What area are you shopping?

It's not common for densely populated areas to reach high bonuses. It's possible, but less likely.

The areas that don't have as many people or shoppers will get the higher fees.

i won't do one for less than $30 now. I would consider online order scenario for $25.

@BabyBooey19 wrote:

I've only recently started.....but does 5G really go to $30? Maybe it differs by town? By me, the highest I"ve seen is $18 and I did 2. They just bumped the fee to $15 on a few - - but with gas, etc - not worth it for me at $15. $30 - I'd take them for sure.

@luckygirl0100 great job.

December was not as busy for me as I thought it would be. The last 10 days of the month were slow except for one day. I only have a Sonic shop scheduled for this month since nothing else is of interest. I finally signed up with a few more companies. I did check Job Slinger just to get an idea and I don't see a lot around here.

I stopped doing USPS Regular box shops a few months ago. Part of it had to do with the longer lines with the holidays and bad luck that could sharply impact a route along with the silly 30 minute buffer rule.

I'm with teacherguy. The money is in the miles. I'm retired and I do grocers only. Safeway used to be the gold standard before they sold out to Albertsons in 2013....$11 an hour plus .55 a mile. no MSC's!

When I lived in Sacramento I'd do 6-8 shops a week on long routes...I5 to Redding, Clear Lake and several in between, South Lake Tahoe CA & NV. sides.Best part time job I ever had. I Moved to Murrieta in 2012 and ran routes to Palm Springs/Palm Desert/La Quinta, Big Bear, and San Diego just racking up miles. Also did a few Stater Bros. After the sale to Albertsons it was back to the grind.

Finally, I found a couple of large chains that do their own MS (No MSC's to deal with) in KY, TN, AL, & FL $12 hour + mileage, so I moved to Southern KY in 2017 and run I65 from Bowling Green to Nashville & the surrounding areas. In the winter I run south to the Panhandle and stay with relatives for 4 to 6 weeks and self assign their shops along the way and in The Pensacola to Destin areas.

To teacherguy's point: You gotta get miles! If you're doing local MSC shops it's $20 to get in my car + a decent bonus or I'm not a player. Most MSC's are willing to pay if they need the shop. Wishing everybody a happy and prosperous New Year!

My scale back started with '20 shut down. Just started back Jan '22 only doing Kroger's, and a regional chain, bonused sonics and bonused bank inquiries.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2023 09:58AM by ShoppingDad.

I got a full time job in March of 22 and now only do Kroger, USPS and the occasional fast food.

I scaled back a lot in 2022. I mainly did 3 MSCs. I will add one more this year.

if everyone scaled back, it would be better for all. getting a job will also pay ten times over most of the time. shop smarter, not harder. the vision of driving hundreds of miles per day doing dozens and dozens of shops is nothing to emulate.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2023 04:22PM by LindaM.

@LindaM wrote:

if everyone scaled back, it would be better for all. getting a job will also pay ten times over most of the time. shop smarter, not harder. the vision of driving hundreds of miles per day doing dozens and dozens of shops is nothing to emulate.

It is if they are paying well!

@Niner wrote:

I have scaled back, but not by choice. Most of the restaurant and car shops I used to complete are now gone. I have not seen a supermarket shop in the past two years either.

Same here in South Texas. My favorite MSCs don't have shops near me any longer. I think the creek has run dry.

With inflation and gas prices, I'm trying to do nothing but NOOPEES (No Out Of Pocket ExpensES) like apartment shops and the like. Can't do anything about the gas prices but I can decide to stop fronting the money for shops that pay in 6 weeks. I think the MSC that pays weekly and I are going to get to know each other very well. I find the USPS shops to be manageable since the overhead is pretty low and I just send a bag of beans and rice to my girlfriend or a food bank. It's like $1.50 and someone will use it.

I wish the billboard audits were still around.

@condorchristi I've been lucky with the USPS shops, but I stopped doing them a few months ago due to the anticipated longer lines with the uptick in foot traffic with the holidays. On one shop back in Aug/Sept. I just missed having to stand in a long line by a few minutes which would've put a serious dent in my route. I prefer the USPS Kiosk shop over the regular box shop. As I mentioned earlier, the required 30 minute buffer time in between USPS shops is another negative. I can't think of another shop that has that requisite.

There have been too many stories posted here recently where people have been getting burned on traditionally reliable reimbursement shops. Unfortunately those are the only ones that I've seen lately that have been paying somewhat decent rates.

