First of all…if you have NOT yet pledged to boycott $5 mystery shopping assignments…click here.
Since I asked you to boycott $5 mystery shopping assignments last week, we recieved literally hundreds of pledges. There are now over 485 responses to my original blog post.
I have also recieved some responses from owners of mystery shopping companies.
One of them was supportive. His only caveat was that he didn’t think the boycott should stand if you recieve something of substantial value as a reimbursement…such as a free meal.
Another response was from John Swinburn, former Executive Director of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. Here are his comments:
The company representatives at the MSPA Pittsburgh Conference were not recommending a boycott of $5 shops, nor would I ever do such a thing. They were simply reiterating what they have said all along; if you don’t think the pay for a particular shop is acceptable, then don’t accept the shop. The shopper is in control and each individual shopper should be able to make his or her own decisions. I was in a session at which a very experienced, very professional shopper who is regularly given high-paying shops said he occasionally accepted $3 shops because he knew the scheduler needed help and the shop was convenient for him…so he took it. His reasoning was that the scheduler would remember him for having helped out in a pinch and would reward him with better shops later. While no one is particularly enamored of $5 shops, they are a part of the mystery shopping business. Shoppers can opt to ignore them…that’s fine…or they can take the ones that are convenient, like the shopper I mentioned. I’m opposed to boycotts, in general, because they tend to ignore an individual’s motives and replace them with a group’s collective attitudes. Individually, everyone is free to refuse to take $5 shops, or $10 shops, or $50 shops. But for people for whom the time and energy required is modest and for whom an extra $5 or $10 or $50 is welcomed, I say let them make their own decisions.
I would be very interested to hear what YOUR response is to what he has to say.
Is it EVER OK to accept a $3 shop? I would say no.
Should $3 or $5 shops be part of the mystery shopping industry?
The reason I started the boycott was because I believe they should NOT be.
What do you think?
I have also contacted some of the companies who appear to be the worst offenders in terms of offering these very low paying assignments. I have yet to hear a response from them.
Remember: for every $5 assignment they’re not able to fill, they will have to raise the price on it to get it filled. That’s why it is so important for everybody to boycott very low paying assignments. In doing so you benefit everyone.
I evaluate the pay vs several factors:
travel time and distance (mpg cost for use of car and fuel)
tie-in to another shop or other travel need in the area
time involved in shop
down-load and reporting time
printing costs
Most likely, I will not accept any assignment in the $5.00 range.
My time is usually worth more — even in retirement
I no longer accept shops that pay less than $10. My time, and the expense of driving my vehicle, just makes me feel I am being used if I don’t get at least $10.
my problem is the “FREE MEAL”,if they don’t reimburse the full price of a meal that you have to order “their way” and it costs more than the reimbursment, then it’s NOT free.
I wait for the $5.00 shops to go higher. One company I work for the scheduler agrees with me in doing this. On occassion when I accept a low paying shop it is because a) it is convenient or near another shop I am doing b) it is phone or internet shop where the forms are so short that the shop only takes 15 minutes to do. there are some companies though that require too much work for low pay.I am amazed that some people take these shops.
Jacob, I have already taken action, and I will not do a shop for $5.00. I am for the Boycott 100%. What the person said from MSPA is not right as far as I am concerned because he or she would not work for that, and they know it. I do not care if he says he does not like Boycott that is his problem. If we do not take a stand these people will go on and on with these jobs at a very low price. We cannot afford to take a job for that price.
Gas is still very expensive on most of us especially people who live in small areas like myself and other people. It would not be worth it because you would not gain anything but a headache and have to put out more money than you are getting paid for that job. We are living human beings with feelings, and we are in this because we love it and we want to make some money. They really make me sick with this bit about the shopper that had taken a job for $4.00 or what ever the price was that is his business. We have to do. What is best for us and our household. I don’t mind helping out when they are in a pinch but that price is ridiculous, and I will not do it.
I take the $5 (or less) when the report is easy, when the location is convenient to another shop or errand that I’m already doing, or when a scheduler asks me specifically. I have had several of the preferred shops go to me because I have helped my scheduler meet their deadline.
