A Mystery Shopping Primer from Alaska Lindsey
If you hang out in the comments here, you are familiar with reader Lindsey, who lives in Alaska. She's been hesitant to do a Meet a Reader post, but when I emailed her some mystery shopping questions that one of you sent in, she agreed to answer those questions.
Yay!!
Lindsey has a hedgehog and a dog that you will see later in the post, but just for fun, she also sent in some pictures of the two wolfhounds she used to have.
Here's Lindsey!
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I am writing this from the perspective of someone who has done mystery shops for 15 years, mostly in Alaska but a few in the Seattle area as well. Depending on where you live, some of these things may not apply to you.
First to answer the questions posed by a reader:
How do you find a reputable company?
Certainly, in the beginning, it is best to take the advice of people who have done this for a while.
I work with several companies regularly:
- Ipsos (which has two branches that each handle different types of shops)
- Market Force (which also has two different branches, one that handles movie shops and one that handles other things)
- Intelli-shop.
I have done work for other companies but these are the ones who seem to have most of the contracts for Alaska.
There is a finance blogger who posted a great list of gig economy opportunities. He is an attorney who quit that career and now makes his living with a lot of side hustles. You can find his piece that lists reputable mystery shops he has experience with here. Scroll down to secret shops, which is what he calls mystery shops.
He also did a piece on whether side hustles are worth it that readers may want to check out.
Newbies may find it helpful to download Presto, an app that acts as a sort of broker for a bunch of mystery shop companies. You put in your location and up will pop a map and also a list of the shops in your area. I have never gone wrong using a Presto-sponsored shop.
What does a typical mystery shop entail?
I put all mystery shops into one of three categories: secret shops, secret shops that become revealed shops and revealed shops aka audits.
Secret Shops
Secret shops are the ones where you never reveal that you are doing a shop.
This can be tricky if you need to take a bunch of pictures and you are the only person in the store and the clerk has an eagle eye on you. I am an old woman so it is easier for me because most people don’t think the elderly shoplift (and they would be wrong) and old women become invisible anyway.
If you are young and cute, you may find it harder to shake scrutiny. If you are not good at pretending to shop while you are evaluating the contents of the store as well as the employees you interact with, you might want to reconsider these types of shops.
You do have to be willing to ding an employee or a location that does not meet the guidelines of service that the company gives you.
I won’t lie, a few times it has been really hard for me to be honest because I worry that someone may be fired or somehow penalized for a behavior. Not often, but the times it has happened I had to give myself a stern talking to about my responsibilities toward the contractor paying me. I remind myself that if someone mistreats me it means they probably do it to other customers and it could really impact someone who is tender-hearted instead of born with the hide of a rhinoceros.
I give people the benefit of the doubt whenever I can, and several of the companies say that if it is a knife edge, fall onto the side of giving people grace.
Secret shops that become revealed shops
This is where you start out as a regular customer and then at some point—ta-da! You reveal yourself as a mystery shopper.
Two examples will show it better than I tell it.
There is a convenience store chain with a gas station attached. The requirement is that you purchase gas, then you go into the store and buy something. Once you are done chaining out, you give the clerk a letter that tells them the chain has hired you to do an audit and then you proceed with the audit part. The first unrevealed part is to see how ordinary customers are treated, and then the revealed part is to check out stock levels, cleanliness, whether lights are all working, and so on.
Another example is when I ordered a meal at a family-style casual restaurant. The waitstaff is supposed to ask you if you want a certain soda with your meal.
If they don’t ask, you pay and leave without revealing yourself. If they do ask, at the end of your meal—ta-da! You ask to see the employee and the shift manager and you thank the waitperson and give them a gift certificate that the sponsoring soft drink has sent me ahead of time.
Revealed Shops
Revealed shops (basically audits) are where the management knows you are coming, sometimes they know the exact date and sometimes they only know the week.
Cell phone companies and gas stations with working garages are commonly handled this way. It is an audit, not a mystery shop, and you and the manager go over the list of items they are supposed to have working and at the end you sign and give them a copy.
Sometimes companies have both kinds of shops, mystery shops and audits. The mystery shops are to see how customers are treated, while the audits are to be sure of compliance with certain standards.
