The Shop Logs

I run an E-class on Mystery Shopping through UniversalClass.com. My current fee will be increasing in 2006. I wanted to post some information about the change as I know many students & former students read the blog.

My current rate of $20 sees me receive 60% of the adjusted rate of $19.10, as in $11.46 for each student.

Each student in this class receives:
Two writing sample evaluations, often with the chance to rewrite/resubmit, that includes a rubric and suggestions for improvement.
One sample report to submit which I accept or do not accept based on written standards.
Directions/support to create an Excel spreadsheet to track outstanding monies, profit/loss, mileage.
Over fourty URLs to my favorites MS companies and many informational sites, like Volition, MSR, etc.

I am increasing my price to $25 ; $14.37 is so much more worth my while. I feel like the class is valuable enought to sustain the price increase after two years on the market.

First, count me in!

Second, I did wuss out in 2004 by not going to Orlando, I so knew I should have attended! Forget Anaheim, CA - way too far. Plus, I would have been bummed to attend a rerun conference. Now that the location has been announced I am so excited. (See Volition Thread) Also the same weekend as the Chicagoland NASCAR race in Joliet. May I suggest booking a flight before the auto season revs up in February?

Third, kudos to the MSPA for responding to the survey of MSPA certified shoppers. The unscientific poll through Shop Logs revealed the top reasons for not attending to be Distance/Travel Costs, Conference/Hotel Costs, Time Away From …, Lack of Interest. The MSPA had a captive audience in their email certification system and listened to them (so far). Other questions on the MSPA survey that have yet to be answered (they reopen January 3rd):

Hotel Cost: The lowest choice given for per night hotel cost was $80-95/night
Conference Cost: The conference cost was bragged to include: “2-days, including a Welcoming Reception with appetizers and drinks, Continental Breakfast on both mornings, and Lunch and Dinner on Saturday ” for a range of $125-225. (I don’t have complete notes on this, does anyone remember more accurately?)
Content: And then most importantly, they solicited content ideas! I will be excited to see what comes from the suggestions they received. I know I suggested: an editor’s forum ( I want to hear from my fav companies what the big mistakes are), NO motivational speakers - we are already there, clearly we are motivated, maybe a book study/Q&A with an author - I suggested Poynter, This one is just a pipe dream - I would like to see a list of companies with outstanding complaints against them (as I am sure MSPs can see a list of shoppers).

Oh no, I sent in an assignment Tuesday…and found the business card today in the driveway in the partially melted snow.

I will need to send a scan of it to my scheduler I guess…. It is especially pathetic though…..

TJ,
After we spoke on the phone I did not received an email from you.
I am going to post the info. here for now.

I will leave this up for a week or until I receive an email from you.
Penny

Groups that are informative and supportive in the MSing community:
http://forum.volition.com/
http://p216.ezboard.com/bmysteryshopresources

The online class I teach:
http://class.universalclass.com/MysteryShop
discounted price $16 when using the code: ShopLogs

Cheap MS Companies:
http://www.shopnchek.com/
http://www.mysteryshops.com/shoppers/prospective.asp

Ones I Like Working For:
http://second-to-none.com/normal.htm
http://www.virtuoso.maritzresearch.com/default.asp
http://www.mintel.com/
http://www.a-closer-look.com/ACL/home.htmlhttp://sassieshop.com/2crs/index.norm.php

Some others to check out:
http://www.speedmarkvision.com/index.norm.php
http://www.sassieshop.com/2kern/index.norm.php (schedulers)

I have been researching (using Google’s new blog search - love it!) upcoming features for the column “We Shopped ‘Em - blogs from the shopped” and I am having a field day! These kids are cracking me UP!!!

Selected Quotes:

“one time i dont smile (well i normally dont but i try to be as pleasant as possible)….also apparently she asked what the difference between skin on haddock and skinless haddock was and i said ‘one has skin, one doesnt’”

“hells right b’tches” (okay that was just for fun)

“you know you are gonna get a poor score if its been busy up the a$$ and you are tired, therefore not ‘chip cheery let me kiss your ass cuz you are a customer”

“[store manager] had us sign a contract stating that we would: A) Greet every customer we can B) When ringing, ask for %$#^%$# C) Ask if they found everything okay and of course, D) “THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING WITH US!”
Easy things, so I won’t have a problem…I do it anyway. But those are pretty much the reasons we keep failing the mystery shop…except this one, this one was all on the f^cking salesman…who fails at life and should quit. “

Wait ’til you read them in the newsletter in their entire glory - my side is still splitting!!!!

Question:
“Do Mystery Shoppers work during the pre-Christmas rush? It is a harried
time of year and the accuracy of a Mystery Shop survey would seem to be innacurate because
of the upheaval during this time. Is this a good time to do my Mystery Shop assignment?”

