How far will you drive to make some money while doing a shop? What is your cut off point?

For instance, is 30 miles one way worth driving to do a pick up shop for $25 worth of free stuff?

20-30 miles, have to consider round-trip

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2024 07:30PM by ddbk.

I remember wrosie mentioning recently in another thread a high-paying shop that was a long distance away, and he built a route around it to make it even more profitable and worthwhile. I never really thought of it that way.

In the past I've done some for a large sum of money, but these days, I would only do it if there were things I could do along the way that made it worthwhile, non-shops included. I miss the old days where MFI would reimburse tolls.

@Bob Stone

The question is too vague. I need more details. Are you only going for the money or would you be going anyways? Can you get other shops on the way or close by? It is pay only or is there a reimbursement attached? How long will the shop take? Is it a Panda Express or a apartment rental shop. 2 completely different shops with a big difference in the time commitment.

I don't mind drive 20-30 miles if it's something I'm already doing or I can parlay several things together, but I'm not driving 20-30 miles one way for one shop at $25 unless I was planning on shopping there to begin with. But I don't need the $25 that bad. Someone else might.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2024 08:09PM by hbbigdaddy.

Big city traffic. I will drive no more than 3 or 4 miles for a shop unless I am going that way anyway. If the shop pays over $40 or reimburses plus fees of at least that much or if i am going to that area anyway I would take it. In my area it can take 45 minutes to drive 5 miles and then spend a long time looking for free parking and another 45 minutes home. I pretty much only take shops when I have to go to another neighborhood anyway otherwise it is not worth it at all.

This totally depends for me. I'm 100 miles from Chicago and my rule is always $300 in reimbursements or pay or I'm not going. That's pretty easy to do. But this isn't my main source of income. This is my "fun" job. And also, I will almost always make my guest drive. You get a fancy dinner, hotel stay, museum. I'm not driving AND doing all the work. Usually.

How far is dependent on how much!

Personally I wouldn't drive 60 miles for $25. I would consider it for $50.

I'm very rural. There is a small town about 5 - 9 miles from me, depending on which way I'm going to get there (which I mostly avoid doing). There are approximately 4 shops that get done in any 6 month period in that town, and none of them are food related. The next closest town is more than 18 miles away, and the closest small city is 28 miles. The closest biggish city is over 30, and the closest really large city is around 70 miles.

since the POS Jeep started acting up I reduced my shopping range to 60 miles max. After the POS Jeep died, and my only form of transportation is to hitch a ride with my son, my range has shrunken even further.

Our policy used to be that we had $100 each worth of work to do before we left the house. Confirmed, routed and ready to go. We would leave in the late morning or early afternoon, and when we finished mystery shopping, and if there was enough work to do, my son would dash (door dash) while I drove. And we would head home when the work dried up, or all that was left was hour long waits in the McDonald's drive-thru.

Now I basically leave the house to go grocery shopping, all or most of which is reimbursed or paid for, and a few gas station audits at smaller gas stations once they are bonused nicely. I try to schedule as much as possible in one day, and try not to do single shops, but the way that the grocery shops have to be scheduled in advance, sometimes I don't have a choice. Those days I generally try to find some kind of restaurant shops to do after we're done with the grocery shopping.

I am currently sitting here and posting instead of putting up some fruits and veggies that my son got from the produce guy down the street. I have 2 cases of blackberries, 1 case of mangos, and a case of tomatoes that need washed, frozen and then bagged. I think the blackberries are going to be mashed and have the seeds strained out then frozen into ice cubes for my smoothies, that's if I can get my son to find my food mill in the moving truck (yes, we still have stuff stored in the moving truck 9 years later).

That's what I'm trying to understand. What people will do for money in this business. I have standards as for as what I look for when considering assignments. I try to aim for at least $1 a mile each way when it's a good distance away from me. So if it's 50 miles one way, I better make at least $100 for that trip. I also consider time involved with this as well.