Obviously, you cannot do both types because once you do an audit the staff will treat you better if you come in and try to act like a normal customer.
The company will have you choose which type of shop you want and forever more you are confined to that type of shop.
I used to do revealed audits for computer places and garages or lube places but I no longer can be sure my stupid legs will work well and you cannot do these in a wheelchair because of all the wiring, cords, nails, grease, and so on that you might find in one of these places.
My husband does occasional shops, but only revealed ones because he is loathe to secretly evaluate places. The only exception he makes is for hardware store shops, where the lure of being paid to handle the latest tool toys overcomes his reluctance to be secretive. Everyone has a price.
Secret shops I have done:
- casinos (you stay at their hotel, you eat at one or more of the restaurants and sometimes you gamble)
- hotels (you stay for a night and order room service and make a fuss about something being dirty in your room)
- grocery stores
- gas stations
- convenience stores
- cell phone companies
- clothing stores
- banks
- the postal service
- big box stores
- hardware stores
- fast food place
- casual restaurants
- lube change franchises.
There are many more opportunities outside of Alaska because of the number of franchises.
If you fly a lot, there is a company that assigns shops beyond the gate so they need people who are actually flying out of a particular airport.
I know someone who drove across the U.S. after retiring and she would scope out the hotel, gas, and food shops in the upcoming state and in that way paid much of her way from Washington to Maine.
What amount can you expect for payment
It varies by area, how much is involved, and how desperate the companies get. In bigger places, there is more competition so people are willing to take the shops for much less than in other places.
When you are starting out, you may want to take a lower offer just so the company gets to know you.
I have been doing it long enough that companies sometimes call me because I have a proven record of reliability in terms of actually performing the shop, I make sure to meet every aspect the company wants evaluated---if they do not provide a checklist, I make my own---and I write coherently and concisely.
I used to think that the amount offered was what the company could afford. What is the matter with me?? Like any business, especially the ones that use gig contractors like Door Dash and others do, the less they pay you, the more their profit.
I learned otherwise when I got a call one time to take an easy shop but it was in a highway village and the drive was horrible and it was the depth of winter. I kept saying no and they kept raising the price they were offering.
Finally the scheduler, clearly exasperated and desperate to get the contract fulfilled, asked me what it would take to get me to go there. I said, “Probably more than you could pay.” Her response was that this was a huge contract and if it took $400 to get me to go, they would pay me that.
So now if a price seems too low, I wait it out and see if it goes up. That means I risk losing it, but I am lucky enough not to be in desperate financial straits so I can be selective. When Market Force needs someone and no one is picking up a job, they will ask you to make a bid for what you want to be paid. It is done on the computer, which makes it easier for folks who are not particularly assertive or under-estimate the value of their time.
There are times I take lower-paying jobs because they are on my way to someplace so it takes me about 20 minutes to swing by and do that shop. This is especially the case with Presto shops that allow you to fill out the report form as you are in the store or right afterward when you are in the parking lot.
In most shops, I have to go home and enter the info on the computer and download pictures and so on, so there is often a lot of additional time beyond the actual shop. If I can get 2 bottles of pop and $10 of gas for 15 or 20 minutes of work when I am not expensing any extra gas to get there, I’ll do it.
I think that answers all the questions the reader sent to Kristen, but I want to add something about aggravations.
Aggravation #1
To me the biggest annoyance is when you take a new type of job, you follow the instructions and then when you go to fill out the form, they want information (or worse!! Pictures!!) of something you had no idea they would be interested in.
Now, unless I have done the exact same shop before, I manipulate the system to go into the paperwork before I do the shop. This means I have to act as if I am making the real report, putting in a fake date and time, so the actual report form appears. Then I go through every question and if the question is about something that could be negative, I hit no to see if a pull-down menu comes up with a requirement for more explanation or a picture.
Since I learned this, I have saved myself a lot of headaches.
Aggravation #2
Being told to take pictures of something that does not exist.
The gas station shops are the prime offenders in this regard. If there is no squeegee and windshield fluid, how do I take a picture of something that is not there? If the pump does not put out the receipt, how do I take a picture of a non-receipt and do it fast enough to catch the scroll at the bottom that says, “See cashier for receipt.”