As far as the free meal goes, that is one of the big reasons that I mystery shop, for the things that I can receive for “free” that I would normally pay for anyway.
So, for the $5 shops, it depends on the situation and if there is also a reimbursement for the required purchase. If I can make $15/hour overall, then I’m happy. I can’t ask for that much more as a stay-at-home-mom.
A $5 shop is not worth my time, but for some people it may be. They can have them. It would be nice to see the industry standards increase. I think the bigger issue is the pay in relation to the amount of work. $5 for 5 minutes is great. $20 for several hours plus printing costs is unacceptable. It looks good at first, you accept the shop and then get stuck with piles of paperwork that make it not worth the hassle. Those annoy me more than the low paying shops!
When we pledge to boycott, then we make our own decision.
It is our free will, we don’t do it because s.o. asked us.
I don’t think, that a $5 job or $3 job is part of the business.
I believe, that the companies pay the ms-companies a lot more.
These jobs are already under minimum wage without the other cost which are involved like time of reading instructions, ink paper, gas, etc.
For $3 or $5 I can’t even leave the house. It costs me $ 5 to drive to the nearest store and back home.
I took a $5 job today, but it had a $15 reimbursement for food. this is acceptable, and it was in my hometown. I also did 3 other jobs at the same time, which made it worth to drive to town.
The MS-companies alway have that nice writing in the instructions:
“you are 5 minutes in the store and it takes you 15 minutes to do the report”
Show me one of these jobs.
To park your car, go in the store, browse around, pay and go back to your car. Did anybody consider, that there are other people in line, and most of the time you also have to inspect the restroom. Show me a 5 minute job.
To scan and sometimes resize your receipt and pictures, write your shop and shopper ID on the receipt, enter the report, submit validation, when the website is slow, write your comment and find out, when you have written a perfect comment, that you have too many character, and you have to rewrite it 3x, and you don’t know how to put all the important things, which they want to know in 800 or 1,000 character, this takes me longer than 15 minutes.
The only short reports are some merchandising reports, where it takes me only 5 mintes – no validation.
They all paint a nice picture of an easy job.
How about the mystery/revealed jobs. These are two jobs, but you get paid only ones. Not to count, that you have to be scared that these employees who are not sucessful one day will hit you something over the head or damage your car.
Don’t get me wrong, I like mystery shopping, but I think if you let the companies play with you, and you take the low paid jobs, most of them don’t remember that you did them a favor.
Very few of them, where I helped out, thanked me with a better job.
I stand by my decision not to do $5 (and some $10) shops.
Let the market seek its own level. A boycott interferes with its(the market)ability to correct itself naturally (supply and demand) by artificial external action. Don’t like what’s playing on TV, change the channel. Last I looked, these assignments were voluntary. Sounds as if there are many people that have never been self-employed and are not used to truly being ‘independent’. Do what works for you, but a ‘boycott’? What next? tea in Boston Harbor?
I agree with the comment about the MScompanies get paid alot more than $5.00 for a job. I believe they should drive 10miles for $5.00. It is not worth it.
I have read the comments and the reply from the company and agree in part with both. I have no problem with a $5.00 job if: I get to buy something (food or article) and keep the purchase, I don’t have to scan a receipt and the report really is a few questions. I also do $5.00 telephone surveys if they are also short to do and report. I have got some good paying shops because I helped the scheduler out. I would not take a $5.00 shop if: I have to drive to it unless there are other shops I am doing in the same area. if I have to scan a receipt or do a complicated report on it. It really is our choice to do them or not, no one twists our arm or penaliazes us for not taking them. If they were sent to us to do I would be for this boycott but since we have free choice to take them or not I really feel the companies have the same right to put them out there, we don’t have to do them so what is the big deal? I guess I don’t understand why we should boycott….why not just all contact the companies when they are sent out and say I am not going to take $5.00 shops as that is to little pay for the work but will certainly accept any shops you have that pay more.
