For years now $5 mystery shopping assignments have been prevalent in the industry. They don’t pay enough for it to be worth anyone’s time…and yet they keep sticking around…
And the only reason is because some mystery shoppers are taking those assignments.That is why I am asking you to BOYCOTT those assignments.
And here is something that is surprising:
While it may be easy to blame the mystery shopping companies for these assignments, it is not that simple. The companies hate these asssignments as much as you do…but they take them because they have to compete with other companies for the same contract.
Read this comment from Pittburgh Shopper from my last blog post:
From the MSPA Conference - July 18-20, 2008
The owners of several of the MS companies did a panel discussion on the last day taking Q&A from the shoppers. They all had the same answer. The contracts were signed with the companies at the beginning of the year for set prices for shops. This was done before the cost of gas went over $4 a gallon. They all stated that nothing could be done at this time as they are all under contract. They did remind us that the IRS deduction for mileage went to fifty eight and a half cents per mile. And they all agreed that no one should accept the $4 and $5 shops.
We need to make it impossible for these $5 assignments to exist.
As shoppers we need to stand together and STOP this once and for all.
Please leave a comment below, declaring that you will NOT accept $5 assignments EVER AGAIN!
Thank you!
I Jacob Jans pledge to never take a $5 mystery shopping assignment…ever!
I never take $5 assigments ever! unless its a telephone shop! $5 is insulting for your time!!!!!
I have never taken a $5 shop and don’t intend to, ever!
That’s just so wrong…it would cost me more in gasoline to perform a shop…
With the price of gas, 5.00 is an insult to anyone with high enough standards to want to make a living doing jobs for companies.
How demeninng!
I Camilla Bragg pledge to never accept $5 mystery shopping assignments.
How demeaning for real!
no $5.00 shops here…when i first started, i did several to get some experience….now, unless it’s $20 or more, i don’t even look. sounds snooty, but with gas and my time, it’s just not worth it for less.
cheers…good idea to do this!
I see $5 and even some $10 shops and just laugh when they get taken. No shop + report is going to be worth your time and gas to complete for only $5 or $10, think about it.
I would never take a $5.00 assugnment. That is an insult. Not worth the time.
Sally
NEVER NEVER NEVER!!
Even $8.00 shops are a waste of time.
I have not taken a $5 shop in about 1 1/2 years and I will never take another!!!
I too, only take $5 shops if they are phone shops. With the rising price of gas, it does not PAY!
This is insulting
I Melanie pledge never to take a $5 mystery shop. I pay more in gas then what I get paid for.
It is outrageous to expect anyone to do it for $5!
Shame on the companies
When gas cost $4.00 a gallon it cost more to do the shop than you are making
With gas prices like they are I will never except a ms job for $5.00
Deanna L. Pinder
I have taken $5 shops when coupled with other shops within same mall or direction traveling. $5 shops are equivilent to $9 hour job dealing with a boss and public!
My time is quite valuable. I would only accept a $5 assignment if it were a phone shop that the conversation lasted no more than 2-3 minutes.
I pledge no $5 shops. Actually, a $10 shop is really not profitable considering the time and price of gas.
I cannot afford to leave my home for this low of a price.
Joseph miller
I will never work for $5 when I can make $15.
Hi- I only have taken the $5 shops when they were in my area and I was going to be that way. The reports were minimal,otherwise no thanks.
I started in March and took a couple of those $5 shops but then realized these aren’t even worth the gas. You have my pledge I stopped after the first 2!
I see them but never take them. Not worth my time or gas.
I pledge to never accept a $5 shop. I even laugh at $10 shops. I have always felt that companies who hire $5 shoppers get $5 reports. I get paid well for my time and trouble and my reports reflect this.
I’ve never taken a $5 in the 2 yrs I’ve been MSing, and I never will!!!
I pledge not to take a $5.00 assignment. It is not worth my time and gas to get $5.00 or even $8.00 unless it is around the corner from my home.
