So I signed up with this company a few months ago and suddenly they assigned me shops paying $11. Luckily they were out of my local area so I asked for bonuses and received them. I was scheduled six for this week and have conducted four so far. Two of these shops have been pretty easy and two have been nightmares. I was in one shop today about two hours and the other about 2.5 hours. I cannot take shops that pay $17 or $18 and take this long. I have basically had to scan products, reprint labels, and restock.

I'm begging for anyone with experience with this company to please tell me if I'm doing something wrong or how to make these shops easier/quicker. I actually have many years of experience in merchandising and am afraid that I will not be able to shave much time off of these shops. Help?

Does anyone read this part of the forum???????

Nope. Nobody

We do seem have fewer merchandisers than mystery shoppers, but enough requested a separate area to be one.

RUN!

Oftentimes, the work exceeds the time you are given...

And you will NOT be paid unless you finish.

I rarely do much for them and I mean its *RARE* after my few unpleasant experiences...

If you are doing WM stores just report what is there. I do not restock for them. I'm in and out of stores in less than an hour with no issues with Castforce. I know the specifications say yo fill up displays from the backroom but I will not for $11.

@iwahstore wrote:

If you are doing WM stores just report what is there. I do not restock for them. I'm in and out of stores in less than an hour with no issues with Castforce. I know the specifications say yo fill up displays from the backroom but I will not for $11.

"If" I agree to do the assignment, I am going in knowing it pays $11. But at the same time, I am going to go in there and follow their guidelines and that includes checking the back room for back-stock. Checking for back-stock (for me) is 100% compliance in all stores, no matter what it pays.

Just a question. How do you know what area to go to? How do you 'un-bin' and bring it to the floor. I did a job yesterday and the department manager was very busy and did not have time to work with me to bring stock to the floor. I did not have the hand held device to un-bin and I am sure they would not have loaned it to me.

This is why i don't work for Castforce any more. All the work (most of it, anyway) was at the Walmart and it was hard to impossible to get assistance from the employees and then I'd spend 20 minutes hunting down a manager to sign my sheet verifying I was there.

Only two or three huge merchandising companies have access to the back room and are able to locate and un-bin items to bring out to the sales floor. Acosta and Advantage are the main companies I know of that are able to do that. We do not have the software installed to be able to. If you cannot find someone in a few short minutes to help stock their shelves by binning things out then move on, it is not worth waiting time or wasting time. I know Castforce on some projects state that back stock must be brought out but you are in the store...they are not. Hope this helps.

I did a few jobs for castforce and ...

They paid as promised.

The work took over double the time alotted by Castforce in 3 of the 4 jobs I did. I'm guessing this would be worse in Walmarts.

I had to go back to one project for a photo. This was my fault.

I would still work for them but would require more than double the offered amount for most stores but Walmart is another story.

Working for an employer in the last week 50% of my Walmart projects could not be completed due to Walmart issues like not being able to find the display I was there to setup. That would have meant $0 if I was a contractor on these jobs.

I'm not sure I could ever make money as a contractor in Walmart stores. It really looks to me like this is Walmarts way of paying less than minimum wage to get a project done.

@swwi wrote:

It really looks to me like this is Walmarts way of paying less than minimum wage to get a project done.

It is not Walmart who is requiring merchandiser to come into the store to complete a project. It is the manufacturer of the product you are working with. A merchandiser makes sure the product is out and is being projected in the way it is intended.

I cannot speak to the wages Castforce pays for a job as I do not work for them. I don't normally do fixed price projects that I can't call and ask for more time if the situation warrants it.

I agree with you but the end result is the Walmart vendor reduces prices for Walmart by getting work completed usually below minimum wage.
It's rare for me to do these kinds of projects. The only thing that's known on these projects is the pay. You end up committing to an unlimited amount of time for a limited amount of money.
Just say'n...

Not sure what you are trying to say here Swwi. Walmart vendors discount on volume, not labor. I think you are confusing merchandising with poorly written specs. When I go to a store I am normally paid more than the employees. I believe your issue is with Cast Force.

I rarely merchandise in Walmart with the companies I work with. When I do, most my merchandise has been sold by the time I get there. On the rare instance when the product has not made it to the floor, I put that in my report and leave. I won't return until I have confirmed the product is out.

I have had to do work for them in the past. After I took seven assignments at a local pharmacy I decided not to take on any more work.

I'm heading into one now.

I'm a merchandiser and often need help from Walmart Department Managers.

I call and ask for the name of the DM who I need assistance from (7 days out).
Then I call the DM and tell them how nice it is to hear from them again.
Then I tell them I'll be there next week and I'm going to have the backroom "pick" for me.

I call them everyday with a question I forgot to ask.

I have bluetooth in the car cause I have to wait forever.

But those 7-2 minute conversations usually means I have my product waiting for me when I get there;
They just want to get me done with my project and get rid of me!

I have worked for this company for 8 years. In my experience, each job has a specific purpose. It is the main things that needs to be done in the store. Sometimes the instructions will ask for a lot of other things that are not so important. My solution, if the task seems way more time consuming than $11, it is too call my area manager and discuss it with that person. Find out what the main objective is for that project. if they ask you to do something that takes longer then the projected time, sometimes they will pay you for that. This company is fair and they always pay. if I have an 11 dollar project, it usually takes about 30 minutes after I do the first one. The higher paying projects, $18 or $25 per project usually take longer. I have made a lot of money with this company and they have a lot of work so it is good to get familiar with their projects because typically they do the same projects over and over and the project get easier and easier.

