Mystery shopping and couponing

Me and my wife are couponers, we take great pride in driving round our local stores and getting as much merchandise as we can for free to little expense. My question is can I do this and MS? When a company asks for a receipt would a receipt full of coupons be ok or would I need to do separate transaction for the shop they were paying for? If not would it be frowned upon if I did two shops back to back? One for them and one for me?
I'm new to this and trying to work out if it's worth my time.

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Some clients and companies allow using coupons, some do not. I do a lot of grocery stores. One shop I have 2 required purchases out of a short list of items and am allowed to purchase NOTHING ELSE during the visit. Another type of grocery shop will reimburse me up to a limit and has no specific requirements of what I purchase except that I must have a bulky item to put in the bottom of the cart to make certain that the cashier and/or checker are watching the bottoms of the carts for merchandise that customers 'forget' to pay for. Another type of grocery has a limit and usually 2 specified purchases but the rest of the reimbursement I can use however I want.

You need to read the instructions for the shop and see what is forbidden. My main grocery shops do not prohibit coupons, so I slowly introduced coupons, and when there were no complaints stepped it up. Between the BOGOs and the coupons and the reimbursements I have paid very little out of my own pocket for groceries over the past few years.

At the same time, I used coupons at one shop because they were not expressly forbidden, and quickly got back a note saying that coupons were not allowed and acceptance of the shop by the client was in jeopardy. The job was accepted, but no more coupons there!

I have shopped many grocery stores, none of which prohibits use of coupons. Other shops, restaurants and services, for instance, do. Read the guidelines.

Shopping grocery stores, with a bunch of coupons, is something I regularly do. You need to meet the purchase requirements. And, don't leave reimbursement lying on the table. If you have a cartful of groceries and a wallet full of coupons, that negate your balance due at the register, make sure you buy enough shrimp to meet the $$ reimbursement.

Thanks guys. You gave the answers I expected. One other question how much could a dedicated newcomer expect to earn in their first few months? Also I've heard mention of dvr use now my iPhone has a voice recorder and stop watch function. Now I have read elsewhere on this forum have said that cellphone stop-watches are not allowed by some companies but has anyone used this combination when allowed? How did it work for you? I was thinking I could start the recorder as I walked into the store and then use the stop watch as needed. I figure this would be a lot less obvious as today people are always using their cell phones all the time.

As for how much you can earn, that is impossible to say. You may be in an area where there are few shops available and a whole lot of shoppers grabbing them as fast as they post. You may be in an area where there are a bunch of shops and no other shoppers, so the work languishes on the job boards. You may find a company that has a whole lot of clients in your area and you luck out and check their job board just as the work is posting, or you could be checking their job board a few days after they posted and it looks like they have nobody in your area.

This really is a business where you learn by doing. I know that a company I love to work with generally posts work on the first Saturday of the month. I am soooo there! Another company posts every other Monday, while another tries to post on the 25th of the month and still another begins posting usually around the 20th and the jobs I am interested in usually post the 3rd day (i.e. the 22nd). Some companies will tell you when their next job release will happen, some don't, so you just have to be observant.

Regarding timings, I use all of the above. Depending on the location and requirements, I use my cellphone with its timing functions, a digital watch with stopwatch/laptimer, a stopwatch in my pocket, a DVR, or combination thereof. The DVR is most discrete. However, more time and effort is required on the backside, but there are voice recordings if needed. My watch is the most used and depended upon. For my business, the DVR is the least-used device. I didn't purchase it until I had shopped over a year, and found it (as a result of shops) at a good price. If I were not a card-carrying shopper, its cost could not be justified. In actuality, I use it, but could do just fine without it. Cell phones are versatile, as having one glued to your hand or ear is commonplace. Be careful of shop requirements though, some of which prohibit the use of a cellphone.

My $10 digital watch from WalMart with stopwatch function is definitely my most used device. I don't need to look at it to start and stop the timings and I can check them discretely at my leisure. My DVR is my most valuable companion as I can talk information to it instead of taking written notes and if you leave significant pauses to finish transcribing notes on replay, I find it pretty efficient. I keep it in my pocket with an external microphone under my shirt and can start or pause it as needed to take my notes or capture conversation.

I am looking to do some shops that require three timings. I am not clear on how exactly to handle that. Any suggestions? I have been using my phone stop watch. Am planning on getting a digital watch. I am wondering: If I use the phone with split timings, can I simply note the start time, then, from there, start recording the various times. Then, when I have three timings, go back to the start time and record each time using the split times. Is that clear as mud? I am totally confused, and so have not signed up for any of the jobs.

Indeed, it is not really clear. Can you record the entire transaction with your phone and go back later with a stopwatch to determine when various time points occurred? That is how I use my DVR to do such timings. I make some kind of noise at the beginning of timing and at each of the intervening time points. Of course if one of the time points is when you are greeted, the store associate is making that noise for you.:-)

That might be a good idea for me. For me, if I have to many things to manipulate, I start to feel nervous, then I feel obvious.

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