No $5 shops. However they won’t go away as long as shoppers continue to do them so pass the word. There are other shops available.
I put my foot down long time ago…living in New Mexico, we measure mileage by time not by miles. Now we measure by miles…cause we have no other choice. Now the companies are calling me asking me to set a price, and I do, caluate the mileage and my time…9 times out of ten, they meet my price.
Thanks Jacob for helping improve our community.
Kris
I agree with Jacob, you get what you pay for, $5 shoppers get $5 reports! I will never take a $5 shop.
Like Cynthia M. I never take $5 assigments unless its a telephone shop! $5 is insulting for my time and gas here is teetering at the $4.00 mark… What’s the point?!?!
I wouldn’t even consider a 4 or 5 dollar shop!! Contracts usually have clauses and exceptions that they may be altered to meet certain market changes.
I pledge to never accept a $5 shop. $10 shops are also a joke.
I will not take any $5 shops!
Never have done a $5 shop and will never do one. Heck, throw in the $10 shops too!
I, Mary, do hereby pledge to avoid these shops. I do not go out of my house for $5 shops, it is simply not worth it.
I have been completing shops for over 3 years. I have never taken $5 shops and do not plan to in the near future.
No $5.00 shops here. I consider that type of offer to be an insult to the profession of mystery shopping.
I have done shops for EVEN LESS, BUT pledge to NEVER AGAIN take a shop less than $5!
THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION, HOWEVER I HAVE NOT YET ACCEPTED ANY SHOPS, I’M WAITING FOR ONE THAT IS PROFITABLE, THAT IS WORTH MY TIME AND EFFORTS, AND GAS. I’ll MAKE THIS A PERSONAL PLEDGE NOT TO TAKE $5.00 SHOPS.
THANK YOU,
SARAH
i will not shop for five bucks that not even worth keeping my computer on earleen
I will not take $5.00 shops unless it is a phone shop. I’m with you all.
I jeanette Loch pledge not to take any $5 shops. It doesn’t pay and is an insult. It takes more to go to the shop than that not including your time and reporting.
NEVER!!!
I do not in any way support the $5 per shop.
I will not participate and ask others not to as well.
Ingrid
I pledge not to take any $5 shops. It is insulting. It costs more to go to the shop than that and yet your time and reporting.
That is absolutely insulting; $5.00 assignments. The time you read about the assignment, drive to the location, do the assignment, drive home and do the report, that’s degrading, not worth it. I do pledge never ever to accept a $5.00 shop. It needs to stop. Thanks for all your help.
No $5 shops.
5$ ??? Who are they kidding? I’m a professional mystery shopper, not a street walker!
I never have accepted a $5.00 assignment and I never will.
I will not accept a $5. shop, not worth my time!
Rebecca Hendrix
I accept this pledge and agree, $5 shops are an insult and not worth it with the price of gas (around $4.25+ a gallon here), unless they are phone shops of course.
I will not take any $5.00 shops. I informed one company of this and now they blocked me off their sight. (oh well none of the shops paid much anyway)
I will not shop for five bucks. It’s just not worth my time!
Ann
I accept this pledge and agree, $5 shops are an insult and not worth it with the price of gas (around $4.25+ a gallon here), unless they are phone shops of course.
I will never accept a $5.00 shop again. At this point, I do not take shops where I am reimbursed for purchase or meals only, partly or full. My time is worth more than that,and the price of gas makes it ridiculous to do.
Simply rediculous count me in! I will not do any shops for $5.
I accept this pledge and agree, $5 shops are not worth it with gas prices ($4.25+ a gallon here), unless they are phone shops.
I will not shop for five bucks!! It’s not worth the time or the
gas.
I have never done the $5 shops since they are just not worth the time, effort and now gas money. Yes, I will take the pledge. Keep up your good work.
I have taken $5.00 assignments in the past but I had to have more than one assignment in the same area in order for me to except it. Since gas prices are so high now I will not except any more $5.00 assignments.
