Okay, that is really the truth of the manner. I don't like the emails that pretend to be personal when they aren't.

I've set up most of my profiles to drive less than 15 miles. That means 30 miles round trip. I frequently get email that asks to drive much further than that -- I delete most of them and get on with my life, but its irritating.

I'm even more irritated now, and have even emailed a few schedulers back -- anytime we have a hurricane on the coast, a portion of our refineries get shut down. First our gas prices go up, and in a few days we will start to see gas shortages -- already many stations in the state haven't received regular deliveries.

Don't they know this?

And yes, I've even seen shops asking people to shop the affected areas, like the store is even going to be open.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2017 04:19PM by dulcew.

I don't see any reason to get irritated. If you have set up your business with a 15 mile radius, that's fine. Suggest you simply ignore and continue to delete offers of traveling further. But I see no need to get irritated at schedulers who are trying to do their job. Perhaps they don't check your profile each time shops become available. They do deal with hundreds of shoppers.

It's the "personal" message, addressed to me only that offends, not the mass mailings.

"Don't they know this?"
No. They do not know this. Know why? Because it doesn't affect them directly and it's a detail in the sea of information and stories coming out about what's going on down there.

Don't get so offended by people who don't have the same experiences you do.

Our clients aren't perfect, neither are we. It has been discussed often enough, schedulers are not necessarily familiar with each state. Texas is a large state with plenty of areas which will remain unaffected. As a full time shopper, I don't stop when the price of gas rises so that is actually irrelevant. Follow Jake's advice, read or delete. If it truly is a personal note to you, explain what is going on.

Hoju is right on target. They don't know. There are parts of Texas that are having severe problems. A couple of hundred miles north and west there are no problems. I suspect non-Texas residents are not well versed in Texas geography. They don't know where the refineries are. They don't know whether gas prices are higher or not. They don't know what areas are getting regular deliveries and what areas are not. Their location is likely not flooded or getting heavy rain. Why would they know specifics about Texas?

If you don't want to do the shops, say no. Why be offended?

How would it be to be able to have a 15 mile radius and expect any work? My default is 75 miles and a lot of times I still get a big goose egg.
I always wonder why anyone takes $6 shops but it makes sense if you aren't spending 1/2 on the gas to get there!

I do an average of $500 a month.

@margovt wrote:

How would it be to be able to have a 15 mile radius and expect any work? My default is 75 miles and a lot of times I still get a big goose egg.
I always wonder why anyone takes $6 shops but it makes sense if you aren't spending 1/2 on the gas to get there!

For me, I only have a 15 mile radius and that's plenty. I'm in the DFW area though and not out in the boonies.

I've had automated emails for shops that I wouldn't or couldn't take that have my name on them, like "Hi Mary".
I got a phone call offer today to drive 250 miles for a $60 bonus shop, NOT!

Has anyone noticed that when you're on certain MSCs websites and you click on the shop to see if you can scan the details and then almost immediately you get an email offering the shop? That's automated also.

The schedulers are there to do their job. They want to get all of the shops completed by the end of the month. I get emails all the time for out of state locations I've also been asked to consider shops that are way out of my area that were located either south of CA or two hours drive one way. So why get offended? I've been asked if I was okay since I live in CA since there were several wildfire areas that happened last summer.

The second half of this--none of us in Texas are at our best right now, so the shopped are not going to do well. The clients should know this.

For the next few weeks we should be focused on recovery.

Dulcew, no shopper is required to take any shop. I would never argue with recovery and safety being the priority right now. However, for all any of us know, there are shoppers who will want and need to take some shops. If a scheduler or MSC tries to coerce or threaten shoppers, then it becomes a problem.

@dulcew wrote:

The second half of this--none of us in Texas are at our best right now, so the shopped are not going to do well. The clients should know this.

For the next few weeks we should be focused on recovery.

dulcew, I hear what you are saying, but there are areas of Texas that are unaffected. For some of us in Texas, it is business as usual. Except for heavy rain over the weekend, the Austin area experienced no difficulties. I would actually be offended if schedulers at MSCs made the decision not to offer me shops simply because I am in Texas. I choose for myself what shops I will take and what areas of Texas I will shop. I'm finding schedulers to be very concerned and supportive of the problems in Texas. Several MSCs have sent e-mails to all shoppers to let them know they understand there are problems and they sympathize, warning us to consider personal safety before performing shops and let them know the situation. I got a very nice one last night from Mercantile.

Are you offended because you are being pressured to accept shops? Just say no.

I am in Texas. I have had nothing but concern and understanding from the mscs I work with, both now and during previous weather events. I will continue working when it is safe. That is part of returning to normal. I'm sure some of the places I plan to visit will have issues from the hurricane. I will note this in my reports.