Reimbursement for just an item, or food is NOT enough. You are not getting paid for your gas, travel time and report time, which is very consuming. Most reports I do take at a least an hour because they have up to 100 questions and requirely lenghty explanations. If you’re spending 3-4 hours for travel and report time; it definitely is not worth it. Experienced reliable shoppers should get a raise. Whenever I have inquired about this, most times I get at least double the initial fee if not more, but over all they really don’t care, and I don’t believe for one minute that the clients tells them to pay so low. They decide to pay low and keep 90% or more of the fee from the client. There are thousands of shoppers; a couple of hundred boycotting is a drop in the bucket, unfortunately.
What about the companies who conveniently “lose” your receipt and tell you they never got it on time and won’t pay you. Tell Us About Us is notorious for doing that.
I only take the higher paying shops period.
Does anyone have a clue what is the MS companies getting for these low paying jobs? (I for sure do not).
The company’s job is to make as much as they can, OUR job is to make as much as we can.
Face it there will always be someone out there who will take the 3.00 and 5.00-dollar jobs.
Let them!
Why are we black listing our good names on a boycott, because someone else shops for less?
It’s been said: Work SMARTER NOT HARDER !!!
I have “helped” my schedulers repeatedly in hopes of the good job, or the higher pay. When I first started, I took every job I could accommodate, for the same reason. I live in a rural area, where the jobs are few, and far between. My help has not been rewarded. I am not complaining, I just do not necessarily believe the tenet that if you take the bad / late / low paying jobs you will earn favor…I have not seen rates go up in the two years I have been doing this – including rates of reimbursement for purchases, but I sure have seen the prices rise – so even the reimbursement isn’t what it was when I started. I have seen two contracts go DOWN! (but the paperwork is longer) I stick by my boycott.
Apart from the rising cost of gas and its effect on food prices, and just about everything else in the economy, THE MINIMUM WAGE IS HIGHER THAN $5/HOUR.
To accept such a compensation is tantamount to paying the research companies to assist them in meeting their commitment to those who engage them to create the shops.
The average telemarketer sitting an an air-conditioned building gets at least TWICE as much!
Count me out.
Jacob:
Try as we may, I think that the problem lies not with the MS companies or the fact that they offer low paying $5 jobs. Jacob, you have made an effort to contact the MS companies to get them to respond, but I think that the retailers, corporate executives, and Board members who retain the MS companies, are the ones that need to hear what is happening on this site. They are the decision makers and they set the prices for the contracts that are let to the MS companies. I think that if they knew what was happening in the field and in the trenches with the hard working shoppers who provide the information that helps them increase their sales and provide a larger bottom line to their investors, then they may put the pressure on the MS companies to guarantee a higher pay for shoppers. You see, the MS companies are going to do everything that they can to maintain their bottom lines and profit margins. So they start out offering shops at the lowest possible price and when the deadlines come due the schedulers are the ones that have to kill themselves to find shoppers to do the work, and then the price goes up. And it all depends on who you know on the inside that can get you a good paying shop.
There is no transparency in this business. The shoppers get tricked into doing shops that may cost them money, time, and energy. We can read what a shop consists of in the synopsis. but we do not know what the online survey form looks like before we accept a shop. Most companies do not provide that information, so you do not know what you have to do after the field work is completed to finish the shop. It is a trial and error system. You try and you get hooked with a $5, $10, or even a $20 job that requires you to fill out a 10 page report. The end result is that you have wasted your time and energy and ended up making little to nothing per hour. This I think is the whole issue with low paying jobs. What will it cost me to do this job??? A lot of time!!! A lot of effort!!! Or lost income that I could have made doing something else that would have a greater value for my time.
Jacob, let’s get to the source. Find a way to publish the contracts that are let between corporate and MS companies. Find a way to enlighten corporate to these issues. Find a way to get the MS companies to be transparent on their job boards by providing all of the information up front rather than the trick and hook method used today. I believe that this is the path to true reform in this business.
I will no longer accept another $5.00 shop. With the cost of gas and the time it takes to do the report, it is not worth my time !!
WOW, How insulting! His opinion for this boycott is bogus. I can’t believe we are even responding to this non-sense remark, but since we are………we completely have the right to “boy-cott” these shops. No one with any good sense spends time and energy for five dollars. With the cost of life here in the US, we expect more and deserve more and better. Anyone accepting these shops must have the self worth of a refugee. I once corresponded with a MSer from the UK, she could not believe we negoiate our wages for shops and other jobs.
