I made $125 in Uvalde, Texas yesterday. Six bank/teller shops and one retail shop. The retail normally paid $11, but they gave me a $50 bonus. I live in Lakehills, Texas in Bandera County. The round trip was about a three hour drive, but I hadn't been to Uvalde in over 20 years. I was very impressed with how wealthy with businesses the area had become in the past several years. Uvalde has the best state of the art library I've ever seen in a rural area.

LOL, love all your great ideas but you make Mystery Shopping seem like such WORK! I do it for fun and profit!

I can't speak for others, but for me mystery shopping is a job, a business and a lot of work. Occasionally, I have the opportunity to add some enjoyable times into a road trip, but for the most part it's not fun and games by any stretch. That's why I am constantly aware of how much I make an hour and why I do not take jobs which offer reimbursement only unless it is something I absolutely need. If things ever turn around to a point where I can get back into the work force I will happily leave it behind. I did this on a very part-time basis in 2004 & 2005 until my day job prevented me from doing anything additional, returning in 2008 after being automated out of that job. Even in those early days it was still a job with the only benefit being working on my own schedule.

I live near downtown Montreal but avoid downtown like the plague. I would much rather go into rural areas, make a route and make lots of money from bonuses. Driving is much less frustrating in the 'burbs that in the city. I'm lucky to live in a central location and can find suburbs in all directions.

$100 days are slightly below average for me but I do this full-time - or rather, this is my only job...I definitely don't work 40 hour weeks. My average days are $150-$250 and I usually work 3-4 days per week.

When I calculate my income, I do it per hour and I include driving time and time spent entering reports. I usually average over $25/hour.

Yesterday, I did 1 bank shop, 2 grocery stores, 1 cosmetics. Total for the day: $141, Total hours: left the house at 10:00 am and was done with reports by 2:15pm, total mileage: 23 miles, average $/hour: about $35/hour.

The day before was even better: 4 grocery stores, 3 gas shops, 4 banks, 2 train stations. Total for the day: $324, hours: a full 8 hours, mileage: 34, $/hr: $40/hr

Today, I'm off. When I don't work, I cook for fun - gotta use up all the stuff I got from the grocery shops Today is cauliflower soup, Belgian waffles, severed-fingers cookies (for Halloween lol), marinating chicken, squash risotto and creme brûlée for dessert. Yum!

That's $35.25 per shop the first day and $24.92 the second day. Nice!

I must move to Montreal. (But then again there is a season called winter).

Yeah, little thing called winter is a bit tough but it weeds out the herd. Tougher still: unless you speak fluent French, there's not much work here. Parlez-vous français?

un peut

"Parlez-vous français?"

non

(google est mon meilleur ami)

MtlShopper Wrote:
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> Yeah, little thing called winter is a bit tough
> but it weeds out the herd. Tougher still: unless
> you speak fluent French, there's not much work
> here. Parlez-vous français?


Pas tres bien

Well MTLShopper, it looks like you may have some competition after all!

That's how I am, too. I do a lot of ETR trips when I can get decent bonuses. One bank job had a $135 bonus last month and it was a gorgeous drive. I am able to visit out of state friends by shopping my way to them and back, too - a real plus. Next year, my husband and I hope to go somewhere warm for a week in the winter - Florida, maybe? Texas? - by virtue of shopping.


Piled Hip Deep, PHD Wrote:
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> I did 105 miles on an ETR (Enjoy the ride) tour of
> western Jersey, Clinton, Flemington, Frenchtown. I
> passed Bison farms. I did not know they raise
> Bison in NJ (Bison look like buffalo with a beard)

Hey, TechSavvy, We welcome you warmly to Florida but leave the shopping to us who live here and there's a lot of us. You need your rest, after all.

LOL! I mainly serve a niche market since I prefer video shops. Your Best Buys and Arches are safe. =)

Last May I shopped my way from DC to Orlando and back. It was both profitable and provided a lot of "enjoy the Road," time. My video shops mostly came with travel allowances as well as nice fees, which mad it even more enjoyable. Plus, I was able to use a 3 night timeshare shop as a home base to do a ton of video and on site audio shops. That provided a seaview and surf sounds as I input reports. It doean't get much better than that. Also, I would otherwise have paid $140 for travel to and from airports and $210 for airfare, as I needed to be in Orlando for a conference, so the finances were on my side.

walesmaven Wrote:
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> The ultimate rural route shopper is my friend
> Servanne, who gives a session on highly profitable
> route shopping, mostly in rural areas, at each
> IMSC conference. She was harrassed off of this
> forum by someone who is now banned from the forum
> for such behavior. Therefore, if you want to read
> about how she makes a serious income from rural
> routes, you will have to do a search for her posts
> on the volition forum. I doubt that she leaves
> home for as little as $100 in a day and she often
> has two youngsters in tow!


It seems that I have been reinstated in my posting privileges! I know that a couple of people have been banned around the same time I was, so it's nice to be back!

Most of the time, I don't mind all the other problems, but I am concerned how long my car will last. It's doing well but it's old. I don't want another loan!

Servanne,
Welcome back.