Ty...One Month In Musings and Questions

I was told to leave them one of the business cards for TY. It is the page they sent us in the guidelines. I printed a bunch and I keep them with me. If any questions come up, I give them that.

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Datagirl, thanks for the tip. I am taking a break this week for other reasons but wanted to be prepared for next week bc I know my grocery store will ask about Halloween stuff.

@wrosie wrote:

Double dipping. Nice, but why not wat until they go to $12 unless you're afraid of loosing them or the Netspends are already scheduled.

This is a prime example why someone would take a shop at base pay. Because they're already there.

But I don't see how you van double dip on a burger shop unless it's on a route and you have to eat anyways.

I did end up doing 2 of them, one for $10 and one for $12, because I was going into the stores anyway for NetSpend. I did the initial shops only a week ago and I knew they only had one display each and they would be quick. I had to get the NetSpend done so I couldn't hold out for a higher fee. To me those 2 were worth it, but in general, no. And again, I know several locations never had the initial shops done, and it is crazy that they relisted them for $10, like $27 was never passed over, LOL.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2024 08:10PM by bradkcrew.

I took a fair amount of these last month, at the rates of $20 to $27 per location. There are HUNDREDS of these that continually are bumped to this range along my normal routes.

I learned quickly this month that I will no longer pre-book these jobs in advance. I was told that numerous routes from emails were booked already - yet am getting tons of emails with those same locations bonused.

I oddly enjoy these jobs, but is honestly not worth it at base pay. Next month, I plan to not rebook any of the routes I agreed to this month (will complete what I have already committed to this month). Frustrating to say the least that we don't have enough information to provide to the clients and that the company doesn't seem to care to have these prebooked at fair rates.

@erinpoet02 wrote:

I took a fair amount of these last month, at the rates of $20 to $27 per location. There are HUNDREDS of these that continually are bumped to this range along my normal routes.

I learned quickly this month that I will no longer pre-book these jobs in advance. I was told that numerous routes from emails were booked already - yet am getting tons of emails with those same locations bonused.

I oddly enjoy these jobs, but is honestly not worth it at base pay. Next month, I plan to not rebook any of the routes I agreed to this month (will complete what I have already committed to this month). Frustrating to say the least that we don't have enough information to provide to the clients and that the company doesn't seem to care to have these prebooked at fair rates.

I agree, the bonused jobs are plentiful and i just grabbed a whole bunch. I kept a few stores from last month mainly because they were easy and close to home.but they are a lower fee. Anything with no display, i am not taking again. You can't pay me enough to build a display!!! I may just keep a few of my faves to stay in good graces!!

I don't mind the jobs either. The stores are happy to see you and pretty friendly.
It has been a good money maker so far.

It would be great if they would enable Self Assign on these. I'm not at all inclined to take them under $20, but...I've also walked by displays in stores that I was in for other reasons. I would have grabbed the locations on the spot for $12 or $15 because there was 1 display and it wasn't a disaster, so could have knocked it out in 15 minutes. But you can't. Seems like with thousands of locations, they'd turn this on.

@Cassiespark wrote:

It would be great if they would enable Self Assign on these. I'm not at all inclined to take them under $20, but...I've also walked by displays in stores that I was in for other reasons. I would have grabbed the locations on the spot for $12 or $15 because there was 1 display and it wasn't a disaster, so could have knocked it out in 15 minutes. But you can't. Seems like with thousands of locations, they'd turn this on.

Absolutely! I was in a few stores too, some had no display, some had one. I could have done them but they don't assign over the weekend and can't self assign so oh well.

@Cassiespark wrote:

It would be great if they would enable Self Assign on these.

I don't recall ever seeing this MSC use self-assign for anything. I think they keep their projects too tightly controlled to enable that.

If your path dictates you walk through hell, do it as though you own the place. -unknown

You used to be able to call them and get shops assigned. But it's been many years since I've done that. Back when they had mystery shops, not just merchandising.

Just as a heads up, some of these stores are receiving Christmas items/displays but they say not to set up until November 1st. There were also plushies that are supposed to go on the top of the main display, so if you take these in November, I would plan accordingly for time/compensation.
This was at a major pharmacy chain that was once known as consumers value store (or something like that).

The locations I have this month are at a slight bonus since they're all in my town and I went last month, so they have been faster but I think I'll skip the grocery store next month. Trying to track down a manager was impossible after going through 4 employees and another department manager. I did the display with what was there but lesson learned.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2024 09:03PM by joanna81.

There are several of these shops in my area. One of them is at a larger grocery store. The store has four TY displays. My understanding is that the pay is per location and not per display. I was considering doing these shops until i learned this.

It might be worthwhile to call ahead or visit the location to avoid potential issues.

@Shopper789 wrote:

There are several of these shops in my area. One of them is at a larger grocery store. The store has four TY displays. My understanding is that the pay is per location and not per display. I was considering doing these shops until i learned this.

It might be worthwhile to call ahead or visit the location to avoid potential issues.

Did you see the displays? Some stores will maintain them, some of them are slow-sellers, so I wouldn't necessarily balk at 4 displays unless you've gone in and can see they are a hot mess. There's a CVS by me that has 3 displays. One is large, the other two are pretty small and are rarely touched. It still takes me only about 20-30 minutes.
You are correct that they do not pay per display/rack. I did ask the scheduler if that was anything that was discussed and they said they haven't discussed that. I think they're still getting their bearings on these.

