I'm looking to try the stuffed animal replenishment shops. Are they easy? Time consuming?

Can you tell me a little more about stuffed animal. replenishment? Of course without naming the MSC- you can name the client. Is this taking in a slightly worn out bear to have it fluffed, re-stuffed and cleaned? I might be interested in this for my Snuffle Bear by Gund, which has seen better days.

I thought I saw this a while back. You replenish (not refurbish) stuffed animals on display and remove anything that doesn't belong in the display.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2024 08:42PM by wrosie.

@FrugalCat wrote:

Can you tell me a little more about stuffed animal. replenishment? Of course without naming the MSC- you can name the client. Is this taking in a slightly worn out bear to have it fluffed, re-stuffed and cleaned? I might be interested in this for my Snuffle Bear by Gund, which has seen better days.

The client name has NOT been mentioned. The MSC is Customer Impact. There was a thread about these visits a little while ago. It was deemed a PITA and not recommended at base rate.

I've done a handful, they take 20-30 minutes. Not super hard, you are rearranging stuffed animals on a display shelf. Some places have a separate display dedicated to the stuffed animals, some just have them in shelves you might normally find chips or other snacks on.

I've done a few of these with bonus. It depends on how messy the display is. You have to remove anything that doesn't belong on the display, rearrange and organized the items on the display, and count each type of item. If there is additional inventory in the back, you add that to the display as well. Takes 30 minutes or so. I would definitely not do it at base.

I actually have a regular route of these every month. The first visit is tedious, because the diplay is sometimes a mess. But after the first visit, when i go back the next month, its not bad at all because I know I did it right to begin with. Now that i am the regular person every month, the employees see me walking in and they say "Hey Beanie Baby Lady!" and i just make myself at home, making the following visits even faster because i know where everything is and don't have to ask for permission to go in the back of the stores for the backstock. I don't do them for the initial offered amount. The MSC knows that I'll do them in the timeframe and as requested so they automatically have them set at a better price. I think I'm up to 40 on my route now. Takes me about 2 days in the bigger city close to me and then the couple in the smaller city close to me almost a day. I wouldn't suggest picking up a route of 40 to begin with though! LOL!!!

@Shopper1013 wrote:

I actually have a regular route of these every month. The first visit is tedious, because the diplay is sometimes a mess. But after the first visit, when i go back the next month, its not bad at all because I know I did it right to begin with. Now that i am the regular person every month, the employees see me walking in and they say "Hey Beanie Baby Lady!" and i just make myself at home, making the following visits even faster because i know where everything is and don't have to ask for permission to go in the back of the stores for the backstock. I don't do them for the initial offered amount. The MSC knows that I'll do them in the timeframe and as requested so they automatically have them set at a better price. I think I'm up to 40 on my route now. Takes me about 2 days in the bigger city close to me and then the couple in the smaller city close to me almost a day. I wouldn't suggest picking up a route of 40 to begin with though! LOL!!!

I do a lot of work for this MSC, curious how you went about getting a route. I would prefer if i knew these stores were mine instead of cleaning up someone else's mess.

I've worked with the MSC for a long time (years). Note: I don't think they consider it a route. I just made myself a route of several locations one month. The next month they offered me my same locations at our agreed price. And each month I look and see if any others are available within my traveling circle and add those. And it has just kept building from there. I now have 40. Also note: it is a month by month thing. I don't have a contract or anything for them. But I've never had any issues with the MSC or the editors (we've had difference of opinions but that's just human). They've always been very polite and helpful. And I've NEVER had any issues with payment from them either. I never mind picking up jobs with them. I probably do more jobs for them consistently every month than any other company. I even have the same kind of situation with another one of their jobs. It is just a single location but I know I can always expect that email offering it to me at our previous price agreement for the next month!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2024 05:17PM by Shopper1013.

The stuffed animals actually seem to sell pretty well by me, so you might go in July but by August, 1/2 the display needs to be replenished so it might not even matter what the previous rep did.

@Datagirl wrote:

@Shopper1013 wrote:

I actually have a regular route of these every month. The first visit is tedious, because the diplay is sometimes a mess. But after the first visit, when i go back the next month, its not bad at all because I know I did it right to begin with. Now that i am the regular person every month, the employees see me walking in and they say "Hey Beanie Baby Lady!" and i just make myself at home, making the following visits even faster because i know where everything is and don't have to ask for permission to go in the back of the stores for the backstock. I don't do them for the initial offered amount. The MSC knows that I'll do them in the timeframe and as requested so they automatically have them set at a better price. I think I'm up to 40 on my route now. Takes me about 2 days in the bigger city close to me and then the couple in the smaller city close to me almost a day. I wouldn't suggest picking up a route of 40 to begin with though! LOL!!!