Aggravation #3
When there is no one available if you have a question.
I think this is an Alaskan thing, due to the time difference. If I have to do a shop during evening hours, for a company based on the East Coast, by the time I do the shop at 8, it is midnight back there and no one is around if I have a problem.
Tip: Use a spreadsheet
Finally: If you are going to take on mystery shops, do yourself a favor and start out with a spreadsheet where you can keep track of when you did shops (because sometimes you cannot do the same shop within 30 days of the last time you did it, and they depend on you to figure that out. If you screw it up, your shop will be rejected and you won’t be paid).
You should also keep track of mileage for IRS, as well as how much you expect to get paid, when you got paid, and how much.
Different companies pay at different times. Ipsos pays very fast, while Market Force pays you at the end of the month that follows the month you did the shop. So if you did a shop on April 1, you will not be paid until the end of May.
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That’s it, more than you ever wanted to know about mystery shops. I hope that this information helps someone, especially someone in difficult financial circumstances. Some years I have made only a few hundred bucks while other years I have made several thousand.
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Lindsey, thank you! I really appreciate you doing this for us. 🙂 I have always wanted to know more about your mystery shopping life, and now I've been enlightened.
Hi, Alaska Lindsey! I had no idea this whole world existed. And now I do! So thanks for that.
Lindsey, this is a great informational article. It is so thorough! I may give this a try.
On another note, it is wonderful to see a photo of your beloved wolfhounds. They are an incredible breed of dog. I also enjoyed seeing “Pound Hound.” He looks so happy and healthy now. I adopted Rescue Pup about the same time. She is not without challenges, but we adore her.
I hope you are doing well and healing quickly. Wishing you comfort and peace.
Fascinating! I've always been curious about mystery shopping. Thanks for sharing!
Lindsey, thank you for the detailed explanation of mystery shopping--which has been a complete mystery to me up to now. Although I don't think I'd do it myself, I'm delighted that you're doing so well at it.
Also, I'm so glad you included photos of the animals, including the ones that are no longer with you. Have you told Pound Hound yet that he's an Internet celebrity?
Thanks, Lindsey! Seems like a good bit of work, but also like it could be an excellent side hustle. I always thought mystery shopping was probably a scam--shows how much I know!
There is no way I could pose one of my dogs next to a Reese's.
@Rose, There's no way I could pose my dog next to bottles - she really loves the crinkly sounds they make when she chews them (extra points if liquid spurts out).
@Rose, Pound Hound is the most obedient dog I have ever had. He does like to chew paper, so that explains why he ate the receipt, but he never steals food, goes in the garbage, or does any of the other things dog owners complain about. I am at a total loss as to why he was abused and then had a rejected adoption. Except for not being a wolfhound, he is the perfect dog. I mean, I can hardly sit next to a Reese's without breaking into it.
@Lindsey, Eh, people are weird. I once adopted a beagle puppy at Christmastime who was returned because he chewed up a Christmas ornament. Um....beagle? Puppy? They CHEW. He had a long happy life with us, anyway.
Thanks for the well detailed explanation!
Years ago, I thought this would be fun. I signed up and the first thing they offered me was a movie shop. I was so excited until I was given the details. I wasn't to attend a movie, just buy a ticket and hang around for four showings, counting people and checking things for what amounted to less than $5/hr. Apparently no one else wanted the job because after I turned it down, they bugged me incessantly for weeks. They never upped their price and I never thought to ask for more as I didn't want to spend that much time at the theatre. I never pursued another opportunity. Just before the pandemic hit, a grocery store I occasionally shop contacted me and offered a chance to attend a consumer insight meeting. After I qualified, I attended a 90 minute presentation at a local hotel and they paid me $150 in cash. Now that was a fun experience! 😉
This is super interesting. I guess it never occurred to me that this would be as common as it evidently is. Thanks for writing.
Ah yes, that rare chimera human head-rhinoceros body. So rare to encounter one in the “wild.”
🙂
I just really enjoyed your writing. And the explanations. Thank you for sharing, Lindsey!
