Follow the directions as closely as possible to what they're asking you to do and it seems obvious but act natural and have fun with it. You're actually helping your community when you take these shops by improving the end customer experience for whichever shops you're doing. Be patient with the payouts. You'll eventually get approved, but then some places take up to two months to actually pay out.
This depends on your area and willingness to travel as far as what shows up on your board. I live in Southern AZ so there's not a ton out this way as opposed to say Las Vegas, Los Angeles or New York. For down time, look at the phone/web shops to get more experience and also make some extra cash.
I personally only use the web except for Geo locating the start time just before I start the shop. Web to me is easier to navigate and easier to read.
MY toxic traits are restaurants (food places), fixing peoples problems, and body language. Let me explain why though;
- I spent almost ten years working with food both in lower demand areas like a deli, and higher end places where the price of the food wasn't even on the menu because the customers didn't care about the money part. After dealing with things like how things are plated, cleanliness, food safety, auditors, inspectors, demanding customers and some really talented people it just becomes a way of life. Even before shopping, I normally ask to use the restroom but get lost and oops end up in the kitchen to see if their work area is clean, mops in the sink, mop heads in the proper locations hanging face down, full trash cans, steam coming from the dish area, odd smells, trash on the floor, organization and uniforms. If it's not up to par, I'll cancel my order and walk out.
- My current job is working for an IT company. Mostly old people that call in because their screen turned sideways, mouse stopped working, printer doesn't print, Email says it's full and they can't figure out how to delete things they don't need, but need everything even dating back to 2014 etc. So my job is to fix things for them which I just had my 9th anniversary at this current place.
- Body language comes both from the military and sales. Reading someone usually tells you more about them than their words will. During assisted living shops to make myself more convincing I normally ask, "Would you let your parents live here and would you live here when the time comes?" and "The food here looks ok, and the kitchen looked pretty well staffed. How often do you look forward to eating here with your residents?" Unless the other person is pathologic, it'll normally spark some body language like looking left or right, fidgeting with their hands or feet, or a super quick and unfelt yes absolutely!
On my last assisted living shop, I caught myself checking the fire alarms and door tops for dust...
Tanya, at the top of the web page look for the link for the ISS Prep Certifications. Also here's a link for it: https://issprep.com/shopper/user/login
I sent an Email to them asking why it was taking so long to have my apartment shop approved. I got feedback in Email just stating that they were super busy but then the next day one of the shops got kicked back asking me for more detail about a shop I had completed three weeks ago and wanting the play by play scenario. I mean on one hand I'm happy thy let me do more with it but on the same hand after I've completed eight other shops since then it becomes a bit harder to recall exact "play by play" from the time I entered to the time I left. This shop was submitted now three weeks ago, turned in with literally almost a page of notes, complete explanation that their phones were down while trying to schedule so it became an unscheduled per the scheduler, and somewhere around 500 words on the play by play with the response being to turn the shop in completed, then within the five days incomplete the shop to update is on the follow up call/Email questions, then complete it again? Weird
Jodi,
I've just started Emailing the schedulers. "I can do shop ID: ######" and have had more luck than just turning in an application. Hope it helps if you try it!
So doing the math on this, here in AZ they're paying out $114 for 1,900 items scanned which IF you can do 1,900 items works out to $0.06 per scan. Lets factor in some walking time, waiting for other customers to move, looking for items, etc. An apartment shop pays out anywhere from $35 - $45 per hour and takes only about 45 minutes to complete minus report time. I would personally rather do four apartment shops at $140-$180 payout and three hours work total, instead of five to six hours stressed about finding items and hitting that 1,900 expected for any decent pay. On top of that getting certified to stress out at bare minimum pay just isn't on my bucket list of life experiences.
To track your mileage, look up an app called MileIQ in the app store for tax purposes for the 1099 write off expense part of things. As far as getting audited, I invest with Fidelity and have had my own business for several years and haven't ever even come close mainly because I don't write everything off probably. The 1099 should show you your earnings by EOY then it's the the tax liability which honestly doesn't do much for an actual tax break in my past experiences.
Just curious, not complaining but how long do you guys and gals usually wait for a shop to be approved? Some places I've noticed do same day/week but then others I end up waiting now going on three weeks for an approval or denial. Really debating on just not doing business with a certain company in the future especially with the payouts being so small and anywhere from 7 days which I don't mind up to over two months.
It depends on what's available honestly. I'm not doing any of the shops offering $0.06 per scanned item when they're expecting me to stay in the store discreetly scanning things for 8 hours at 2,400 items, but this week I'm doing almost the entire weekday and on Saturday I have three lined up which should be about an hour of time and worth the cash as long as it's not one of those payouts happen 66 days after approval things.
Janice, you don't have to "apply" and do a hard pull or anything for a quick quote. Talk to the company and just say you think you're in the market to buy a home instead of renting, or are looking to buy an investment property as a rental, but want to know how their mortgage works, who the bank would be, ask what the interest rates are and ask if the quote given also would include escrow, or things like are you able to buy down a point or two on the interest rate and what the payments and savings would be short and long term if you did that. You can also ask what the rates are for new home owners, are there any introductory offers similar to credit card shopping and what the credit and loan implications would be on your credit score if you were to proceed. Most places will do what's called a soft pull if they even do a pull at all (you can give your credit score or just make one up in the 700 range and then all said and done let them know you have a few other places you would like to check out and will let them know if/when you're ready to proceed.