It's Been a While

It's been a while since I posted. I started grad school again at the end of August and I am now teaching in the classroom again. I have been working as an itinerant (traveling) teacher and seeing three students a week and attending IEP (ARD) meetings for up to 50-70 kids a year. Plus supervising other teachers. Being back in the classroom has been rewarding, but it has kept me very busy.


I continue to mystery shop, but slowed down a GREAT deal in September. I worked a bit more in October and am now picking up more shops again. I don't really shop during the week because I just don't have time. I finished my grad school classes four weeks early, so now I do have time to do some SHOPS! I have been doing gas shops and lots of restaurants. I won't sign up for too many gas shops when it gets cold though!


I will still only work on weekends, but I have picked up SEVERAL shops this week while I am off for Thanksgiving. There have been quite a few incentives offered because the companies want to get the shops completed. It gives me a chance to make some extra money!


I'll try to post more often, but there hasn't been much to post about!

Summer 2014

I have really slowed down on the number of shops I am doing each week. I am taking one grad school class and both boys are home for the summer. Jacob will be heading off to college in the Fall and Elijah is going into the 8th grade. I am ready to slow down and spend some time with them. Financially, I am doing better and don't absolutely need the money from mystery shopping. I am taking some food shops for restaurants that I really like. I am also taking some high dollar shops that have nice incentives! I am also saying NO to a lot of shops when the companies call and ask me to do them. I am enjoying not being so busy and have the luxury of being picky when it comes to doing shops! NOW, when the gas shops come back, I will be jumping on those, but still not doing as many as I used too!

It's Hot!

As I said in my previous post, summer is one of the busiest times for me. Unfortunately, it is also HOT here in Texas. I had four shops yesterday and they should have all been quick shops. However, one of the shops that usually takes twenty minutes, took an hour instead. I won't go into the details, but the restaurant was shorthanded and busy. Another restaurant had computers that were down and this made for a longer ordering process. It also took longer to get my food. All of this put me out in the heat longer than I intended to be. My car also heated up nicely while I was in the restaurant. It turned into a four hour outing instead of a two hour outing. Traffic didn't help either.

I had three shops today and they were all five minutes shops, however I couldn't start them until 4:00 pm. This is a HOT part of the day. Even with my AC on HIGH it was still hot in the car. I always make sure I pack water to have in the car and I try not to be out in the hottest part of the day, but that isn't always easy. At least the gas stations are done and I won't be walking around stations trying to take pictures.

I only have two shops tomorrow and they are both fast food shops. One of them is paying over triple the regular fee! I have no shops on Saturday and only one on Sunday. Maybe I can take the boys swimming, if the water in the pool is cool enough!

Summer is a Busy Time!

The summer is one of the busiest times for me as a mystery shopper. I am a school teacher, so during the school year I usually only shop on the weekends. I get the occasional dinner shop during the week, but other than that it is all weekend shopping. I also keep busy during the holidays during the school year, but summer is my busiest time.

I spent the first week that I had off doing two gas shops a night for five nights in a row. I also spent two days in East Texas doing gas stations. Right now, I am getting phone calls offering me incentives to do fast food shops. Jacob has finally grown tired of fast food! I did go out of town for six days, so no shops during that time period, but I came home to more night time shops. I still have two more night time gas stations to do in the next few days.

I have printed me a calendar for this month and next month, and actually blocked out several days that I WON'T work. I would actually like to spend some time with the boys and maybe get in a few movies. I also think my honey would like me to spend some time with her!

I am hoping to try a few new companies if possible. One company I work for has had a huge decrease in shops. I am not sure why, but there just aren't that many shops with them. Hopefully things will pick up and before you know it, I'll be back in school!

Sometimes Companies Call Too Many Times

I wrote a blog a while back about answering the phone even if you don't know who is calling, because it might just be a mystery shopping company offering an incentive. I still believe in this, BUT sometimes these companies call a little too much. There is one company that I really like, but they have called me four times in the last two days about a specific kind of shop. It would require me to be out late at night and I won't do them during the work week. I remind them that I have signed up for several of these shops over the next few weeks, but will only do them on a Friday or Saturday night. Once school is out, I can do more, but these shops end the week after I get out of school.

This company doesn't even offer an incentive to do these late night shops. Well they do, they are $2.00 more than the day time shops, but if they are that desperate then offer a bit more! Another company I work for starts offering incentives within two weeks of the shop being posted. I do have this company on my caller ID and I sometimes don't answer and see what kind of message they leave me. I also can't believe that they can't put something in the notes of my shopper page stating they have already called me and DON'T need to call me again for at LEAST a few days or even a few weeks!

Right now, I have more work than I need. I am working it hard on the weekends and don't need ANY more shops at this point!

You Don't Have to Take Every Shop!

I have been mystery shopping for a bit over two years now. I work for seven different mystery shopping companies. When I first started, I took just about any shop I could get. Since the, I have learned to pick and choose. I don't do bank shops any more. They are boring and tedious. They can also take up a lot of my time on a weekend, and that keeps me from doing other shops.

I like doing the food shops, especially at the restaurants that I really like. In fact, I am getting three times the pay to go to one of my favorite places to eat tomorrow night, plus my meal is paid for. I have learned to read the fine print before taking a shop. Sometimes the pay just isn't very good or there is no reimbursement. Sometimes the shop is just too far away.

We are going out of town in a few weeks, so I just blocked off my calendar for no shops on that weekend. That is the best thing about mystery shopping....I can work as much or as little as I want. The second best thing is I get to pick and choose the shops I want.

Answer the Phone

I have learned that sometimes I just have to answer my cell phone, even if I don't know who is calling. It just may be a scheduler at the other end of the phone ready to offer you an incentive to do a shop! Just this morning, I was getting out of the shower when my cell phone rang. I didn't know the number, and I figured it was a mystery shopping company! I almost didn't answer it, because I wasn't sure I wanted more shops, but I thought "YOU can always say no!" I am glad I answered it, because it was from one of the new companies I signed up for. The scheduler offered me three retail shops that are $10 each, with no purchase requirements. I had signed up for them about a week ago, but hadn't been assigned them. I gladly took them and she put them on my schedule board!

I got another phone call today from another company I work for, and got another gas station for next week and was cleared to try some other shops that they have. Sometimes, you just have to take a chance and answer the phone! You never know who might be on the other end!

Incentives!

An incentive in mystery shopping, is when extra money is offered to complete a shop. One company I work for, offers these on a regular basis and it can be as little as $2.00 extra to do a shop to $40 to do the shop.

Several things can impact the size of the incentive:

• The distance the shop is from your home.
• The time frame of the shop. If the company has a deadline, they want to get it done!
• The size of the city where the shop is located--if it a small town in the middle of no where, odds are that there are not too many shoppers in the area.

There is one large company that I work for that RARELY offers incentives and if they do, it is just a dollar or two. However, they sent an email out recently stating they NEEDED shops done and to give them a call. They were even offering incentives. Well, I looked and there were five shops within an hours drive from me, in an area that I know well. I called and asked about doing them and asked about the incentive. The associate asked me how much I wanted for each shop and I said $5.00 extra. She put me on hold and came back that they would give me $5.00 extra for each shop. This meant a total of $25 in incentive. The actual shop pays $10 plus around $9 in reimbursement. Just the incentive and fee alone are $75! Needless to say, I took the shops!

I once got $35 in incentive to do ONE fast food shop that was 45 minutes away. I took it and found a few more shops to do along the way! Once you sign up with a company, start looking to see if they offer incentives. They can really add to your paycheck.