Thanks Lindsey - I had no idea about this whole thing until recently, and your descriptions really make sense to me now. People so often have their phones out nowadays that I suppose it might be easier than I imagine to take photos, but I'm afraid I would still make a hash of it (feeling vaguely guilty and thus looking obvious and shifty).
I'm so glad to meet Pound Hound; he looks great! And I hope you tell us more about your hedgehog. My daughter's preschool class had a hedgehog and he had a lot of personality. He was surprisingly alert and active during the day (or maybe just shell-shocked from all the little fingers poking at him).
@Suz, I am sad to report that Esmarelda went to hedgehog heaven shortly after I wrote this report and took her picture. I am now out of the hedgehog rescue business but I did love having them around.
Thank you for sharing. It seems like a good side hustle for those that are good at attention to detail and following directions. I am sure you are a valued "shopper" given your wealth of experience and knowledge. Your post if full of helpful information.
Thank you, Lindsey, that was a clear, informative post! I had wondered how mystery shops work, and if they were even real. Once I read here that some people were mystery shoppers, I figured they must be real, not scams, but I was still mystified as to how they worked. Now I know! I might try this when I retire.
What does the icon for the presto app look like? I'm seeing several different Presto apps in the google play store
@Brittany, It says Presto Shopper and has what looks like a brown smiling beaver head. (Or some other small mammal, I've only seen a few beavers...)
I have done freelance copyediting in the past, and my first gig was to copyedit and fact check the responses of mystery shoppers for a customer experience consulting firm.
I got paid per entry form that I copyedited, so every time that one was sloppily filled in my hourly pay went down as I had to take more time to correct the language or check the description against the score given. The mystery shoppers had to write a short narrative of their experience and reasons for their score, so obviously a low score had to be justified in the text. In some cases, we had to ask the shopper to fill in the entry again.
Lindsey, it was interesting to read your experiences on the other end of it!
If anyone is considering mystery shopping, remember that a poorly done evaluation just means more work for someone else down the road 🙂
P.S. as a young student I was also fired from a retail job when a "mystery shopper" (friend of the owner) gave me a bad rapport. I was never warned or given any feedback prior to being fired, and the whole event was a mystery to me as I don't even recall doing what the mystery shopper said I had done.
@Kristina M., I would love for you to do a Freelance Copyediting Primer for us.
I have a few apps on my phone for mystery shopping opportunities. My fave is storage units. For $35, I have to call twice to ask about sizes available and pricing, then visit and view one and take pics. This is a large NC chain and I have 4 within 20 miles and they are all on the way to to places I go.
Apartment complexes are common and pay even better - as much as $100 in some areas. I Spark and IC so I don't do as many mystery shops, but I see some interesting ones that just aren't my thing.
@Jennifer, Those are two shops I have never seen in Fairbanks. Anchorage is much larger so perhaps they have them down there.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up. That was very informative.
Wow, Lindsay, what a lucid, easy to follow exposition of a process that I can see is complicated. I have also thought that mystery shops seem too good to be true but your explanation shows how much work is involved while also showing all the steps of how it can be done. Including temperament! Really well done. I can see why they value you.
Loved seeing your pups, past and present. You weren’t kidding about the size of wolfhounds! So enjoyed meeting Pound Hound….what a good boy!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
That was a really interesting read. Thanks so much for sharing! I also have a dog and hedgie:)
Thank you for the bonus Irish Wolfhound pictures! Just gorgeous.
My mother mystery shopped as a side hustle when I was younger, but she was dismissed after "being spotted" by an employee at one of her assigned locations. Is that a concern with the more secretive shops you do, Lindsey, or is that dependent upon the parent company?
@N, I have only had one instance when an employee asked me if I was doing a mystery shop. I acted clumsy and also spoke back in Russian so by the time I was done the clerk was no longer interested in me. The turnover in retail is pretty high so in most places that would not be an issue, especially if you do shops months apart.
I love Pound Hound but my wolfhounds were the love of my life; sometimes I feel a bit guilty when he is being affectionate and I will think, "Why aren't you Alistair (my all-time favorite dog)? Obviously, I was never of the "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you are with" school of emotion.