I do a lot of work for this MSC, curious how you went about getting a route. I would prefer if i knew these stores were mine instead of cleaning up someone else's mess.

They sure aren't selling that well here!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2024 06:01PM by Shopper1013.

Contact your scheduler to see if you can get your locations locked in at an agreed fee. I’m interested in these as well since I’m in the grocery store for the other project anyways.

@viv0412 wrote:

@FrugalCat wrote:

Can you tell me a little more about stuffed animal. replenishment? Of course without naming the MSC- you can name the client. Is this taking in a slightly worn out bear to have it fluffed, re-stuffed and cleaned? I might be interested in this for my Snuffle Bear by Gund, which has seen better days.

The client name has NOT been mentioned. The MSC is Customer Impact. There was a thread about these visits a little while ago. It was deemed a PITA and not recommended at base rate.

I remember being told that they frequently make you go back to the store, so be sure to only take locations within 5-10 miles of your house.

They actually just increased the visits for stores to bi-monthly and they did send me a really long list of stores that were available for a route. I was able to choose stores very close to my house and job so this makes it easy for me to do. They also allowed you to ask for a higher rate which I did and it was agreed upon. I picked up about 16 stores to do twice per month. The first visit is likely to be a pain learning the lay of the land at each store but if I am the only one doing these stores, it should be easier in time. Not sure how long the project will last but happy to have some consistent work. August was a horrible month for me, jobs got picked up faster than I could grab them and very little bonuses because of that.

I have done much work for this MSC. I have had to return to a store a few times but mainly due to my error or me missing something. I have found them easy to work with and pay is always on time. I had a few issues in the field on the weekend, unable to complete stores, etc. I was always paid for those jobs. I also find Daniel to be super responsive to any issues.

Bottom line I would rather do this than those stupid cell phone jobs any day!!

The first month they wanted me to go back to a few. But since then, I've learned what they want and a few little tips and tricks to ensure I don't have to go back.

When I need to return 9 times out of 10 it’s been me and all because I didn’t stop when I was worn out. Closest store is 17 miles away and there isn’t any work to pick up in that town. I’ll see if I can find one that is more conducive to my established route and returning won’t make me nuts. I love working for the company.

I would hope not unless you took bad photos or something. I just signed up for a batch of these in and around my own town (not willing to risk any further out ... yet). That is always a red flag to me though when they have you agreeing to go back, not something I am ever willing to do unless I messed up the job.

Just a quick question, are there different schedulers for different clients or could I just contact the same scheduler I have for a different job/client?
I applied for a slew of these but nothing has happened so far (holiday weekend and all) so I have no idea who the scheduler is for this job.

Hello all!

Just FYI - given the new increase in locations, and with how many stores are now 2 visits per store every month, the goal will be...if you are assigned locations to complete, and you do a good job and want to keep them...we will come back to you first and offer them for the upcoming month.

It makes the visits/consistency better for you to plan, better for our project management team, and provides a better quality product for the stores & our customer. We LOVE ongoing programs like this. There of course will always be some exceptions or someone has to drop stores, wants to add stores, etc. but providing the same field rep to the same stores for programs like this always generally makes it better for everyone.

As mentioned on the thread...if you visit a store that hasn't been visited by a prior service rep (with the client, not with our company as we're just now being awarded these)...that first visit could take longer than usual because some clean-up has to be done but after that it becomes very consistent.

With the large volume of locations we are now assigned to cover, there are currently 3 Project Managers who have split the territories to cover this. However, ANY of them should be able to help you or get you to the PM assigned in your area if for any reason they can't help you directly.

VERY excited about this great new program and it should only get bigger in the next few months and coming to an area near you!

Daniel Price
Chief Operating Officer
Customer Impact, LLC
dprice@customerimpactinfo.com

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2024 03:37PM by dprice.

I just did my first batch of 8 today, and none of the stores had backstock. These were all gas station convenience stores. Is this consistent with other's experience?

Also wondering why you guys were asked to return to a store - what are the common reasons?

At $10/store these only make sense if a bunch of them are close together, as its at least 20 minutes per storre in my experience, and that was just with organizing, not putting out backstock.

I didn't do any of mine just yet but I did go to the store near my house just to see what I would be dealing with. I will start them later this week, so many other things also got scheduled so have to work out my week plan. The full time job gets in the way! LOL

I had to go back a few times on a different project but it was my error. For card replenishments, I was supposed to remove a type of card if found and I didn't see it. To my defense, the picture in the guidelines was too small! Regardless, was my fault. The other time was because I didn't remove some expired cards on the very bottom. I missed those too. That was it. Two return trips compared to the hundred or so stores I have done, I don't think that is a bad thing.

For this project, I was sure to take stores near my house. I took whatever I could that was closest to me in case i have to return for any reason.

