jchris, good for you. Sounds like you've got that average way up there and this is working for you.
I shop part time and did 949 shops last year but I can't hit your average shop fee, sure wish I could. I'm at 589 through May. For the first few years I shopped less and my average went up some every year but now I'm taking on more work and seeing averages decrease a bit. I could be more selective and get a higher average but then I would sacrifice total dollars. I think I'll continue to concentrate on total dollars coming in rather than being more selective, what's been referred to as working smarter. I certainly agree it's smarter to work less and get more but I get more I can put in the bank if I do more shops.
The reason I'm commenting on your post is twofold, first to congratulate you on your average and second to point out to newer shoppers there is more than one way to do this. If you don't need to shop much, for example you have other income, then it makes sense to concentrate on ONLY the better paying shops. But if you need day to day steady income, you may want to take a look at taking on quite a bit of base rate work and adding in the better paying and bonused shops when they're available.
Experience teaches us that the bonused shops are available toward the end of a month or toward the end of a quarter or toward the end of a project. That gives us some idea of when we should leave some slack in the schedule to have time to pick up the goodies when they float by. I know, for example, that at some times I may as well book myself up with whatever I can find because it's not the time when anything special will be offered. At other times I know it's smart to leave some slack so I can take on other work on short notice.
As we say down here, more than one way to skin a cat.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.