The theory behind “independant contracting” is decifering what the job is worth to you/us as a whole. Housekeepers, carpenters, even second hand clothing store owners decide regularly what a job is worth. All jobs start out with that decision in mind. Companies deciding that a 30 minute shop, with 45 minutes of report submitting, plus pictures or reciept scanning, plus gas and ink are worth 5$ aren’t reasonable or logical and anyone doing these are cutting themselves short! Even for those getting the “free” meal they had to buy thier way aren’t getting a deal. There are real MS companies out there, paying top dollar for doing thier reports. I don’t believe that these companies paying the bottom of the barrel pay, are really concerned about what is really going on in the establishments.
Whats the saying…….You get what ya pay for.
I refuse to answer the 3$ shop notion…….LUDOCRIS
I go some place I like for a $10 meal, get reimbursed for the meal, plus $5. I take 5 minutes for a few outside picture. Travel time doesn’t matter because I’d go eat there anyway. I spend 45 minutes to an hour uploading pictures, answering/filling in the questionairre.
That’s a fair deal.
I stop at a retailer on my way somewhere, for purchase and return. Spend 10 minutes at 5 different departments, (50 minutes if there is no wait time.) Buy something for $8. Make a return, after waiting 15 minutes. Get peoples names and descriptions, spend an hour detailing report, with comments. Get a $12 fee. For 2 hours. Only it never goes that fast for real. Nets about $5 hour. I could skate and make up a story and cut the time spent, but is it worth the payoff? For $5? Nah. Distasteful. “Neither a screwee nor a screwer be.”
(Yeah they warn me that they have security cameras and can check up on me, but they have far more unsolved problems with internal theft than to see if I cheat them out of $5.)
I think they are penny wise and pound foolish. But I won’t take jobs that pay so little. Haven’t and won’t. I could see doing it as a favor, but I’m not getting regular good payoff jobs. $20 to $50 shops? I must have missed them.
As a beginner, I took plenty of $5.00 jobs. I considered them my training shops. Performing them gave me great experience with performing the shops correctly and learning to write acceptable reports. The better I got, the more confident I became. I began applying for better paying jobs and got them! I still will accept a few $5.00 shops if they are located on my “route.” They must be quick and painless, though. Most of my shops pay between $10 and $20 each. Right now I am accepting the boycott challenge because of your request. I do think, however, that by not
accepting them, that someone else will earn more by waiting for the bonus money that appears when volunteers do not come forward.
L A D I E S & G E N T L E M E N!!!!!!!
Understand this! You have the power to accept or reject a shop. By accepting something that is BELOW minimum wage just to obtain the “good graces” of the company is horse fertilizer!
Make your voices heard!!!!! Figure out your “GAS” cost first and the rest is your Shopper Fee! Is it worth it????
Come on we’re all adults here. Pay us what the cost of what this is worth to the companies that seek to retain the consumer base they want to keep!!!! Namely US!!!
Shoppers U N I T E!!!!!
I always ask for more and usually get it!
I agree with the boycott. As long as people accept these shops there will be no change. With gas prices as high as they are,who can afford to accept these shops?
I can’t think of a time that I would accept a $5 shop unless it is just a phone shop. But, we have to remember that when we were all starting out, we took anything to get our name out there. So, my fear is that the newcomers will keep those $5 shops alive. I, too , would do a lower paying shop to be given a higher one, but I sure don’t make a habit of this. I like to help out the schedulers and have taken jobs I didn’t even want. But, this is done by me very little. I try to not do anything for less than $10.
Sure I wouldn’t accept a shop for under $5.00. The main reasoning being is that just getting into my car and driving to a shop would in itself cost more in gas than what the shop pays. I just won’t take a $3 or $5 shop. If the gas prices weren’t so high, I wouldn’t have hesitation is accepting a $3 or $5 shop.
Janet,
I just thought you and everyone else out there may want to know. . . . THE SHOPPING COMPANIES MAKE A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY FROM THE RETAILERS!!!!!!!