I love the company. I have had several schedulers and each one has been helpful and have many times given me more my shops when the distance was too far for the scheduled pay. Have I ever had a shop returned to me. YES, but each time it was my mistake and was given time to correct.

@iwahstore wrote:

Only two or three huge merchandising companies have access to the back room and are able to locate and un-bin items to bring out to the sales floor. Acosta and Advantage are the main companies I know of that are able to do that. We do not have the software installed to be able to. If you cannot find someone in a few short minutes to help stock their shelves by binning things out then move on, it is not worth waiting time or wasting time. I know Castforce on some projects state that back stock must be brought out but you are in the store...they are not. Hope this helps.

That is why I canceled my WM visits. The manager at the one in my neighborhood told me to basically run around the place and find what I needed and she had no clue of what I was to do--not that I should for my first visit, either, which she seemed to assume I would. I wasn't going to do that x8, so I literally just walked out.

I sure as heck wasn't wasting my time for $11 a pop. I saw Acosta on the vendor log in, so I'll let them deal with that if they do so...

@AlfredB1979 wrote:

That is why I canceled my WM visits. The manager at the one in my neighborhood told me to basically run around the place and find what I needed and she had no clue of what I was to do--not that I should for my first visit, either, which she seemed to assume I would. I wasn't going to do that x8, so I literally just walked out.

I sure as heck wasn't wasting my time for $11 a pop. I saw Acosta on the vendor log in, so I'll let them deal with that if they do so...

I have been merchandising for about 10 years and can't remember one time, unless it was a prearranged reset, that anyone at Walmart had any idea why I was there
As merchandisers we are there to do a job for a the company that manufactures the products and to not interfere with the store employees doing their job. Ask questions, sure but be respectful of the work they have to get done too.
Acosta, Advantage, Anderson and Crossmark (Walmart dedicated) employees have access to a Walmart app that allows them to access information about the status of a product and/or unbin it. Their companies can and do access logs of what they are scanning so please do not ask them to unbin something for you.

Generally, at the Walmarts I merchandise, they refuse all backroom access. If they have the staff they will order a pick of what I need and Castforce accepts that just fine. I hear from other forums that Walmart in general is going to be refusing backroom access to vendors more often now.

I guess I am lucky because at one store that I visit weekly for Navajo Manufacturing sunglasses I am allowed backroom access. The product is scan based which means it is not binned in. I go and pull the product from its usuual place in the backroom, fill the displays and get signed out. Mind you, this is just one store, but it makes it easy to do and the associates in that department know what I am there to do.

For those that work or worked for Castforce, were you an employee or an IC? Also, did you hear from your District Manager much?

I currently work for CastForce, and yes, Travis2020, I hear from my DM a lot. :-) She is always calling ~ with bonuses ~ for me to do far away stores. I am an Independent Contractor, even though I had all the paperwork to complete, such as W4 and eye9 (I9), as if I was an employee.

I have been with CastForce a few years and I am an IC. I NEVER, EVER hear from my DM. Of course, in the past two months I have had four DMs, so that might have something to do with it.

I did two jobs for them and these will be the last. The first job was non existent. The location had been torn down. The second was at a Walmart. They wouldn't even help locate the product I needed to complete the assignment. Nasty staff and nasty management too. Spent a half hour in the parking lot trying to contact the help line. No thanks!

I have been with Castforce for about a year. The pay is regular around the 17th of each month. The pay is put on a debit card. I go to US Bank and pick up my pay using my card and DR. Sometimes I consider the pay good and other times not so good. However, one picks what they want. No one forces anything. I would like more work. I recommend Castforce

How much of a bonus do you get for stores,out of your area? Is it so much a mile? If so, how much do they give you? Thanks, i work for them too and would like to know what i should ask for.

I have been doing assignments for Castforce for about a 18 months, and have done almost 700 assignments. Needless to say, this is my favorite company to do work for! Communication with your Contact Administrator is key to satisfaction both ways with this company.

Maybe I have been lucky to have had awesome Contact Administrators (There have been several). With each one, I made it a point to "introduce" myself, let them know my preferences on assignments and locations, what assignments or locations I might do for additional payment, and what my strengths and weaknesses are in regard to merchandising.

Some assignments take longer to complete than projected. If it's just a few minutes, I let it go, figuring it balances out for the other times when I get a put-up-a-sticker-and-take-a-picture assignments that take five minutes, or when multiple projects run simultaneously and I get paid twice for the same work. On something like a reset that takes 5 hours instead of three, I let the scheduler know, and have always been paid an additional amount to compensate for the extra time.

The best way to get faster is with repetition. After two or three resets, I get a "feel" for where everything goes, and can knock them out faster. After that, routine maintenance is a breeze. I can usually walk in and straighten up a display without having to refer to a printed planogram. Developing a good relationship with store management also helps when you service the same stores regularly. Most of the stores I visit now leave all routine maintenance for me, which means the backstock is always just how I left it previously.

That being said, I have noticed it has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to get through to Support via telephone when out in the field. When this happens, I use my best judgement, and send off an email to both the Contacts Administrator and Support explaining the issue, what I did, and why. I have never had payment rejected, even at the big W when I performed no work due to uncooperative store personnel, or failed to get a signature from management after waiting a reasonable amount of time. Again, good communication with the CA is key.