Just performed another Panda Express assignment for $25 payment plus meal reimbursement. I just wait until near the end of the month and, if others haven’t already picked them up for lesser fees, they are often decently bonused.

Panda rarely gets bonused in my area, but I was able to pick one up today.

They fly off the boards in my area.

With businesses in general that run on a calendar year, month/quarter end can get crazy.

You unwilling to say the general area you did this shop?

Certain areas fly off the boards and other areas do not.

I have shopped in CA, NV, and AZ for Pandas and it's interesting to see the differences between how some are taken so quickly and some are not.

@DT wrote:

Just performed another Panda Express assignment for $25 payment plus meal reimbursement. I just wait until near the end of the month and, if others haven’t already picked them up for lesser fees, they are often decently bonused.

In Dallas, these critters become an endangered species when released at base pay. When bonused, it's a rare sight to be seen. I need to hunt and shoot a tranquilizer through my bamboo pipe!

January 2023 was the last time I saw a bonus here.

I took a rare $2 bonus in Temple, Waco, and outside of Austin in an area where nobody wants to go due to road construction. That's the best I've ever seen.

The one I did yesterday was a $10 bonus for one within walking distance. I'm guessing it previously got rejected, with the reports being accepted late.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

You unwilling to say the general area you did this shop?

Certain areas fly off the boards and other areas do not.

I have shopped in CA, NV, and AZ for Pandas and it's interesting to see the differences between how some are taken so quickly and some are not.

@DT wrote:

Just performed another Panda Express assignment for $25 payment plus meal reimbursement. I just wait until near the end of the month and, if others haven’t already picked them up for lesser fees, they are often decently bonused.

Sure, that one was in Southern California.

The highest Five Guys I've completed was also for $25 plus meal reimbursement (It was already bonused and I made a higher offer).

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

You unwilling to say the general area you did this shop?

Certain areas fly off the boards and other areas do not.

I have shopped in CA, NV, and AZ for Pandas and it's interesting to see the differences between how some are taken so quickly and some are not.

@DT wrote:

Just performed another Panda Express assignment for $25 payment plus meal reimbursement. I just wait until near the end of the month and, if others haven’t already picked them up for lesser fees, they are often decently bonused.

I saw them in Lake Elsinore with a bonus.
There was/is a big wildfire out there. I'm guessing that the shoppers could not get to the location or were busy being evacuated.

They go quickly here in Northern UT as well. Current wave is gone, including the more remote locations that usually go to bonus.

People love sub par food so they jump all over the Panda express jobs in my area for $8.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2024 03:58PM by jwhenry704.

I just did a bonused one earlier this week, and the leftover ones kept going up in $$ but there was a 5 day rotation. today got an email that rotations waved, but too late, someone took it in the 30 minutes it took me to read the email. so bummed.

A fresh batch just went into the wild ...

Thanks OKie.

@Okie wrote:

A fresh batch just went into the wild ...

Yeah, the two that are within 50 miles of me just went on the board. I expect them to be gone at base within a day or two. The idea of a $25 fee is mind-boggling to me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2024 06:05PM by KokoBWare.

I was able to get one for $50 a few months ago. Far and away the highest Panda bonus I've seen.

I don't think I ever have seen an PE shopped bonus in my area..

Panda bonuses used to be a regular thing in some suburban areas. Many more clowns doing these Panda shops now, so less shops sit on the board. Better for the MSC. Not so good for the shoppers willing to do shops for bonuses.

Yea well that’s one of the reasons that I perform so few shops now..many just aren’t worth the time, effort, and expense. But when I do accept an assignment, I’m getting paid decently.

@jwhenry704 wrote:

People love sub par food so they jump all over the Panda express jobs in my area for $8.

People are broke. Inflation is through the roof. So, if a single person can get feed for free and make $10 doing it, the shops are going to go quickly.

Actually, the average consumer price inflation was 4.06% in 2023, should be 3.1% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025 so not exactly “through the roof.”

Also, no one is getting fed for “free”. In exchange for working (which includes checking the mystery shop company boards for assignments, reviewing the assignment requirements, investing round trip travel time to/from the business, taking the required photos, completing the report), they receive food (which they pay for at the time of purchase and are reimbursed for later (for which they then pay income tax on at the end of the year). Also, the $10 that you referred to is also before taxes and before expenses (fuel and wear and tear on their vehicle to/from the location [the IRS’s 2024 Standard Mileage Rate is 67 cents per mile], etc.)

