When you get two or more mystery shoppers together, whether in person or online, the topic inevitably will turn to the low pay of the assignments in general. Mystery shoppers just love to gripe about the poor pay they get for their efforts. With assignments that can often take over an hour to complete with travel, site visit, and report time included, and with some of these assignments paying $10 or less, it’s not hard to see what all of the complaining is about! After all, most mystery shoppers consider their time and efforts more valuable than the equivalent of $10 per hour or less.
However, while there are some low paying assignments that you should absolutely refuse to do unless you simply have nothing better to do and want to get at least a few dollars for your time, there are other assignments that may have more value than you might think. Here are some things to consider before you pass up on another low-dollar assignment:
The Location. Most mystery shoppers certainly would not want to get themselves into a situation of earning less than the equivalent of $10 per hour, but the truth is that some of these seemingly low paying assignments may not take you long to do at all if you are already headed in that direction. Take an honest look at the assignment. Are you going to be driving out in the direction of that site visit for another job or errand anyway? Is the assignment close to work and something that you can do over your lunch break? Sometimes the location can make or break your decision to do the job. After all, if you can write off your mileage to your hourly job one day by simply taking an assignment over your lunch break, wouldn’t that add some benefit to the assignment? With a ten minute site visit, travel to a location you had to go to anyway, and a 20 minute report to file, that $10 assignment pay isn’t really looking too bad!
Your Actual Time. Along these same lines, consider errands that you were already planning on running, such as going to the grocery store or getting gas. If you can pick up the items you need, complete a few requirements on-site while you are shopping or filling up, and then get reimbursed for your time and some of your purchases, that seems like a pretty good deal. Sure, the assignment pay may be like $5, but with a $10 expense reimbursement coupled with time you were already going to spend running those errands, these may be assignments to consider after all. Who doesn’t want to get paid for running personal errands?
Nothing will probably make mystery shoppers stop complaining about their low paychecks, but the truth is that if you pick and choose your assignments wisely and factor in your own travel plans through town for the week as well as items you need to buy on your errands, you can really see far more benefit to working on some of the lower paying assignments than just a flat $5 or $10 rate. It sure would be better to get $20 on such assignments rather than $10, but until providers get wise and increase their pay, we may need to look for that silver lining on some of the low-dollar assignments.
I was just considering this. I don’t mind the lower-paying shops where I also get something else (like food or even alcohol), but I do mind the lower-paying shops (around $7) where I’m supposed to do a pretty extensive shop, give lots of narrative afterwards, and my reimbursement (if any) is some item “up to $1.25”. A lot of these stores don’t even sell things that cost less than $1.25 (because, of course, gum is often excluded from an acceptable purchase). It’s just not worth it IMO, in those types of situations.
Do not forget to cost in printing the assignments which may be 10 or more pages with color. Printer ink is expensive and these companies do not reimburse for paper, ink and electricity. And what about the photographs that have to be taken. If they pay 8 or less and no reimbursement, sometimes you may end up paying them. I think some of these companies are truly abusive of their slave labor.
Personally if an assignment doesn’t pay enough (or not at all) I just won’t accept it. These providers aren’t going to increase their fees while they can get shoppers to do it for so little. The only way to get them to pay a decent amount is to refuse to take the jobs until they do.
My thing is not so much the time as the {__personal information — that is needed. I received phone calls at home .I do not need that or want that.
Ever consider that some of these low-paying jobs are at convenience stores with rewards cards? You get a small reimbursement, you get a small fee and you get points on your rewards card that add up quickly. I don’t think it’s such a bad deal at all.
I don’t think that some of the low-paying jobs are all that bad. The way I look at it is that they add up! I agree with Barbara, that if a shop is at a store where you have a rewards card, it’s a win-win situation, even if the pay is low.
The low paying jobs are not so bad it is the long narritives that have to be submitted. Sometimes they ask you the same question in a different manner. It is like they are try to catch you in something. I have one company that I like to work for. They pay you through paypal which is nice. Keep on keeping on.