Answer:
“There are two points of view to consider here; the MSP and the business.
The Mystery Shopping Provider needs to complete monthly evaluations still, so they schedule the begining of the month heavily with shops(contributing to inaccuracies), if you aren’t scheduled by the 10th you likely will not be shopping this month.
If the business wants evaluations in December they are surely receiving skewed data, but if they request it they must receive it! While true that it is frustrating to evaluate temporary workers, or employees under holiday stress/circumstances, the business must put their own emphasis on that data.
Bottom line, schedule early for December, and report as if it were a regular shopping experience!”

Email Recieved from CoRI:

“Wow what a great commission.

%$#% &$^&^’s Digital shops receive an $18.00 commission plus reimbursement for the ^%$^%. No-photo assignments have a $12.00 commission plus reimbursement for the *&^*&*. For an added bonus, you will be reimbursed up to a $1.00 tip for having the *&^*& delivered.

Here is what I have near you:”

And what they had near me is 75 miles round trip. Here comes the math teacher in me, ready? Let’s assume that I am ‘lucky enough’ to get the $18 gig. Traveling mostly highway miles, I would spend one hour traveling, at least 10-15 minutes in the store, maybe twenty minutes on the report (in all fariness I haven’t done these in ages, so I am not sure, tell ya what make it 30 minutes incase I cut myself while mutilating the pizza for photos). Now I am making less than $12 per hour before gas and mileage….plus my time….I have only just mailed all my holiday cards, I still have presents to purchase.

This leaves me saying: “Wow what a cheap commission”

My Inbox contains 209 unread messages, seems like Nicole and Paris are still sending me (and many single young people I would venture) viruses!
“Currently 1524 comments are waiting for approval” reads my comment list from the blog, yes it is mostly junk, but there are some nice comments too.
If I copied all the job postings on Volition and pasted them to a Word document it would cover 26 pages, hmmm… I wonder if she actually did that?
I finally was able to update with Mystery Shop Resource and mark all forums read - good hour of my life!

Gosh it feels good to know all the minutia that is still out there to read in the MS world!

I have been unavoidably restrained from posting….it is an entirely unrelated drama to the usual MS drama.
This simply means I have much to say!

One of my fav blog authors, Michelle Collins, was recently on a VH1 special, you know where the commentators make fun of the subjects of the show….. Oddly enough, she did not have the same voice that I read her entries with, I wonder if she knew how strange it would seem for loyal readers to “hear” her sassy comments in her own voice and not our own?? Rather thoughless, but I was excited to see her on “Jewtastic.” (well, we all have to start somewhere…I shudder to think what my TV break might be….)

“Huntington, NY Clothing shops for ladies only $16 “

Okay, how did you read that?

You could read it: “…this shop is only for ladies & it pays $16″
I read it: “this shop only pays $16″

Shall we call this experience or a negative attitude? Well, sometimes they are one in the same in this business!

I almost had the chance to pick up some banks shops today - if only I had the holiday from work.
I have been awaiting a call from work for an hour now and can only assume they want me to work there today instead of travelling about in the new 4″ of snow on the roads.
Should I cuss them or thank them?

Check out this action research by Deva, almost John Stossel!

Signs 1-4 of the Impending Apocalypse:

I am already more profitable than last year although I completed 3% fewer shops and drove 16% less miles with $468.78 still outstanding

I am suddenly shopping for that bastard company again that stiffed me on that bonus … hard to tell which of us lost on that proposition …

Ray & I emailed back and forth in a civil tone

Newsletter done within first week of month (if you don’t mind my two pics I can’t get to work yet)

I received this email from CRS tonight & it was all I could do to only reply in this (trust me it is restrained) crisp manner:

“Shoppers,
This is a reminder that all S****** and R***** shops are due on 12-05 Monday. We are disappointed that almost 200 shoppers have decided to wait until the last day to complete their shops. This makes it very difficult for us to get them wrapped up and over to client by the deadline. Please make sure that if you are not going to be able to complete the shop tomorrow that you communicate with Person1 or Person 2 so that they can plan accordingly. We strongly recommend that shoppers do not apply for these shops if they can not complete them by the due date. Shoppers that cause us delay or do not complete assignments are not considered for any more shops with us.
Thank you,
CRS”

*shed a tear for the poor MSP*

“I am sorry that you are disappointed that shoppers have decided to wait until the last day to complete their shops. I schedule many shops for many companies and use the entire timeframes allowed often.
I did not think this made me a poor shopper.
I complete shops within the allowed time frame and will continue to do so, but would rather not receive a reprimand unless I am actually tardy in completing the work.”