Minimum wage here in Cali is currently $16 ($20 if employed in Fast Food) so there are other, more lucrative, means of earning available to people. But it’s all perspective; if workers believe that inflation is “through the roof”, that they’re getting “free” food, and $10, then shops will continue to be accepted for low compensation.

I’m detail-oriented and I enjoy employing my skills so that I can provide solid feedback for companies so that they may adjust and improve. But I’m also going to continue to only accept assignments that meet my compensation requirements because, otherwise, I’d just be devaluing myself and my services.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2024 05:21AM by DT.

How far away from an urban or suburban area was it?
I was finally able to get one with a small bonus during the time we could get a two item plate for $5 every time the Dodgers won a home game. So for days and days in a row we could get the plate for $5 with no report! But now that the playoffs are here that deal is gone.
I think many shoppers just opted to get the plate deal rather than do the shop for the food.

@Sagacious wrote:

I was able to get one for $50 a few months ago. Far and away the highest Panda bonus I've seen.

@DT wrote:

Actually, the average consumer price inflation was 4.06% in 2023, should be 3.1% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025 so not exactly “through the roof.”

Are you literally nuts? You can manipulate statistics, but when Americans are suffering, they will do shops for food. It's a cumulative rate. Bread in 2022 was not $1.00 and now is $1.04.

Where are you getting bread for $1.04? A loaf of any bread worth eating is over $4 now. And it wasn't significantly less in 2020, or 2022. I don't know how much Wonder Bread or any of those strange square "loaf" breads are, those things smell and taste funny.

@Morledzep wrote:

Where are you getting bread for $1.04? A loaf of any bread worth eating is over $4 now. And it wasn't significantly less in 2020, or 2022. I don't know how much Wonder Bread or any of those strange square "loaf" breads are, those things smell and taste funny.

Just explaining 4% inflation. I haven't eaten Wonder Bread since the 1970's.

Real Life example:
6 pack of English Muffins at Grocery Outlet was $0.99 in 2020. Around 2021, they went to $1.19. They jumped to $1.59 around 2022. They have been $1.99 for at least a year.

So, from 2020 to 2024, they went from $0.99 to $1.99.

Most people did not have their salaries double in the last four years. How many examples of grocery orders from 2020 versus 2024 do we need to see that prices went up faster than wages?

I have a full time job. If I do not bring lunch to work with me, I can go to Taco Bell and spend $6 or Subway and spend $9. I could go to Panda Express and spend $0 and get $8 to write the report in 10 minutes.

Fast food shops with full reimbursement, an additional small fee, and relatively quick reports could be very much worth it if someone is going to be buying food at that time anyway, like and will eat what they get, and are not going out of their way. However, once additional driving or even the smallest amount of travel for the sole purpose of doing the shop becomes necessary, it's my opinion that they are a poor value proposition.

Bay,

We know that prices are going up faster than wages, that has always been the case. I remember in the 60's when Nixon was president when we had 13% inflation and higher across the board. I remember in the 70's when the price of gasoline went from $0.25 per gallon to over $1.00 per gallon along with 6% and higher overall inflation. I remember when St. Ronnie was President and the inflation rate was 10%. I remember in the 90s when Inflation went from an average of 6% down to 2.6% (which is an ideal rate, to keep the economy growing).

Wages have NOT kept pace, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour for a VERY long time while prices for EVERY other thing, including housing, transportation, food, and medicine continue to rise. Union members fare a little better than most, but it's still not enough.

What I said is that bread is not $1.00 per loaf, but I honestly don't know how much they charge for Wonder Bread or any of those weird square loaves of bread like substances that they sell at the store. I don't buy bread often, because I'm not supposed to eat it. But the Sourdough bread and the Rosemary and olive oil bread that I buy now and then hasn't changed price significantly in 2 years.

And honestly, up until 2009 I never bought bread in a grocery store anyway, I made all of my own bread. My mother and I used to trade bread when my kids were growing up, I made white bread and rye bread, she made sourdough. I used to make soft pretzels (back then we called them Bavarian Pretzels), bagels and pizza dough for all of us too.

@sandyf wrote:

How far away from an urban or suburban area was it?
I was finally able to get one with a small bonus during the time we could get a two item plate for $5 every time the Dodgers won a home game. So for days and days in a row we could get the plate for $5 with no report! But now that the playoffs are here that deal is gone.
I think many shoppers just opted to get the plate deal rather than do the shop for the food.

@Sagacious wrote:

I was able to get one for $50 a few months ago. Far and away the highest Panda bonus I've seen.

It was actually within the city limits of a mid-sized city (=/- 600,000). Close to home, too.