I too have a 15 mile radius set but unless it is a well paying or big reimbursement job I would never go 15 miles to do a job. I used to always explain when I got those emails to me alone from schedulers. I was told it was not necessary to email them back. The other day I got a personal phone call about a shop I did 2 miles from my house and was asked if I could do the same shop about 40 miles from my house. I am positive the scheduler thought it was just around the corner. Little does she know from across the country that it would be at least an hour each way plus a few gallons of gas. So carving out a 3 hour run and another hour for the report with the inside the store portion including finding parking etc and paying $8 for gas is just not worth the $8 pay. Basically I would be working for free once I paid for gas. I did not return that call. No bonus was offered and if I returned the call it would have been no more than $5. That comes to $1.25 per hour pay. And we do not have weather issues or anything. This is everyday life in my big city. I get offers all the time that are hundreds of miles away..evidently the schedulers think they are close by..that is what the subject line often says. Just ignore them. They know not what your issues are and just hope you will for some reason be able to do the shop. And if the stars are aligned and you have traveled to that location to see a friend etc. you might accept one of those offers someday and make the schedulers day.

I am in one of the areas of Texas that has only had minor impact from the severe weather. I have picked up several end of the month shops in my area to try to help the schedulers meet their deadlines. However, I have had several schedulers in the past specifically request shops over 100 miles away, which I politely declined. The most amusing ones are when I pick up shops out of state while on vacation and the scheduler reaches out during the next rotation to offer me the shop. Asking for a free plane ticket usually stops those calls.

One scheduler explained that some shop notices are a gambit, sent on the off chance that some shopper who will be traveling can pick up one or more shops that are outside of usual shopping zones.

They did not mention how well this method works.

If I may add, I am a scheduler and schedule for MI, OH, LA, KY, IN and TX. At first, I thought there would be no way any of my Texas shops would be filled but surprisingly, I've filled more Texas shops than any other state.
When my mass emails go out, the system auto defaults to send to everyone within 75 miles. I've worked for another MSC that system auto defaulted to 25 miles.

I am also a shopper, that lives in GA but get emails all the time for states on the west coast. I don't get offended, i just delete.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2017 09:16AM by Tbinns.

Are we telling people what should offend them? We are not a monolithic group, if it doesn't apply, let it fly. But you can't tell someone else how to feel.

No. We definitely are not telling people what should offend them. We ARE telling people to quit whining about it.

@eyelove2shop wrote:

Are we telling people what should offend them? We are not a monolithic group, if it doesn't apply, let it fly. But you can't tell someone else how to feel.

Interesting perspective. I hope dulcew didn't believe I meant in my post that I was telling her how to feel. If she did, I apologize. Sometimes you just have to let folks feel how they feel.

I was actually telling dulcew how I felt. I was a little offended by the part of the post that said "The second half of this--none of us in Texas are at our best right now, so the shopped are not going to do well. " Texas is 268,597 square miles, the size of several small states. What is true for someone in one part of Texas is not true for all of us in Texas.

I agree that nobody should tell anyone how to feel. I also feel that anyone who posts should speak only for him/herself.

Got the email I have been looking for - our client wants you to hold off Texas shops for two weeks and I have extended your due day.

Good job.

I see nothing wrong with dulcew choosing a 15 mile radius for her business. If she lives in a highly populated area it is quite possible to earn a modest income and if more income is desired the radius can be expanded. Totally her choice. However, getting irritated at schedulers trying to do their job serves no purpose and could actually be detrimental to running a business. (dulcew - if you are a him instead of a her, my apologies)

In the aftermath of Sandy, several of my companies cancelled or postponed shops. Clients were well aware of what was going on and knew exactly which shops to cancel. Schedulers, probably not. I would not hold it against them.

I live in NorthWest Indiana, so no matter how many miles I set my distance to, I still get shops in and around Chicago.

Most company's schedulers have never driven the Kennedy, Edens, the Stevenson, the TriState nor the Dan Ryan (if you don't know what these highways are, you're not from Chicago). They use Google Maps to determine how much distance each shop is worth, almost never factoring for rush hour traffic or accidents, which are a daily occurrence here. It's our jobs as independent contractors (and ultimately, as humans) to know our own worth and what each shop is worth.

The first advice I always give when people ask about becoming a mystery shopper is: 1. Setup an email address specifically for mystery shopping. I currently have 9777 unread emails. Why? Because I browse the daily emails multiple times a day and skip over the schedulers and companies that don't value my time. Why not unsubscribe from their email list? Because companies eventually get new clients and/or bounce around new shops, or, as one company has recently done, the company learned that, if they want their $7.50 shops to be completed before deadline, they might want to add a "Submit Offer" button.

I make over $600/month on shops and have decent relationships with many schedulers.

I live in the Dallas-FtWorth area. My radius is 15 miles, unless there are weekly repeating shops that pay quickly. I have more work than I can do.

Sorry you are offended, but the schedulers dont know our situations. Most jobs are sent out in mass emails. They cannot separate us. If it is better, maybe during this trying time, suspend the accounts that offend you and when things get better, activate the account. Best of luck to you.

I am in Central Texas and am asked to quickly run over to Lubbock or Amarillo all the time!
BTW I drove 18 miles thru the middle to town today and not one station had gas. Won't be using any gas that I do not have too until this situation clears up. Meaning to grocery store and home!

@aynur wrote:

@margovt wrote:

For me, I only have a 15 mile radius and that's plenty. I'm in the DFW area though and not out in the boonies.

I give you a lot of credit driving and communizing down in that area.... I was down there a couple weeks ago on 199..... just about threw up 3 times and got off the highway a few times..... ya should get a bonus just to drive down there!