If we don’t ask for more, we won’t get more!!! Think about. Some of the largest chains out there aren’t paying $5, $7 per person but $30k, $40K $50k and a whole lot more per contract.
Do the math. We have leverage. Spread the word to newcomers not to accept these low paying shops and they WILL PAY!!!!
$10 shops are good for a 5 mile radius where I am. Remember your time to go, come back, print paperwork (ink and paper), and report the shop needs to be included in that $10.00!!!!
IS IT WORTH IT????? Not around here!
I figure gas, distance, time, difficulty of report, what I get besides the $5. and then decide to do it or not. Yesterday my husband and I ate Sunday dinner at a great Bar-b-Que place within 3 miles of our home and completed an easy report. The food was great and it was a fun shop to do. I can’t complain. I’ve turned down other jobs that pay more but require so much work that it just is no fun.
Hi: This is for “Kristee” who has left a comment. What exactly do you mean by “self worth of a refugee”???? I had to read it again to make sure that you would make a comment including a statement like that. This is about a boycott not about insulting people.
If a company wants a small 5 question report that is yes or no it might be ok. But the pattern seems to be that the cheap paying companies also want you to spend an hour on their forms which frequently are redundant and not as contemporary as the competitive company. Do you want to get paid $10 and spend 20 minutes total on line (senario, questionaire and uploads) or get $12 and spend an hour to an hour and a half on line?
$5,$8,$10, are ridiculous. Some instructions print out 18 pages. Between the ink & gas, and the time it all takes,your almost paying them.But I love doing it, but I’m not sure how much longer I will do this. I will not accept any $5.00.
I really enjoy doing the shops. However, my wife is on my case for getting $5.00 for an Exxon shop and spending $20.00 for gas when I can get it 7 cents a gallon cheaper at Krogers. I think she is going to take my credit card away unless I get at least $10.00 and break even.
I agree with so much of the above. I will not and have not ever taken a job that pays less than $10. Its not worth it. I have done “favors” for the companies and have not upped my stock to the higher paying jobs.
I am a great MS’er and my reports flawless. What are the $20 shops and how does one find the restaurant shops? I would love them as I have been places who really NEED to be told what’s wrong.
Can one MS an establishment jsut because they really need the feedback…lol pro bono?
I will finish my five dollar shops that I have obligated to. Then I will boycot with the rest. I only accept five dollar shops if it is part of a rout I put together. I never just do one to do one.
I am not sure what planet Kristee is from but she has unique interpretations of what an independent contractor is or is not. Kristee seems to agree with the MS from the UK who cannot believe we ‘negotiate’ our fees. THAT is what ‘independents’ DO, Kristee. Are you looking for ‘big brother’ to take care of you or are you a responsible citizen who is capable of living in a capital driven market. Perhaps you are best suited for a ‘government’ job where you don’t have to worry about making decisions about what you can earn.(Not that there is anything wrong with that-I think our President may be a government employee-yes?) Choice is what makes this world , this country, in particular work. Stop complaining about ‘refugees’ and anything else you can blame. Companies will offer what they have to to get a job done. You don’t like what they offer, move on. Simple.
I agree with you Floyd, Everyone who has beens shopping for a while
knows the company with the $5 Exxon shops and the $4 night shops with pics for the same company and their destory a Pizza photo shop
and to buy .50 worth of gas for a receipt,Thats crazy.
Another good one they have is their shoe shop where you are to buy a pair of shoes than return them, but the best part is when you return the shoes you only get a store credit not your money back.
I will always help a scheduler with dead lines, because they always give you a lot more money, I got 2 today one was a 5.00 shop that she raised to $15 and the other was a $8 shop that was raised to $30 I have never had a scheduler call me and not offered me more money. I don’t do shops just for fun, I do it to make money.
As to the gentleman’s remark to let us be free to take whatever shops we want, nobody is holding us hostage. We, of our own volition, signed the Pledge to not accept shops of $5 or less. Those that want them are more than welcome to take them.
I don’t live close enough to the main shopping district to take them. It would mean a 10-16 mile drive, one way. So, my car gets 22 miles to the gallon, if it’s a 22 mile round trip (to make things easy), gas is $4.19 per gallon, it’s a minimum of 20 minutes to “shop”, another few minutes at checkout, and half an hour to do the report, let’s see, gee, I’m paying them to take the shop.