It took me a long time to admit that at some point that I had reached the age where I just could not hold the leash if one started to bolt and I or someone else could end up injured. When I was about 30, my first wolfhound took off after a female dog in the back of a pickup that drove by. I stupidly had the leash wrapped around my wrist and his 180 pounds of sexual desire pulled me to the ground and dragged me a considerable distance. These days that would break some of my bones. My dogs were well trained but every so often...I think that is the worst part of getting old, the letting go of things.
@Lindsey, I agree. I have to think twice about doing things I did easily only a few years ago, as my body seems less reliable and more easily broken, bruised, or injured. The good news is I now own a recliner!
@Lindsey, as a dog person who currently has three cats, I get it. Cats are easier to rent with, so I had dogs for the first half of my life and cats for the second. We adopted our current feline trio just a few months before we finally bought a house (which happened more suddenly than we thought it would, admittedly!), and of course all three are afraid of dogs. I haven’t had a dog since moving away from home after college and still desperately miss having one. That said, the death of my fourteen-year-old soul kitty broke my heart, and I’m grateful for the trio my husband and I adopted when we couldn’t stand the empty apartment. Like your Pound Hound, I haven’t the faintest why such wonderful, affectionate cats spent over two years at the no-kill shelter waiting for a home. The scarred former street cat is the silliest, the cuddliest, and the handsomest in his worn way; the “biter” will purr your face off and calls for us around the house; and the “failed adoption” is definitely too clever for his own good, but trouble is obviously how he once received attention, and he’s learned that isn’t necessary here.
My husband and I have mystery shopped on and off for about 15 years. Lindsey gave a really great overview! A few more thoughts:
1. Mystery shopping can be a fun side gig. I think it would be very hard for people to rely on it as their sole means of support. Some people do "routes," where they will offer to do a certain number of shops in a geographic area on a given day. This can reduce gas and toll costs.
2. It is important to record all expenses, including mileage and items such as photocopy expenses. When you are a mystery shopper, you are operating a business.
3. You have to "pay your dues" and start with low paying shops so that schedulers get to see that you can follow directions, are timely, and write well (for shops involving narratives). I've done several hotel shops and a number of fine dining shops, but the amount of detail required and the time needed to write the narratives can be daunting. My husband worked his way up to the point where schedulers e-mailed him directly for higher paying shops rather than posting them on a job board. They knew he was reliable. He started doing mystery shops after retiring.
4. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but the MSPA had a certification program at one point. If you were certified as a "Gold" shopper, the certification increased your chances of getting selected for shops.
5. There is a website called mystery shop forum where mystery shoppers trade stories about companies that pay reliably (or are slow to pay). There are also schedulers that post shops that need to be filled. I logged on and saw shops that were posted today.
6. Mystery shoppers typically have to sign a confidentiality agreement which specifies that they cannot disclose the names of the client companies of the mystery shopping company. If you ask a mystery shopper the names of the mystery shopping companies that do work for a particular restaurant or retailer, they will not be able to tell you.
Thanks for the informative article! And the hedgehog is super cute. OH I have so many questions!!! What an interesting topic--
1) This is a little bold , but I was wondering if you might be able to give us a "range" as to what could be earned (except fort the $400 you do not mention pay). Like, a basic shop (1-2 hours) how much could be earned? A more detailed audit (3-4 hours?), and how much for an overnight stay (restaurant, hotel, gambling) ?? I really have no idea whether the pay is $20 or $1,000! You don't need to reveal your earnings just a general idea of what could be possible?
2) When the "mystery shops" include purchases, do you get to keep the products?
Like tools or groceries?
3) Do they have mystery shopping online? Maybe people who check out the websites, try an order, test how a return is processed? packed? etc. Is THAT a thing?
Thank you so much!
@Millicent,
Hi - for me: $35 worth of groceries - only paid $7 but get that food for free, so I see it as $42 in payment.
I'll often do a chain burger fast casual and will be paid between $10-$25 plus the cost of the food. I will do these if I'm planning on being in the area. It takes me about 20 minutes to fill out the form.
I did a very expensive restaurant, and they covered $360 worth of food & drink, but was only paid $10, but for me to get a free meal at a pricy restaurant was worth it.