Laurie
I do it for the fun and to pass time as a retiree. $5 or $10 is fine when grouped together in a mall. Most only have minimal questions and no receipt submission.
Ditto X 10!
I will not shop for $5. It is not worth my time driving off my street.
It costs more than $5 to print the neccessary materials to do these shops, nevermind the gas and time involved. No $5 shops, or $10 unless it is in my living room!
gas is expensiveas wel as time it is not worth it.
You have $5 street walkers? Where are you? LOL!!!
Exxon Mobile offers $4.00 a shop. They are making record breaking profits and want us to go evaluate their stations for $4.00 and one stinkin’ dollars worth of gas.(that’s barely a fume) They suggest you put in more. Yeah right. Their gas usually costs the hightest. I won’t do $5.00 shops but unfortunately it looks like there are too many who do.
I will not do $5.00 jobs it is not worth the gas anymore.Gas prices are too high to be making such a small amount. It’s is lower the mimum wadge.
Wait ubtil middle to end of month and same shops are $12-$15 each.
With the price of gas and the wear and tear on my car $5.00 is not worth me going out to start my car. It would burn $5.00 starting it up and I haven’t even pulled out of yard.
These companies are making hand over fist in profects, how would they like making that $5.00 as their profect.
Josie
I have never nor will I ever, accept $5.00 assignments!
I will not even do $10 shops-except if they pay for the dinner and $5 for the shop.
No $5.00 shops for me.
I took one once, but then cancelled it after reading the paperwork. Sometimes they call me and ask me if I will do one and I tell them it doesn’t pay enough. Their response sounds like they hear that all the time and are tired of hearing it. Well, raise your pay scale then if you want your jobs done!
I am not going to waste my time and haven’t taken any 5.00 dollar shops. It’s an insult and they need to upgrade for our experiance and time taking in the cost to go to the assignment. Get a grip, catch up with the times, and pay what everyone else is paying for our expertise, which I’ve heard is so important to the client.
HELLO!!!!
So cheaper gas justifies $5 shops? Lets grow up here!
I have never, nor will I ever accept a five dollar shop. I have even decided not to do anymore ten dollar shops for video games for my kids. I AM WORTH MORE, I WANT MORE, I DESERVE MORE, and if they want the job done correctly, they will PAY MORE.
$5.00 is not worth the time or the gas! If the shop is say 5 blocks from home, with the price of gas being $4.05 a gallon it’s just not worth it to shop!!!!!
I totally agree. As a new shopper I was surprised to find the $5 shops and have not accepted one and will not in the future.
Thanks for your information and supporting this type of sharing.
Sandy
I have not and will not take $5 shops. Recently I have really cut down the number of shops I do. I no longer even do $10 and $15 shops. Mostly I have just been doing shops that offer a good bonus. It’s simply not worth my time and gas to do anything less than $20.
Sue
Never again.
Sounds like Second to None hasn’t raised fees in years….
I have never taken $5 assignments and never will
In total agreement! I love seeing the 5.00 and 7.00 unclaimed shops gradually increase…..and if they reach ( and they most often do) 12.00 - 20.00 that is when I take em.
no way, gas is toooo high, plus the time it takes for the paper work, not for me
I think that $10.00 shops are not worth the time and money spent on gas. The $5.00 are insulting!! If you write a quality report, the TIME ADDS UP! I have not and will not accept $5.00 shops.
I never take $5.00 shops.
I have not and will not ever accept a $5 assignment.
I will not do a shop for $5.00, I get those offers, and I just delete them. No help here and we have got to stand together on this because this is ridiculous.
Never took
I never have taken a $5 shop, and I don’t plan on it ever. I keep trying to figure out why they still have them around, and who is crazy enough to take them!
I never take $5 assignments either. The price of gas is entirely too high to waste time with these type of assignments.
I did some at the beginning, because I di not know better, and I needed experience.
It’s outreagous, that they offer $3, $4, $5 jobs, where it costs you already that much in ink, paper and electricity to print the jobs, not counting gas, the time you shop and the time to input the job.