If I could group a few shops together, that would be great but there’s only one store that is shopped and it’s on every list I’ve seen lately. Someone that lives closer might be happy to take it but that’s not me.
I’m not being contrary about this, I just can’t see it being economically feasible when I am struggling to make a living.
I love the comment about Tell us about us. They are the worst. The editors find all type of way not to pay you 7 bucks for a donut shop. And then they will not tell you what you did wrong. If they make a mistake, they sign off as editor. You have no recourse then and they will not pay me for shops. I got deactivated by them as I complained. It is better to complain about mistreatment and get deactivated than to just get screwed by these people. I wish them not well. There are others just as bad. Conversely, there are some great ones out there.
There are some real great schedulers out there that will work with you and get you the correct pay if you are not timid and ask for it. Do not be a wimp and do not take the pile of crap they try to give you. They feel that most shoppers are fools, and many are, but we are not all fools. Boycott anything under 10 bucks and see how fast they fold. Do you think they do a shop that they pay you 5 dollars for without charging the companies $35 dollars. If you do not agree with me then join the ranks of fools that they prey on.
Unless the $3.00 shop was walking distance and next to a Starbucks, fuhget-about-it…..
Send $5 shops my way!! I’m a capitalist that would like to capitalize on what may soon be a burgeoning amount of $5 shops (hopefully in the Indianapolis metro area). I believe I’m a shopper that knows how to schedule and route shops in an efficient and effective manner. So… bring ’em on!
I agree with the boycott. If I have to review training material, visit 5 depts. as well as interact with 5 employees to make $5!!! You’ve got to be kidding. I should be paid $10 for having to review all the training before I even accept the shop. We all know the company. I have worked for them, but only when they offer a shop paying at least $15. True you can choose to take the $5 shop and plan an efficient and effective route – but how many of these shops must you compile and then report on to actually make money. Even if you did 20 at $5 – the time spent having to do 20 reports!!! Not worth it. I do about 20-25 shops per month and make over $300 per month.
Mr. John Swinburn’s answer is typical management who wants to protect industry and exploit workers. Of course the decision is up to the individual. If a 3 or 5 dollar shop is convenient for someone to do when the cost of gas cancels out the actual pay.
Who in their right mind would do a $5 shop other than out of boredome. And Mr. Swinburns comment regarding a $5 shop plus a reimbursment for a meal doesn’t make much sense either. I mean what company pays 5$ dollars for a shop but will reimburse a meal. Are we talking McDonalds or a Steakhouse?
I’m not getting that angle. This one company keeps offering 5 dollar shops with a reimbursement. Come on! This company previously offered 10-15 dollars for the same shop!
$50 shops? Where might they be? I’ve yet to see one! And where I live $5 doesn’t even put tnough gas it the tank to make it worth my while, nor is filling out a 30-minute report on line. Thanks for letting me sound off.
For all you folk who are saying “don’t do the shop, no one is forcing you”…that is exactly what we are doing, or not doing. We are chosing not to do $5 dollar shops. That’s our choice. If it causes MS companies to pause, all the better. If not then they will not have a lot of folk doing these $5 dollar shops.
These companies have the most detailed reports to be filled in.
Jacob, please “place ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’, etc. Any how, check your spelling of RECEIVE.
This boycott is a good idea. I quit doing the five dollar fiascoes about 2 weeks into mystery shopping. If enough people do this, the companies will give more money when they need good shoppers good shoppers.
to much sugar for a dime( old phrase)
I do not want to get “black listed” as someone said BUT I will stand up for what I believe is right. This boycott is right. So what if it’s only “a drop in the bucket.” Drop a stone in the water and it makes ripples that reach places we don’t even know. I say keep up the boycott. Get it going on Volition and other MS community boards. Anyone who has an interest in what you do tell them to never take a $5 shop. Word of mouth and the flow of the Internet will help make this “drop in the bucket” ripple out. It is the right thing to do.
Last post written by me “Sue.” n Sorry Brenda, I didn’t notice the name change.