There is a cell phone shop 5 miles from me. It pays $16. Would you drive to this shop? How far would you drive for one shop?

It really doesn't matter what any one of us will do. You have to decide what's right for you.

I would drive 5 miles for a shop, but I would not move 1 inch for a cellphone shop. YMMV

City miles? Country miles? Part of a route? Single shop? Reimbursement?

But agree, it doesn't matter what we would do, we all have to do what's best for us.

5 miles each way? If so, that is 10 total miles and $6.67 at the IRS mileage rate. That leaves $9.37 for the time it takes to prepare for the shop, drive to and from the shop, and report the shop. If I could do all of that in 30 minutes or less, I would complete the shop.

No.

I routinely drive 5 miles for shops. Five miles is nothing to me, but I also group my shops to much longer routes. I also avoid cell phone shops for the most part.

@MsJudi wrote:

I routinely drive 5 miles for shops. Five miles is nothing to me, but I also group my shops to much longer routes. I also avoid cell phone shops for the most part.

Why do people avoid cell phone shop?

Redundant...sick of them...selfie required...possible time waiting for assistance...

Yes. 5 miles isn't far for me in the country. Back when I dealt with Chicago traffic, I would not. Need more like $25.

I would drive 5 miles for a $16 shop if it includes at least a $20+ dollar meal reimbursement. I can do five miles around here in my sleep lol.

I don't do cell phone shops, but I have a cell phone shop story. I once took one of those shops where you don't have to interact with anyone but they want you to sneakily take photos of the competitors phones in the cases and on the shelves.
The store was medium busy, I thought I got away with those 3 little photos, then just as I was right at the door leaving- the store manager runs over to me:
"Do you have any questions?"
Me: no
"Well, the next time you drop in, you be sure to see me!"
Me: whatever

@sestrahelena wrote:

It really doesn't matter what any one of us will do. You have to decide what's right for you.

WWJD - What would John do?

Darn it, John, why do we have common interests? Personally, I like the smartphone recommendation shops. Like gas stations, there's a ton that flank me in every which direction.

These days, I only do it if the location is literally next door from a restaurant or grocery store that I will already be visiting. If it's on a trip that I will already be undertaking and during a downtime in traffic, I'll pick it up. I can do these in my sleep! MsJudi mentioned it another thread, but I try to be selective with these now.

For example, this may not apply to your area. But in my area, there is a flagship location at the mall. This shop runs a lot more smoothly because these are the manufacturer employees. It's $35 base, but 5-6 gets posted each round. There's also a longer rotation period. If you wait and time it right, you can get it for $50. It's also located in a shopping mall, where other things can be done on the same trip. All that to be said, this is now the type of shop I seek.

Another example is when a new product iteration was set to release. I may have picked up two near each other for $40 each, the day before of the official release date.

Also, in general, give yourself a cool-off period for locations you visit repeatedly.

I got too exited about this one!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2024 09:46PM by Okie.

Don't spend all that remaining $9.37 on the time preparing for the shop, drive to and from the shop, and reporting the shop, because you have to pay income tax on it.

I know the report by heart. I fill out the report while at the shop.

I would need to have a whole bunch of them. I routinely grab cell phone shops (the big S ones, not the lower paying tedious form big G ones) that are either close to home, on my drive home from work, or near where I'm going to be anyway. but no I won't drive 5 miles just for the one $16 shop (unless it was near where I had to go anyway).

I would not drive anywhere for a cell phone shop under $50. I am among those who loathe them. I would drive 5 miles for a $16 shop if I planned to be in the area or could pick up other shops OR there was a reimbursement attached.

What happened to you being banned from the cell phone shops?

@bradkcrew wrote:

What happened to you being banned from the cell phone shops?

I wasn't banned from all cell phone shops. I got some back. I stopped doing Verizon shops. One manager could have more than one store. They will out you if you show up at another of their stores.

Since you really like phone shops, care to share your technique? How do you get the employee to show you the phone feature set? I have tried a couple of times when the bonuses were high, but I couldn't get anywhere. Employees just flat out told me the Samsung Fold and Flip are crap and that I don't want one, plus as soon as I say I have an iphone they advise me to stay away from Android all together. It is kind of hard to completely ignore the advice I asked for, and to start asking oddly specific questions about a phone on their 10 foot pole list.

If you're doing a Samsung upgrade, just tell them you have a S20. Even if you have an i phone

Sometimes you have to ask, what is this features?

@johnb974 wrote:

Why do people avoid cell phone shop?

Totally burned out on them after hundreds in my earlier shopping days... salespeople are usually beyond lame and rarely do anything they're expected to do, making it difficult to dance through reports with their stupid scenarios and expectations... too much time involved for base pay, and I rarely if ever see them bonused...

I would ask my IRS audit agent to drive me.

@Cassiespark wrote:

I would ask my IRS audit agent to drive me.

Remember to ask the agent to take a picture of you as documentation for your expense deductions.

@CoolMusic wrote:

@johnb974 wrote:

Why do people avoid cell phone shop?

Totally burned out on them after hundreds in my earlier shopping days... salespeople are usually beyond lame and rarely do anything they're expected to do, making it difficult to dance through reports with their stupid scenarios and expectations... too much time involved for base pay, and I rarely if ever see them bonused...

This exactly. A dozen questions requiring written answers about specific things the sales person did not even come close to addressing.

I might do a $16 shop (not the cell phone shop, though), if it was directly on my route for the day, I didn't have any better opportunities, and it took less than 30 minutes total from arrival to submitting the report on site. However, if it is the only thing available at that time, I am not getting out of bed for $16, especially not a cell phone shop. I think $50 might entice me for a cell phone shop, and $25 for a more simple and straightforward shop. I have had some bad experiences with the cell phone shops, including waiting 30+ minutes to be helped, associates that only want to talk about plans and not phones despite me pleading that I just want some information on phones, and locations that refuse to assist me in any way without getting my ID and doing a soft credit pull first.

I could care less about the selfies, which to me seem to be a dumb reason to not do a shop. I will submit a picture of myself in a Speedo if the money is right. Everyone is different though, and everyone has different feelings about things. That's ok, but I think there are many more substantial reasons, from my experiences, that the cell phone shops can be problematic. Give me $50 and I'll take the risk.

there is very often waiting time to speak wit associate. That is adds up.

Because I'd be driving Uber if I weren't shopping to generate $$$, I really don't factor drive time/distance into my decision when it comes to accepting a shop or not. That I deduct the mileage factors heavy into my MO.

I look at the gross proceeds and estimated time onsite/reporting, and then I ballpark an hourly rate for the actual work done. Then I decide from there, depending on whether or not I'm desperate, or if the job conveniently fits into an established route.

As gas stations are my specialty, it's always desirable to put together a gas station route vs. driving around strangers. The swing in overhead with gas reimbursements is substantial.

I currently have the first leg of a route booked, waiting for date windows to flip to snag the rest of the target shops.

Famous Highway gas station shops in darkness make up the core of the route. They are currently at $25 gross revenue, and at least 8 of them will be done after the stores have closed. Provided I have a good phone connection, I can knock out these out in no more than 15 minutes. So these jobs translate to slightly over $100/hour for my evaluation purposes, representing an obvious no-brainer. If the store is open I allot 30 minutes total time, so those are worth $50/hour to me. Highly likely the bonuses will go up when the date range flips, so that increases the pay scale.

Even factoring in the drive time on my longer routes, I usually gross around $25 per hour. More than I typically earn with Uber, and with somebody else paying for my gas and the tunes cranked up really loud.