Mystery shoppers have been watching gas prices creep back upward for months with much dismay. The higher gas prices climb, the more money mystery shoppers have to pay to travel to do assignment site visits. With gas prices up almost $1.00 per gallon in many locations in just the last few months, if not more, many mystery shoppers are really starting to feel some pain at the pump each time they fill up.
There are some steps you can take, however, to help take the sting out of those painful fill-ups. Here are some ideas:
Gas Station Assignments. There is nothing that will put a smile on your face faster while you are standing there filling up your tank than knowing you are getting reimbursed for your gas purchase! Now most gas station assignments will reimburse you for only a portion of your purchase, so don’t expect to walk away with $50 or $100 in gas for free! However, if you make an effort to pick up a few of these assignments each week on a regular basis, you will find that this really will make quite a difference in your overall gas expense for mystery shopping.
Phone Assignments. There isn’t a better way to cut down on pain at the pump than to stay off the road, and when you find a few phone assignments that you can do out of the comfort of your home, you can make some bucks while keeping your gas tank full. Look for assignments for credit card companies, banks, pizza shops, and others that require you to make just a phone call or two to earn your paycheck.
Double-booking It. If you have to be out on the road and burning gas, you might as well make that trip worth your while. With gas prices so high right now, it absolutely makes sense to schedule mystery shopping assignments with location in mind. A great idea is to look for several assignments in the same shopping mall, outlet mall, or retail center so you can drive to one location and complete several site visits. Another idea is to pick up assignments that you can complete en route to places you already need to travel, such as on your way to work or to your daughter’s ballet lesson. You can also try to find assignments that serve a double purpose for you, such as a grocery store assignment where you can pick up your groceries for the week while you are also working on an assignment, too.
When gas prices get as high as they currently are, and especially given the fact that they are only expected to go higher yet, you really have to make some adjustments to your mystery shopping habits so that you can avoid pain at the pump. When you take steps to follow some of these tips, you will find that you can continue to make great money as a mystery shopper without spending quite so much in gas, and this means increasing your overall profits!
All these are good suggestions and good business practices one should incorporate regardless of cost of fuel. However, the fact remains that the cost of doing business has increased, therefore with no increase in fees for the same amount of work there is a net loss in revenue.
This specious reasoning is the same as when Government officials tell us to tune our cars, properly inflate our tires or go buy a more efficient car.
Duh. But, doesn’t this beg the question: what about the cost of everything else going up because of the excess cost of fuel? And adding the costs of increased maintenance (since one must assume I wasn’t tuning up before I was reproved for not doing so) and how about that new car payment for the electric car that, incidentally will only travel half as far thus reducing the number of shops I CAN complete in one trip?
Bottom line is our cost are up and like any business if we can’t pass it on with higher fees we will go out of business.
Anyone have any Food Stamp Shops?
I have just reschedule a few of my shops because I was doing other shops in those locations. I was able to do myself on my assignment page without having tocontact a scheduler. This was nice because the dates were available. This way I only have to make 2 trips instead of 4.
I have done several bank shops in one day because they were all in the same city. It makes a lot of work when doing the reports but saved time and gas since the banks were not that far from each other.
There is one company that I work for tat always have several gasoline shops. I have not done them but they do reimburse for 2-4 gallons of gas. There were several locations near me that you could almost get a full tank of gas if you do 5-6 locations in one or two days.
Please send the information so that I may sign up for the gas shopping jobs
I’ve done a lot of gas shops for brands such as Exxon-Mobil; Sunoco, Cumberland Farms; Shell; etc. I wait until the end of the month when the commission is higher. They pay so little for required purchases that it is nearly impossible to walk away from these assignments without added costs. If I’m headed home I will buy milk or something that I need anyway. But if on the road I end up with a lot of bottles of water and an occasional soda or food item. I feel self-conscious purchasing $1 worth of gas. That is 1/4 gallon. I suspect it reveals my shopper identity in and of itself. Also all the photos some companies want. Some are impossible to get and not be seen. I’ve used stories like I’m compiling photos for a book I am writing (which is true), but how many bathrooms, gas pumps. etc. do I need? And the space they take up on my hard-drive!
I just gave up gas shops because of the time consumption of driving from A-B (I live in a rural area), cost of ink to print the forms, time on the computer, plus the day I’ve spent on the road doing shops. Even with a good commission of say $20@ times 10 shops = $200 gross + $20 reimbursement. Subtract the remainder of the gas used, the time & ink to print the forms, and the time to enter the data (almost always at least one has a glitch) say 20 hours I end up with $10 per hour. Not too bad, but what if I’m being paid $10 or less? I haven’t made any money and still am exhausted from all that work.
Take your choice, for some it works, for others it doesn’t.