This past weekend, I just did a hotel, which included 2 rounds of drinks at the hotel bar, room service dinner, breakfast at the restaurant. It was $50 + expenses, and the expenses came to $599.00 This one took me 3 hours to fill out the form, but it was my first time doing a hotel so I was slow.
So for me, I'm not making much money by doing mystery shops but I get to have some experiences (or food) for no out-of-pocket expense.
@Millicent, I cannot answer your number 1 because of where I live. Our prices and distances impact everything, including what is considered reasonable pay. And it also depends on how many people are interested in the shop, because if there is competition for the shop then people tend to snag them rather than wait and hope the price goes up. There is also a personal evaluation, in that someone desperate for money would consider a $10 profit but pop and gas to be heavenly. Someone who just wants to get free car washes and lube jobs won't be happy unless the entire $95 lube job is covered.
Yes, I get to keep the purchases, except for shops that have grading a company for its return policies as part of the shop. Which is how I get free grocery food, free restaurant visits, lube jobs (have not paid for one in 15 years and we have two vehicles), free gas, free pop and Reece's, free food grade buckets and lids...the list goes on and on.
There are mystery shops that are phone based so you can do them from home, or they involve a web order and return (so you would have to go to the post office to complete it).
@Lindsey, Thank you so much!!! I learned a lot-- and mystery shopping sounds like a great gig.
@BettafrmdaVille, Thank you for your candidness. That posh restaurant mystery shop sounds GREAT, plus you got an experience you might not have had otherwise-- I love it when I can combine work and business. To report back on how the eggs benedict tasted LOL or how nice the bartender was AND the companies listen to your opinion! Someone could really activate change, like, for example, if a hotel did not have wheelchair access and the mystery shopper was in a wheelchair and reported that she did not have access to, say, the ice machine or one of the cafes was not wheelchair friendly.
Appreciate the shout-out in this post. It's really amazing what you can get from secret shopping. I get literally thousands of dollars of free food every year by taking advantage of these apps and websites. In addition to food, I've been able to get free car washes lately from a car wash right next to my wife's office. Our car has never been cleaner!
I started doing mystery shops because of Alaska Lindsey & have been doing it for about a year (as a side gig). Her advice is SPOT ON!
In addition to other benefits, I have not had to buy several grocery staples in a year, thanks to a VERY good ongoing mystery shop.
So neat! Love the advice of going through the form in advance & watching for sales adjustments. I used to do this years ago, and I just picked up fun jobs—things like going to a yoga class, grabbing a free sub sandwich, and going to a movie theater. As a new mom it was refreshing work:)
Very thorough information Lindsey, thank you! I've done a bit of Mystery Shopping, bit I'm I rural Maine now and it's hard to find shops anywhere within 100 miles. You are right about knowing your worth! Market Force had been paying only $10 or so for shops at one chain, and I put in a bid for $45 and they took it!
Also, some companies want so much detail, it's hardly worth the money. Coyle is like that. The evaluation forms would take me hours to fill out.
I certainly can't count on the money, but it's a fun way to get a freebie now and again.
Lindsey, this is such great information. And it's so cool to see Pound Hound (what a handsome boy!) and your gorgeous past wolfhounds. Thank you!
funny i first learned about mystery shopping from mary hunt who took over from amy d. did it for over ten years. got plenty of free meals. did borders book stores for a long time, old navy. They wanted me to shop car dealerships but i never did. i even did a ton of starbucks shops where i had to measure the temperature of the hot drinks. have not done mystery shopping since i got married 22 years ago. when i was single i got extra money by working the election polls.
Thank you for explaining it all. I worked at a movie theatre for 13 years and I received many mystery shop rewards. They always made my day.
Hi Lindsey - I always wanted to try mystery shopping, like go to a movie and rate it. the other places you mention just seem too involved. so for now i will just do my crafts and go to thrift stores and small festivals, market places in the summer and sell them their. I love doing crafts bc it settles my mind, love hearing compliments about them, and enjoy seeing the end product! Good for you that you have made a job at doing the mystery shopping.