@heywave wrote:

@condorchristi I've been lucky with the USPS shops, but I stopped doing them a few months ago due to the anticipated longer lines with the uptick in foot traffic with the holidays. On one shop back in Aug/Sept. I just missed having to stand in a long line by a few minutes which would've put a serious dent in my route. I prefer the USPS Kiosk shop over the regular box shop. As I mentioned earlier, the required 30 minute buffer time in between USPS shops is another negative. I can't think of another shop that has that requisite.

There have been too many stories posted here recently where people have been getting burned on traditionally reliable reimbursement shops. Unfortunately those are the only ones that I've seen lately that have been paying somewhat decent rates.

Theres a lot of hoops to jump through for sure. The picture of the box, the picture of the flag, the other pictures you might have to take. The inconsistency of the government workers of course.

If everything goes right, tomorrow, I'm heading deep into the valley and will do 2 or 3 of them while doing other shops as that buffer.

If another company that typically paid in 6 weeks was offering them, I wouldn't do Them; you're laying out $10 a shipment (at least for me)--doing 10 of them is $100 you're floating (plus the costs of the box and contents). So that would not work in that environment. Getting full response every week makes it easier to keep the ball rolling. I'd still rather do the NOOPEES though.

I have been picky about what's out there. I will try a new client once and see if its worth it. I do the usps shops as I send things to my cousin and other relatives that I would normally send too.
once you know the routine its super easy.
I like doing lunch shops. I have one company that usually calls me for comparison shops, so I get to eat at brio, Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs as they are all located in the same mall.
I have one company that I am fighting to get paid for from last July, so will not be shopping for them again.
I do stores like Panda Express and Wawa because of the grandkids. figure someone can pay for their lunch and not me.

The USPS shop is fine. In my area lines are infrequent. But $12 is just too low.

I think my "cutting back" approach will be more one of "wait for my pitch." I'm not outright saying no, just letting them bonus first.

I've taken a few hiatuses from shopping over the years. We moved to a new area late 2021, so I got back into it again and I haven't run all the numbers, but I'm pretty happy with what I brought in. I moved from a city to a pretty rural area and definitely learned some lessons in regards to planning routes - like just because two towns are next to each other, doesn't mean that the shops are really close together!

I'm feeling the opposite. I'd like things to pick up in 2023. I've been trying to evaluate my performance from last year and see where I can improve. I think I need to try harder to be more efficient with my time. My best days had several jobs and efficient routes. Sometimes the MS stars just don't align and you can't always guarantee the most effecient days. I also need to push myself to take some better paying jobs that are outside of my comfort zone.

Whatever we're all wishing for in 2023, I wish everyone good health and success in the new year.

I’m cutting back on sit down chain restaurants shops with reimbursements only. There food is not good enough to warrant forgoing actual pay.

I have been keeping an eye out on when MSC companies are mentioned with late payments. I have one pending payment from an MSC that is already 2 days late. So I’ve been keeping comments and notes on my excel spreadsheet about this. I have a few shops scheduled with the MSC however it’s no more out of pocket then I would as a regular customer.

@Luna126 wrote:

I’m cutting back on sit down chain restaurants shops with reimbursements only. There food is not good enough to warrant forgoing actual pay.

I have been keeping an eye out on when MSC companies are mentioned with late payments. I have one pending payment from an MSC that is already 2 days late. So I’ve been keeping comments and notes on my excel spreadsheet about this. I have a few shops scheduled with the MSC however it’s no more out of pocket then I would as a regular customer.

I'm with you. I'm trying to evaluate which of the jobs are worth the squeeze. Some of the jobs with no or little pay and sometimes barely reimbursed or even not fullly reimbursed food will really make frustrated when the food isn't worth it. I had a sit down chain like you described and I probably hadn't been there in a couple of decades. The only thing that was decent was the free bread. I felt even more annoyed about the experience when the MSC wanted to contact me and tell me to explain all the "yes" checkmark items even though the evaluation didn't call for it.

I'm also trying keep better notes on the business side. I did a great job at the beginnng but over the holidays I got a little lax. I had a very late payer last year and I really don't want to deal with that again!

I don't do many restaurants anymore. Nothing is worse than a reimbursement only shop that has really slow service.
I recently did a restaurant that should have taken 5 mins (online order and pick up) and waited in the store nearly 30 mins because they appeared to have forgotten to chk the online orders, even though I went and checked with the associate when I entered and again after about 10 minutes, and saw other orders getting handed to customers who ordered after I did.

