MS Poll - What should we do with RA!

So, something along the lines of general advice for newbies e.g

"When booking a job take the time to see if the fee reflects the amount of work involved. Consider printing and reading the instructions, travel time to/from the location (and petrol) the time spent completing the job and then the report"

With experience this time will get shorter as you learn your own methods, layout of reports and become more confident.

Before accepting the job take the time to think whether or not the fee is worth the work. This will be different depending on circumstance. For example, taking the job alone may not make you a profit, but if you are already traverling to that location for another job it may be suitable.

How much a shopper will work for is personal choice. Within the Mystery Shopping Industry the fee's paid to shoppers have been dropping lower and lower for many years. Those of you that are taking on this in todays climate will not have the experience of knowing the differance between what was paid once upon a time, and what is now currently being offered.

There are currently a few companies offering very low fee's for the work involved. The fee's paid would not come to half the national minimum wage, but as we are self employed, laws do not govern us, we govern ourselves.

The companies will continue to pay lower and lower fee's if people are happy to complete the jobs for that price. More experienced shoppers will not, as they can compare past fee's and similar jobs. As new shoppers you cannot do this, so follow the advice above and work out if that fee is worth your time.

Do not worry. There are plenty of good companies that offer a reasonable price for the work they require, but like everything, there are always one or two that try it on :-)