That is a good rule if you are in it mainly for the money. That's even a rule I use, but sometimes I make exceptions: Whem I am bored out of my mind, or when things are super dry out there and I see other shoppers steadily gobbling up the few projects out there and I know the shops won't last another day. But even with these exceptions, I still won't drive 60 miles for $25. My vehicle expenses alone would eat up most of that.

Excuse me for changing the subject but could someone in charge--Jacob? please e-mail me. I have not been able to enter this site in about a week except using an private incognito setting on my desktop. Tonight I got into the site but being able to click on threads in dicy so I'm using this one while I can. I'm not even sure what my name is here anymore Rho* or Rho.

I think it differs for everyone. I still consider myself a newer shopper, and it's interesting to read different perspectives. Some are really sharp and conscious, and take a lot things into consideration like time of day, factoring in wear and tear of car, can you form a route around it, cost of gas, and having a targeted hourly rate in mind. Some live in heavily congested and high traffic areas. Some would go further for an expensive meal.

Personally, I think about reimbursed tolls that MFI used to provide a lot. When I first started out, I remember doing simple shops near my home or onsite work location, to get tolls reimbursed. When I was younger and more active, I would plan longer drives during the weekend early in the morning that might be 50-60 miles round-trip to go fishing, biking, or walking on trails. Early in the morning, when there was no one on the road, I could get to where I needed to go in 15-20 mins. The tolls reimbursement was generous, and I would sometimes just do shops for that. Back then, I didn't really think much about other factors.

The concise answer on my end; it just depends. Having been self-employed for 61 yrs, I quickly learned I must be willing to adapt to be successful. As an example that applies to shopping, 10 yrs. ago, my main category of job was #1-money, with video being an important part. This yr. to date, it is, by an overwhelming amount, #3-defrayment of travel expense. I am in the area on other business, so distance is never a facror; for one Kroger, I am four doors down.

My last audio/video shop was 2 1/2 yrs. ago.

The current IRS business mileage rate is 67 cents per mile.....my personal view is that a shop of 10 miles distance needs to pay more than $6.70 or $13.40 for a round trip - the amount above that for profit depends on several factors....other shops in the vicinity, going to be there anyway, freebie to be gained...
Based on this, I almost never do shops unless they are already on my way to somewhere else.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2024 04:56PM by BarefootBliss.

I live in a rural-ish area, and the nearest significant shopping area is around 30 miles R/T but then of course there are the driving around miles once you get there. I won't go for less than $30, and I try to combine other necessary errands when I go. In another direction it is 20 miles R/T, which I usually won't shop for under $25 because there is nothing else out that way for me to do. The small city I live in is 10 miles R/T into town, so there I will take a $10 shop, but again I try to find other errands.

There are rural one offs in every direction, but usually the pay isn't worth it. Occasionally I come across a great bonus, but it isn't common.

The closest larger city is 100 R/T. It is sprawling suburbia so if I were to try to set up a route it would be way more than 100 miles to get around, plus the tolls, and the hours of driving So, I'm not interested. Too much like a job, and it's a hobby for me.

I really don't feel that shoppers consider the miles they are putting on their vehicles the way that they should. It is so much more than the gas. Every mile is one mile closer to the next oil change, new brakes, new tires, inevitable repairs, and ultimately the car graveyard or at least a heavily depreciated trade-in value.

I’m also in the “it depends” camp.

I seem to shop for both business and entertainment. If something is more of the entertainment category I might be more willing to go out of my way for lower pay or reimbursement. I think I tend to do this more if the category is more of a frivolous want like high end dining or a cosmetics shop etc.

Sometimes I’ll take a shop to help defray a non shop frivolous want too. For example, I saw a video review of a restaurant kind of far from me that had me salivating. I felt like it was too far but then I saw a job for an oil change in that town. I happen to need an oil change and I’d like an excuse to go there for this restaurant so that’s kind of a nice coincidence.