This is far below minimum wage.
I only take some, if it’s a phone job, or if I have to go on a 100+ mile job, and there are no other additional jobs available.
My first $5 job was a 1 hour job plus 2 hours input, crached website and several e-mail clarifications. It told me a lesson.
Never again.
I will NOT take a $5.00 shop. I have even seen $3.00 shops or none at all, only reimbursement. I agree with Vicki, it takes time to write a quality report and even $10.00 shops are not worth it.
no 5.00 mystery shops again too much gas cost
I too, will not not take $5.oo shops. I did in the past only if on my way and the reports were short. Ha ha to the ones that offer you $1.00 for getting gas, that ask for photos ,you must take training and a long report.
I won’t even look at $5.00 or $10.00 shops. It’s too insulting! I spend that much just in gas. Then I have to go home and write a report!!!! Are you kidding me?
I am fairly new to MSing, however the only $5 shop I’ve done was when an incentive of $20 was added. I live in BC and our gas prices are outrageous, so definitely NO $5 shops!!
I do not take $5.00 shops. I did take them when I first started mystery shopping. Now I wait for the pay to go up. If it goes to an amount I feel is good then I will accept the job.
I won’t take shops that are 5.00 even if they are phone shops. The report forms take longer than what 5 bucks is worth.
In fact I am also kicking several shops that are 8.00 and 10.00 to the curb because of the paper work both per-shop and post shop.
Some of those pre shop tests are insane and sometimes they do not provide the rght info in the so called briefing notes.Then of course filling out a questionnaire with a monologue for each yes or no answer is incredibly time consuming. And you need to be careful of the shops that do not actually pay but consider reimbursement sufficient for the job.
Sorry this got a little manic but I have been fighting a stupid test for 4 hours and it still isn’t right. All for a job that offers 12.00 and doesn’ reimberse for purchase.
fortune8one
It is actually a complicated issue. If one takes a few 5-10 dollar jobs, that leads to more jobs with that company. Also, bonuses come up at the end of every month. I did three jobs originally offered at 4 or 5 dollars at the end of June. They paid $140 dollars for three jobs that took about one hour to finish. Yesterday, I made $200 with 10 jobs that were originally offered at $7 each. Monday, I will make $200 again because of bonuses. The smart thing is to wait until the bonuses kick in. On the other hand, if all jobs were a minimum of $10 each, the jobs would be filled faster and cost the client less money in the long run. You have to admire how corporations are a penny wise and a pound foolish so often. No wonder so many of these stores are going broke.
Patti C.
With the price of gas, I only take $10 und up. Anything else is a waste of my time.
My time is very valuable; not counting the time it takes to enter online !!
I never take $5 dollar assignments. Especially since, where I live, the only ones close to me are about 30 mins. away. Not worth it when gas costs more than the shop assignment. If it was in town though, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Just my two cents worth.
Don’t send me any myster shop assigment in the 3-10 dollar range. I won’t accept them.
N J Kraft
planesales@aol.com
I would never consider accepting an assignment for $5.00. With the price of gasoline, I can’t believe that anyone would even consider this low amount. I figure that my time and experience is worth so much more than this! I do my best on every assignment and expect to be paid accordingly. Perhaps some people are doing these $5.00 shops due to boredom, as they’re not doing them for profit. Whatever the motivation, we need to stop these companies from taking advantage of us!
I totally agree. $5.00 Mystery Shopping Assignments are not worth it. There is no way that I would accept an assignment for $5.00.
Susan, Canada
i agree that i will NEVER accept a $5 shop again…they are absolutely ridiculous…they barely even pay for gas (depending on what part of the country you are in).
I will not accept $5 assignments. With the price of gas and my time, I won’t accept anything less than $10; and even then, it depends on the location and whether it can be combined with other jobs. By the time, the report is completed, I’m operating at a loss!!
Absolutely…NO More $5.00 shops for me. I am glad we are sticking together and hopefully it will make a difference with NO MORE $5.00 shops to insult us.
