of a new MS. I started in October of last year but I've only been doing this as a side job, tho I'm trying to make it a real business.

Anyway, I felt really frustrated as I went over the guidelines for a gas station shop for Maritz. There were over 20 pages, and the pay is only $12, and that includes reimbursements.

Venting session over. I feel so much better now.

Maritz has different programs in different areas and I'm not familiar with the one that pays $12 including reimbursement. I do one for them that pays $11 including reimbursement so it may be similar. I do other stations for them that run $17 to $18 including reimbursement. Those are base rates and once you get started you'll see that some bonuses and bundles will also be available to you.

Maritz guidelines are long because they are thorough and I agree they can be intimidating. However, once you master a set of guidelines and get some experience with multiple shops, you'll find they go really well. The trick is to set up a cheat sheet that captures absolutely every bit of information you need for the report and to develop a procedure for shopping each particular brand. Then duplicate that procedure on every shop of that brand and eventually you will see flawless execution in minimum time.

There will be a frustrating learning curve on the shops but to me the payoff has been well worth it. Many forum members have stated they won't do these shops because of the modest pay and long guidelines, so I understand perfectly why you have the initial impression you expressed here. If you have plenty of other work that pays better that would be the way to go. If you don't have all the work you want that pays better, you might consider taking another look at this.

Save the guidelines to your computer or tablet or print them out once and keep them in a folder/binder. Not counting bonuses or evening incentives, all the gas stations that I perform for this MSC pay $12.00 PLUS up to $6.00 for a pay at the pump gas purchase and a small store purchase.

@MDavisnowelll @sybil2 thanks for the great tips. I went thru with the 2 assignments and I must agree that the second time around was so much easier.

I just started with several companies, and I signed up for and declined a shop in the same day. The shop was a two-day auto dealer shop, and the amount of time required to complete the shop and submit a survey was not worth the $75.

Before you gasp at the thought of passing up $75, realize that MS is a way to put a few extra dollars in the bank for my kid's car fund, not earn livable income. I have a good paying job, but I don't want to burn ALL my free time on a MS task.

I'm finding the amount of work they require for some of these shops is not worth the compensation, although the benefit of picking and choosing your tasks certainly outweighs a traditional PT job.

One other tip about the gas stations...Each brand will have different guidelines. So the first time you do a brand, try to pick a "known clean" location (so there won't be as many things wrong with it typically) that is close to you. This way if you accidentally forget something the first time, it is easy to go back if you have to.

Yes, cleanliness is something to consider if you can know it in advance. One shop I did one of the questions was , "Would you go back - rate on 1-5 scale?" The answer was no, absolutely not, or 5. A lack of cleanliness was just one the factors, but remembering the nastiness of that particular bathroom still gets a strong emotional reaction, some 5 or so years later.

Consider the location in the 'good' or 'bad' part of town, or reviews on Yelp for that information.

PS: I still haven't been back to that gas station for anything, food, gas, or toilet, despite the fact it is close and quite convenient. It still has the same national brand too. Go figure.

For a while I was getting phone calls from Maritz asking me to do some bank shops. I was already doing similar shops for the same bank with another MSC. Maritz offered significantly less pay for the same work and I told them that. They had no response as to why I should take their offer. I no longer include them as active MSC's on my list.

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