Lindsey, Thank you for your article. It is so well written, clear and thought out, have you considered submitting it for publication in a larger platform? Magazine, newpaper etc. I love that you say, "pop". I am a misplaced Michiganian living in CT, every time I say "pop" instead of "soda" I get strange looks.
I used to be a "mystery eater". A friend recommended me to the company.
Once a month I would get a call to sign up, they would give me a list of restaurant locations in my area with dates and times (you could only pick one per month). I would get a packet in the mail (this was pre-internet) and it would tell me what I had to order, what my "other" had to order, what to look for and other requirements - we had to check restrooms for cleanliness, what posters were on windows, what was on the table. Then we had to critique the food and plating, etc. I would have to scribble everyone's name from their nametags under my napkin so I could include that in the report. I did have to pay upfront for the meals, make sure to get a receipt and then submit it for payment. The forms could be four to six pages long. Sometimes we would be required to order carryout meals.
My husband and I used them for a monthly date night! And if we were traveling, I would tell my caller and she would see if there were any openings on our route.
This is something I've been curious about. Thank you so much for the helpful information, Lindsey!
$ aside, it just seems to me that you're doing a real public service for all of us consumers, and for the companies that hire you. Are we getting not just the products but the customer service we want? Are companies getting the public-facing service cred they want? Kudos to you!
I did these for a few years, and due to my personality (being maybe overly-thorough, spending lots of time on paperwork, driving too far to please them, seeing that some companies weren’t super-ethical, stuff like that), I really found it wasn’t worthwhile for me. I worked for the companies mentioned in a Midwest suburban area. Here’s an example- buy a pack of gum at gas station, but it was 10 miles away, had to be at a certain time, didn’t like that kind of gum, had to take photos and download stuff for $7, but the whole thing took an hour ! It just ended up that I made more by just working a few extra hours at my job, and/or being good at being frugal. I never got to do a hotel, casino, or oil change. The only restaurant was a burger place named after a certain number of men, over and over, didn’t like the food, and it felt sort of wrong to keep saying the same thing over and over, which didn’t seem helpful to anyone. But, hey, give it a try, I’d say…
@Jenny, I am sorry your experience was so dismal. My gas shops have been completely different from your shops and I have not had any unethical stuff happen. Maybe things have changed over the years or we are so isolated that we aren't the mecca for unethical companies, but while I have had a hiccup now and then, overall I have found it to be lucrative side gig. Even if I did not others, I would keep doing the lube job and the grocery store assignments because they are easy, fast and pay very well either in goods or cash or both.
I used to do mystery shops for fun and as an odd job. Your post is great, very accurate and thorough! I have a few funny stories. I did a movie theater once, and I had to have a ticket stub for proof I was there. But it was such a SMALL town theater, that the owner took your money at the counter and just waived you in. There were only four of us there! So I made up some ridiculous story about wanting to scrapbook about my night and needing a ticket for the scrapbook. She bought it and scrounged up a random ticket, the kind they use for raffles, and gave it to me. Another remote small town McDonalds pegged me right away. You had to go through the drive thru, then go inside and order again. Well, it was so small and slow that the same person was at the drive thru window as was at the counter. I saw the recognition in her eyes instantly. After taking my order she beelined for the manager. As part of the shop, I had to sit and observe cleanliness for 10 minutes, but if they clean during that time, they don’t get dinged. The manager came rushing out and cleaned the whole place spotless in 10 minutes LOL. McDonalds and gas stations were my favorites. Movie theaters, not so much.
Interesting read!
I used to do mystery shopping in Western Canada and this post has made me want to look into starting it up again.
What I found most difficult was a recurring mystery shop that required 7 departments in a big box store to be evaluated in one visit, with roughly 8 or so items to be evaluated in each department. No note taking allowed as the shopper had to be inconspicuous. It was far too much to try to remember (name of each person interacted with in each department, wait time for assistance in each department, how many other customers were in the department, were you asked X, were you asked Y, etc.). I had to stop doing those.
I also used to mystery shop for a movie theater chain. I enjoyed those for the most part. Some months there weren't any movies that I would have chosen to go to so I'd just go see anything and leave after the required time if the movie was not holding my interest. For these shops I wasn't paid but was given 2 adult admission passes and a gift card for the concession.