@Luna126 wrote:

I’m cutting back on sit down chain restaurants shops with reimbursements only. There food is not good enough to warrant forgoing actual pay.

I have been keeping an eye out on when MSC companies are mentioned with late payments. I have one pending payment from an MSC that is already 2 days late. So I’ve been keeping comments and notes on my excel spreadsheet about this. I have a few shops scheduled with the MSC however it’s no more out of pocket then I would as a regular customer.

@olympia tennenbaum wrote:

@Luna126 wrote:

I’m cutting back on sit down chain restaurants shops with reimbursements only. There food is not good enough to warrant forgoing actual pay.

I have been keeping an eye out on when MSC companies are mentioned with late payments. I have one pending payment from an MSC that is already 2 days late. So I’ve been keeping comments and notes on my excel spreadsheet about this. I have a few shops scheduled with the MSC however it’s no more out of pocket then I would as a regular customer.

I'm with you. I'm trying to evaluate which of the jobs are worth the squeeze. Some of the jobs with no or little pay and sometimes barely reimbursed or even not fullly reimbursed food will really make frustrated when the food isn't worth it. I had a sit down chain like you described and I probably hadn't been there in a couple of decades. The only thing that was decent was the free bread. I felt even more annoyed about the experience when the MSC wanted to contact me and tell me to explain all the "yes" checkmark items even though the evaluation didn't call for it.

I'm also trying keep better notes on the business side. I did a great job at the beginnng but over the holidays I got a little lax. I had a very late payer last year and I really don't want to deal with that again!

I make it a habit to notate in my excel sheets what level of effort the shop is: easy, medium, or hard. I also notate if reimbursement covers meals after tip. I’ve already crossed off a few restaurants since doing this. The funny thing is even on my off days I wouldn’t pay money to eat at said places. Usually the food is just too bland for me.

@Luna126 wrote:

@olympia tennenbaum wrote:

@Luna126 wrote:

I’m cutting back on sit down chain restaurants shops with reimbursements only. There food is not good enough to warrant forgoing actual pay.

I have been keeping an eye out on when MSC companies are mentioned with late payments. I have one pending payment from an MSC that is already 2 days late. So I’ve been keeping comments and notes on my excel spreadsheet about this. I have a few shops scheduled with the MSC however it’s no more out of pocket then I would as a regular customer.

I'm with you. I'm trying to evaluate which of the jobs are worth the squeeze. Some of the jobs with no or little pay and sometimes barely reimbursed or even not fullly reimbursed food will really make frustrated when the food isn't worth it. I had a sit down chain like you described and I probably hadn't been there in a couple of decades. The only thing that was decent was the free bread. I felt even more annoyed about the experience when the MSC wanted to contact me and tell me to explain all the "yes" checkmark items even though the evaluation didn't call for it.

I'm also trying keep better notes on the business side. I did a great job at the beginnng but over the holidays I got a little lax. I had a very late payer last year and I really don't want to deal with that again!

I make it a habit to notate in my excel sheets what level of effort the shop is: easy, medium, or hard. I also notate if reimbursement covers meals after tip. I’ve already crossed off a few restaurants since doing this. The funny thing is even on my off days I wouldn’t pay money to eat at said places. Usually the food is just too bland for me.

I like that idea. At the end of the year I came up with some stats on the kinds of jobs I did. It made me think I should add some keywords in one column to make sorting them eaiser.

I've got a terrible habbit of being lured in by "free" things that predates any mystery shopping. But MS really triggers that desire for "free" stuff. I have to constantly remind myself that the "free" meals aren't really free and like you, I likely wouldn't pay for some of them. So, I really have to ask myself if I should be doing some of these shops. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed trying out some new restaurants and occassionally getting a drink before dinner or having a three course meal, etc. So, I think maybe I need to just try to increase the good and decrease the mediocre and hope to god also increase the take home!

Same here. I’m basically only doing Kroger. I’m not doing any shops for MF after their stunt of delaying last month’s payment. The shops I used to love (Disney Store, Aveda, LEGO store) are no more.