No, I did not see the displays. I called and spoke to a store employee who told me that there were four displays and "a lot of boxes in the back" which made me think these shops weren't great.

The description of these shops on the MSC job board says "To replenish & merchandise the stuffed animals & take photos of organized display." To me that sounds like one display, not multiple displays.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2024 08:57PM by Shopper789.

There's a town about a 70 minute drive from me.

There's 3 Speedway gas stations and 2 Walgreens listed at $20. Has anyone shopped at these brands of stores? If so, how bad where they?

I've got an offer of $50 from another MSC that covers drive time and gas. And heck I even got the 5G there a couple of years back for $100. But it's at $12 now.

Thanks.

@wrosie wrote:

There's a town about a 70 minute drive from me.

There's 3 Speedway gas stations and 2 Walgreens listed at $20. Has anyone shopped at these brands of stores? If so, how bad where they?

I've got an offer of $50 from another MSC that covers drive time and gas. And heck I even got the 5G there a couple of years back for $100. But it's at $12 now.

Thanks.

Speedway is hit or miss. Most do not even have a display so in that case you take a few pics, get a name, ask a few questions and leave. Walgreens are almost guaranteed to have 2 displays plus a Halloween display. they usually also have backstock.

But there is no way to know until you get there unless you call ahead first. Sometimes I walk into a Walgreens and they tell me they got rid of the display.

Honestly, if nobody is doing those, they will go up even more. But if you are pairing it with a $50 shop, it might be worth it.

Thanks datagirl,

I was planning on waiting for them to get to at least $25 before accepting them.

I have seen speedways with a full display, and some with a small cardboard box on top of a shelf. The challenging part about some Speedways (imo), is where the display is located. Some of them are right in the middle of the high traffic areas and some are squeezed into a corner where it's a little weird to work.

A walgreens by me has a small section of a shelf with literally 8 beanie babies on it. No backstock. Store does not want a display. This is my local walgreens, so I know the manager now - I'm in and out in 5 mins.
I visited another walgreens - no backstock, just one display. They stated that they put everything on the display when it comes in. It was next to a competitor display so I just had to check the tags and make sure it was only BB merch on the display. Took about 20 mins to organize it.

$20 might be fair, especially if they are all pretty close to each other, but I think it is worth waiting to see if they get up to $25.

@Shopper789 wrote:

No, I did not see the displays. I called and spoke to a store employee who told me that there were four displays and "a lot of boxes in the back" which made me think these shops weren't great.

The description of these shops on the MSC job board says "To replenish & merchandise the stuffed animals & take photos of organized display." To me that sounds like one display, not multiple displays.

I ran into an issue with a different project and the MSC also stated "display" but it was FIVE. This is not uncommon with this company. They wanted me to revisit, which I did, but I needed an additional increase to do so since it was an intentionally misleading job posting. If they know there are multiple displays, there is absolutely no reason that they should be stating "display" as a singular noun in the job posting (well, besides trying to lowball shoppers).[/quote]

I just saw a posting for a Knorr display job and it said "easy". I passed on it because I am not a believer when they say "easy". Someone else took it but it was nicely bonused. Or maybe it was finally just priced appropriately. Same MSC of course. When you said there were 5 displays... I said oh... maybe I dodged a bullet with the knorr job.

@Datagirl - it was a skincare product in a beauty store but yes you may have dodged a bullet. Not too long ago, a bunch of Knorr products were recalled and pulled off the shelves. I'm sure a handful of us participated in that product. You could be walking into a full restock of their products or may go into a store that already handled it. Either way, godspeed to the shopper who grabbed that one lol!

Hmmm, I was not going to lock in any locations for November but the sheet they just sent me has some locations set for $20. Some of these stores I went to already and I know some only have one display. I feel like I am being tricked. What is the catch? I know holiday displays are coming but these are not all larger stores where I expect to see that.

Man, do I not miss working for CI...

Have synthesizers, will travel...

@Datagirl wrote:

Hmmm, I was not going to lock in any locations for November but the sheet they just sent me has some locations set for $20. Some of these stores I went to already and I know some only have one display. I feel like I am being tricked. What is the catch? I know holiday displays are coming but these are not all larger stores where I expect to see that.

Were these stores you did at that rate previously or did they include some additional stores that haven't been done? I received a list of stores as well and they did mention that some stores will need new pricing stickers.

@joanna81 wrote:

Were these stores you did at that rate previously or did they include some additional stores that haven't been done? I received a list of stores as well and they did mention that some stores will need new pricing stickers.

Some of them I have done, some are new. I am not quite sure how they came up with their fee. I understand CVS and Walgreens being a higher fee for multiple displays but the smaller convenience stores usually only have 1 with no backstock. I need to stop trying to understand them and just take the money and run!! I signed up for a few I knew were on the easier side with the higher fee. Took less stores than the past 2 months and will make more money plus still be able to grab some bonused shops along the way.

Also, the stores that I consistently did for the past 2 months were not on my list and no available for me to "lock in". I guess they want to focus on the stores that need more visits. In my area, these are starting to move a bit more. So much for a "route".

I might hold off on these for the November scheduling - several stores reported ordering issues. I emailed the scheduler asking about this, but I had to field too many complaints about it this time around.

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