Yes, I also find $5.00 shops are not worth the time. I agree with Kevin, not even a $10.00 shop is worth it when you figure gas, shop time and reporting time. I do not intend to take anything less than $20.00 in the future.
Do the math. Gas prices as they are and then figure in all the downloading of paperwork, ink prices, doing the report, etc. Even $10 shops, especially if there is a purchase and no reimbursement, isn’t worth your time. Hours of testing for some of these shops are ridiculous too. Starting out you may have to lower your standards, but it doesn’t take long to figure out that those low paying shops just aren’t worth it.
I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking that my time is worth more than $5 even for 15 minutes. And Karl, you do have a very valid point, that’s how I ended up doing the $5 shop - incentives!
I will never take a $5 job. I can’t believe anyone would even consider asking a shopper to work for so little, it’s far less than minimum wage!
Five dollars assignments are an insult, I never did or will consider taking one.
I pledge never to accept a $5 shop. With gss and the time and reports $5. is not the right payment. I never accept them and there is one web-site that seems to do it a lot I don’t want to mention the sane we all know who they are.
Thanks
Audrey P.
I DO NOT do any of these shops!! My time is worth more PLUS these shops are not worth the headache for only $5.00. Someone defiantly has not completed these shops and sat down to enter them or they would not insult us by only offering under $15.00 Unless I am heading to that area and can pick up at least 3 or more I wont take the shop if it is under $15.00. I am like someone else who said it may sound “snooty” but with gas and my time I take away from other things like my family it’s just not worth it for less.
I also say cheers to whoever started this and it’s good to see others feel the same!
Karl does have a point but I would LOVE to know what mystery shopping company he is working for to make that much $$$$
To be honest I don’t do any shops for less then $10.00. It’s disgusting to see Mystery Shopping companys offering 4.00 and 5.00 shops. It’s a slap in the face and I would never except them. I have several friends and family members that mystery shop and they will not take them as well. I keep spreading the word no more insulting shop fee’s!!
Thanks Jacob:
I have waited for you to publish something that I could get into with your site. I have been doing mystery shopping for the past year and when I first started, I was in need and grabbed at the first thing that I could get. After wearing my self out trying to make ends meet with the $5 shops, I stopped doing them. I have expanded my work with many more companies and I now see that there are jobs that pay much more than $5 and are worth my time to complete, so I do not do any $5 shops, even phone shops. I did an analysis of my time and concluded that some shops are not worth doing. I measured the time that it took me to read the pre-shop information, the time that it takes me to complete the shop, and the time that it takes me to complete the online forms, and I saw that some shops pay less $1 to $2 per hr to complete.
I think that this is the tragedy of the industry. The companies may say that the contracts are set at the beginning of the year but I know that there are contingencies and other stipulations in contracts that allow companies to make much more than they pay the shoppers. I also think that what is even more a tragedy is that a company wants a dissertation on your shop experience but the pay is meager in comparison to the writing skills and the pay to complete the online forms. I believe that there should also be a minimum pay for each written word required to complete each online form. Maybe a $0.05 or $0.10 per word minimum pay so that when you write a 2500 word essay of your experience that your pay would reflect the time and effort put into completing the shop. We, as writers of the mystery shopping industry, are providing valuable information to companies about the functions of their business and their staff. I beleive that our pay is a function of the companies that obtain the contracts and that our value is woefully under rated by the companies that hire us to do the trench work while they get the lions share of the benefits.
Jacob, I would very much like to see a mystery shopping contract and the compensation that a company gets paid to perform the scheduling of services that we perform. With such information, I can determine if I want to complete an Exxon shop, or a Chevron shop, or a Subway shop, or any shop for that matter. I beleive that when shoppers understand that they are being exploited by companies that offer low compensation for their work then they will not do those shops. There are tricks to the trade and we as shoppers get tricked all the time.
Thank you for the opportunity to voice how I feel on your site.
I can relate to the intensive reports that aren’t worth $30, when it takes hours to complete and they want a running commentary.