But for strictly business shops, I would not do 60 miles for $25. But if that town happened to have the most epic burrito, well, that might just change my mind. Lol

There was one time I was going out of town with a place that had Five Guys.. Actually two different places.

I knew right where they were located and one was on my way to the motel and the other was may be two miles out of the way.

I picked up both of them..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2024 11:09AM by Isaiah4031a.

I've done a single Famous Highway gas station shop for a $400 bonus plus the regular $12 fee and $10 reimbursement.

560 mile roundtrip, and a 10-hour day, with an overall tax liability of about $37.

Well worth it to me, especially considering the drive includes some of the most stunning views in the country, and there's a kickbutt hamburger stand next door for lunch. They do one with homemade raspberry jam and Swiss cheese that is the bomb.

I've since done the same location for two different lower fees as part of a loop.

@bradkcrew wrote:

I live in a rural-ish area, and the nearest significant shopping area is around 30 miles R/T but then of course there are the driving around miles once you get there. I won't go for less than $30, and I try to combine other necessary errands when I go. In another direction it is 20 miles R/T, which I usually won't shop for under $25 because there is nothing else out that way for me to do. The small city I live in is 10 miles R/T into town, so there I will take a $10 shop, but again I try to find other errands.

There are rural one offs in every direction, but usually the pay isn't worth it. Occasionally I come across a great bonus, but it isn't common.

The closest larger city is 100 R/T. It is sprawling suburbia so if I were to try to set up a route it would be way more than 100 miles to get around, plus the tolls, and the hours of driving So, I'm not interested. Too much like a job, and it's a hobby for me.

I really don't feel that shoppers consider the miles they are putting on their vehicles the way that they should. It is so much more than the gas. Every mile is one mile closer to the next oil change, new brakes, new tires, inevitable repairs, and ultimately the car graveyard or at least a heavily depreciated trade-in value.

I'm similarly in a rural ish area. There's a handful of regular shops in my area (gas stations/truck stops, etc.) but for more shops, I have to travel a bit farther. I will combine it with other errands or try and make a route, if possible.

I used to live just outside Chicago and with city traffic, 4 miles could take you 45 minutes, so it has been an adjustment. I have way less competition out here in the sticks though.

The wear and tear on a vehicle is also a consideration. One hardware shop is about 25 miles away, the road there is a winding high accident road. When you get to the store you have to put money in a parking meter. So for $15. Plus $3. bonus, in my opinion is not worth it.

25 miles south of me is a friend I don't see often enough. I use the shops as an excuse to see him. 55 miles south of me is some really good fishing. 55 miles north of me is my mom. Without the visits or fishing, 15 miles is my max.

Oh Okie, at least Market Force thought the shoppers had to be conscious if only just barely. Ha Ha, nice typo.

@Okie wrote:

I think it differs for everyone. I still consider myself a newer shopper, and it's interesting to read different perspectives. Some are really sharp and conscious, and take a lot things into consideration like time of day,

@CoolMusic wrote:

I've done a single Famous Highway gas station shop for a $400 bonus plus the regular $12 fee and $10 reimbursement.

560 mile roundtrip, and a 10-hour day, with an overall tax liability of about $37.

Well worth it to me, especially considering the drive includes some of the most stunning views in the country, and there's a kickbutt hamburger stand next door for lunch. They do one with homemade raspberry jam and Swiss cheese that is the bomb.

I've since done the same location for two different lower fees as part of a loop.

And this is why everyone's mileage may vary on this subject. You have to find what works for you and what level of pay you find acceptable. While this was obviously a tremendous bonus (I've never come close to a bonus like that), I would not drive 560 miles for $412 in shop fees. I've always based routes on the premise of a $1 per mile minimum. But more often I end up closer to $2 per mile.

If it's purely a business trip, without any "I'm going that way anyway" or personal errands mixed in...
In general my car doesn't move unless its $1/mile minimum.