I used to love restaurant shops, and the higher end the better. These days though, the reimbursement for fine dining assignments do not even dependably cover the required items, and you may or may not even be able to order what you would like to eat. So, you are frequently looking at an extra $50 or 100 or more that will not be reimbursed to eat food that you may or may not have even chosen. Then the reports take hours to complete, and there may or may not even be a $5 or 10 token payment, which doesn't come close to making up the difference on what is and is not reimbursed anyway. I am just flat not interested.

All this talk about free meals and things lures people in, but it is not free if you have to work for it, and some of this stuff is not even a good deal if you are working for it. I look at the cost, how much it is honestly going to be out of my own pocket and the time involved in doing the shop. Although I sure do love a good restaurant shop, I am very particular about what I take, and I don't do nearly as many as I used to. I study the menu, its prices, the reimbursements and the requirements carefully before I apply. One popped up today that I couldn't find a menu, much less prices for anywhere, and you were supposed to be prepared to pay cash, with a $125 reimbursement for what is billed as fine dining, and you were also supposed to order alcohol and have some drinks at the bar as well. What could go wrong there?

@Phoebe70 wrote:

The shops I used to love (Disney Store, Aveda, LEGO store) are no more.

Boy do I miss the Aveda shop. I recently spent $65 on Aveda conditioner that I fell in love with that they have discontinued. I had to hunt for it and found it on walmart.com. Yikes..$65 for 6.7oz of conditioner..I must be losing my mind.

@GinnyLynn wrote:

I used to love restaurant shops, and the higher end the better. These days though, the reimbursement for fine dining assignments do not even dependably cover the required items, and you may or may not even be able to order what you would like to eat. So, you are frequently looking at an extra $50 or 100 or more that will not be reimbursed to eat food that you may or may not have even chosen. Then the reports take hours to complete, and there may or may not even be a $5 or 10 token payment, which doesn't come close to making up the difference on what is and is not reimbursed anyway. I am just flat not interested.

All this talk about free meals and things lures people in, but it is not free if you have to work for it, and some of this stuff is not even a good deal if you are working for it. I look at the cost, how much it is honestly going to be out of my own pocket and the time involved in doing the shop. Although I sure do love a good restaurant shop, I am very particular about what I take, and I don't do nearly as many as I used to. I study the menu, its prices, the reimbursements and the requirements carefully before I apply. One popped up today that I couldn't find a menu, much less prices for anywhere, and you were supposed to be prepared to pay cash, with a $125 reimbursement for what is billed as fine dining, and you were also supposed to order alcohol and have some drinks at the bar as well. What could go wrong there?

I have shop coming up that completely fits your description below - lol! Depending on how it goes, I'll come back and let you know tha answer to "what could go wrong?" ha ha ha.

I also signed up for one recently after looking at the menu and getting excited about some of the items. I get the job and it specific (after being assigned!) to only order mid range entrees. So, that leaves options like burgers and quiche. It kind of makes me want to back out or write and tell them I intend on ordering X and paying the difference and ask if that'll be a problem. When the meal is your compensation, I feel like you ought to be able to choose what you want. /rant

I have not done this as long as some of you have, but this business does seem to be dying off here. Does anyone else agree?

What makes you think that?

@condorchristi wrote:

With inflation and gas prices, I'm trying to do nothing but NOOPEES (No Out Of Pocket ExpensES) like apartment shops and the like. Can't do anything about the gas prices but I can decide to stop fronting the money for shops that pay in 6 weeks. I think the MSC that pays weekly and I are going to get to know each other very well. I find the USPS shops to be manageable since the overhead is pretty low and I just send a bag of beans and rice to my girlfriend or a food bank. It's like $1.50 and someone will use it.

I wish the billboard audits were still around.

If you have Lidl near you, do the Plu checks and mail the canned items you get reimbursed for to food banks.

I'm tapering off but other reasons. I've visited every reasonable location of self-storage, mattress and cell phone shops more than once over the years. Even assuming a fair amount of turnover, I'm finding it harder to walk in again and say with conviction I'm looking for their product or service. I thought it had been a couple of years since I visited one self-storage and the employee asked me, are you going to rent this time?

I've been doing this since early 2000's. I found an old day planner I used to use when I worked in downtown chicago. There were some clients that I don't see any more but there are plenty of new ones to take their place. It does seem that there are fewer MSC's though - some of the smaller ones have dissolved or been acquired by larger companies.

@morocco77 wrote:

I have not done this as long as some of you have, but this business does seem to be dying off here. Does anyone else agree?