I would do a couple close to you just to make sure. The only times i have bene asked to go back was the very first time i did them and i did not do some corrcetly so it was on me. The second time was a couple of months ago when they added something to the guidelines but no where in the reporting app to really put the additional info they were asking for. Even then it was just a few that it was an issue with. I did notice that the next month they did take my suggestion and added a place for the requested info into the reporting app so after that it was not an issue.

The schedulers have always been wonderful to work with. The editor can be aggravating (in all honesty, all editors can be aggravating because their job is to critique us!) but she's just doing her job. The company has certain ways they want it done and she's just making sure its correct. Regardless, she has always been nice and polite to work with.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2024 04:19PM by Shopper1013.

@Cassiespark wrote:

I just did my first batch of 8 today, and none of the stores had backstock. These were all gas station convenience stores. Is this consistent with other's experience?

Also wondering why you guys were asked to return to a store - what are the common reasons?

At $10/store these only make sense if a bunch of them are close together, as its at least 20 minutes per storre in my experience, and that was just with organizing, not putting out backstock.

I'm also curious about the reasons for returning.

From my experience with some of the gas stations by me (A midwestern "general store" - if they are the older versions of these stores, they do not have a lot of room to store the stuffed animals, and the manager was putting them on the shelf right away. For the newer format stores, they have larger storage spaces in back, so those have had backstock.

I am doing a few this week at grocery/drug stores and not yet sure what to expect there.

@Shopper1013 wrote:

I would do a couple close to you just to make sure. The only times i have bene asked to go back was the very first time i did them and i did not do some corrcetly so it was on me. The second time was a couple of months ago when they added something to the guidelines but no where in the reporting app to really put the additional info they were asking for. Even then it was just a few that it was an issue with. I did notice that the next month they did take my suggestion and added a place for the requested info into the reporting app so after that it was not an issue.

The schedulers have always been wonderful to work with. The editor can be aggravating (in all honesty, all editors can be aggravating because their job is to critique us!) but she's just doing her job. The company has certain ways they want it done and she's just making sure its correct. Regardless, she has always been nice and polite to work with.

If I ever have any oddities and there's no spot to put comments, I'll try and send the scheduler an email.

Cassiespark

As far as the backstock, i usually see one extreme or the other. Some stores will have no backstock and some will have boxes and boxes. I have one location with like 10 boxes but they are in the back of the long, narrow storeroom with a gazillion other boxes of things in front of them and you cant even get to them. Which never matters because that store does not sell any. But then I have some stores that don't have any backstock and have holes in the display.

Mistakes to avoid re-visits:
*clear pictures. Make sure you can CLEARLY see all the shelves on both halves. Make sure there is not another display blocking the bottom or anything like that. If there is and you CAN NOT do anything about it (I have one like that), make sure you put a note in the "additional comments" at the bottom.
*the plushies not being organized well. Youll figure out a pattern for you. I usually start out with the dogs because thats usually the most. I group all of the black dogs together, then the balck and white, then the brown, then the brown and white, then the white. Same things with the cats, etc.
*the clips need to be grouped together and on the top 2 sections. A mistake I made.
*Making sure you take pictures of the scattered large plushies. Some of the gas stations will put them on top of coolers, machines, anywhere they can find to stash them. If you run out of spots in the reporting app to upload the pictures, you can email the extras with the store location to the editor. I had to do that with 2 locations last month.

The good thing about doing a large group of them, is that I have some that are 2 miles apart and some that are 15 miles apart. They help even each other out in pay.

Regarding returns if something to correct something...given that most stores will now be 2 visits per month... "go back to correct" will likely turn more into "correct on your next visit." There will be some exceptions of course.

The main thing are to understand (great comment above about CLEAR photos showing entire display and sides)...are the various sizes & types of the products, replenish the display the best you can, and get accurate inventory counts. The other things that come up, we will be working to reduce or eliminate for 'go back' since you would already be going back in the next week or 2 for the 2nd visit of the month anyway!

Thanks again everyone!

Daniel Price
Chief Operating Officer
Customer Impact, LLC
dprice@customerimpactinfo.com

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2024 04:47PM by dprice.

Thank you for the tips. I’ve signed up for quite a few and hoping to get more in my area.

MA SMITH

For me, this is a great compamy to work with. The few little hiccups I've had here or there have been addressed quickly and everyone has always been super nice and easy to work with. And my money is always deposited approx the same time every month with no issues.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2024 06:06PM by Shopper1013.

Shopper 1013

I love working for this company as well. 99.9% of my needing to go back is I hurried and missed something.

The schedulers are fabulous.

I just received an email stating they were not going to send us back to the stores for small things anymore. After I got through the first batch, I was okay. But, it's nice to know they are understanding and working with everyone now a bit better.