Spectos/Royal Mail Monitoring and Posting Panel

Graceglow

Happy_girl said:

Graceglow said:

Happy_girl said:

I'm not sure if anyone can help? I joined Spectos in April and have completed the Correctly Addressed Survey and today am due to start the Unaddressed Survey.  However when I go to the App. on my iPhone the 3 images under 'Due items' will not load i.e do not show am image, just effectively a grey box. I have an iPhone.  I therefore cannot do survey. I'm not sure how I can rectify this or what I should do?  I have only contacted Spectos once and it took over two weeks to get a reply! 

I think this has happened to people on the UM before. It should correct itself within a couple of days. 

Thank you and to Hollie_  What do I do in the meantime as I cannot answer the questions without not knowing what I should be expecting?  Just answer 'NO' to the due items? 

Just leave the due items section until you receive any. 

You just have to report the daily item volumes.

Saetana

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Graceglow said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

HonestJohn said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

piker57 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I received on Saturday 27 May  stamps for April/May. However not sure why I get them because I am not on the live panel and currently on the UA survey.  

The terms of being a Spectos Mailagent state that as long as you’re registered as a panel member you’ll receive 12x 1st class & 4x large letter stamps per month & a souvenir pack every 6 months. It does say you have to be on the live panel to get the stamps. The points awarded are the rewards for activities performed, i.e. conducting the UA survey, or mailing items.

If that turns out to be what they meant, it would certainly be a lot more generous than Kantar!

Surely, when you are resting, you are not on the live panel so no stamps.

piker57 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I received on Saturday 27 May  stamps for April/May. However not sure why I get them because I am not on the live panel and currently on the UA survey.  

The terms of being a Spectos Mailagent state that as long as you’re registered as a panel member you’ll receive 12x 1st class & 4x large letter stamps per month & a souvenir pack every 6 months. It does say you have to be on the live panel to get the stamps. The points awarded are the rewards for activities performed, i.e. conducting the UA survey, or mailing items.

Money_Grabber13579 said:

piker57 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I received on Saturday 27 May  stamps for April/May. However not sure why I get them because I am not on the live panel and currently on the UA survey.  

The terms of being a Spectos Mailagent state that as long as you’re registered as a panel member you’ll receive 12x 1st class & 4x large letter stamps per month & a souvenir pack every 6 months. It does say you have to be on the live panel to get the stamps. The points awarded are the rewards for activities performed, i.e. conducting the UA survey, or mailing items.

If that turns out to be what they meant, it would certainly be a lot more generous than Kantar!

With the stamps they sent the following message:

"Since you were also not planned for the week 21 May, we send you hereby 2 sets of stamps, which cover April and May"

Make of that what you will!

Maybe you are registered on the live panel, you just haven’t been chosen to receive & send post yet.
Something similar happened to me. I registered in December & got December’s stamps. I didn’t receive or send any items until mid January.

I was originally with Kantar then signed via them to Spectos in December 2022. I have never been informed I was ever on the live panel.

On checking I have have received two test letters from them to send back and one was in Feb and one in March. If I am on the live panel should I have not received some Presentation stamps at the start. 

I am certainly not complaining but it seems unfair on those panelists who have to work their socks off for their stamps and I do little work and basically gets the same minus the Presentation stamps and some points.

With Spectos we get paid for every single item we send and receive, even our posting packs and returning RFIDs.  This is in addition to getting our stamps every month.  Those who are busier are therefore getting paid more, we can cash out for a £25 voucher every time we hit 2500 points and there are plenty to choose from.  I have already had two vouchers and am well on the way to a third, and I would say I am one of the quieter panellists - usually getting just one bundle to post most weeks plus the occasional mail sack for the post office.  So it definitely pays better than Kantar in that respect - the only thing they don't have is the prize draws but frankly I hardly ever won one so I'd rather have the definite payment. 

kerri_gt

With Spectos we get paid for every single item we send and receive, even our posting packs and returning RFIDs.  This is in addition to getting our stamps every month.  Those who are busier are therefore getting paid more, we can cash out for a £25 voucher every time we hit 2500 points and there are plenty to choose from.  I have already had two vouchers and am well on the way to a third, and I would say I am one of the quieter panellists - usually getting just one bundle to post most weeks plus the occasional mail sack for the post office.  So it definitely pays better than Kantar in that respect - the only thing they don't have is the prize draws but frankly I hardly ever won one so I'd rather have the definite payment. 

I actually think it's fairer to pay everyone vs the prize draws. I've done a shopping panel for 20-odd years and never won one of their prize draws. Paying people equally vs paying people in 'hope' is far more of a motivation imo.

CRISPIANNE3

Saetana said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Graceglow said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

HonestJohn said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

piker57 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I received on Saturday 27 May  stamps for April/May. However not sure why I get them because I am not on the live panel and currently on the UA survey.  

The terms of being a Spectos Mailagent state that as long as you’re registered as a panel member you’ll receive 12x 1st class & 4x large letter stamps per month & a souvenir pack every 6 months. It does say you have to be on the live panel to get the stamps. The points awarded are the rewards for activities performed, i.e. conducting the UA survey, or mailing items.

If that turns out to be what they meant, it would certainly be a lot more generous than Kantar!

Surely, when you are resting, you are not on the live panel so no stamps.

piker57 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I received on Saturday 27 May  stamps for April/May. However not sure why I get them because I am not on the live panel and currently on the UA survey.  

The terms of being a Spectos Mailagent state that as long as you’re registered as a panel member you’ll receive 12x 1st class & 4x large letter stamps per month & a souvenir pack every 6 months. It does say you have to be on the live panel to get the stamps. The points awarded are the rewards for activities performed, i.e. conducting the UA survey, or mailing items.

Money_Grabber13579 said:

piker57 said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

I received on Saturday 27 May  stamps for April/May. However not sure why I get them because I am not on the live panel and currently on the UA survey.  

The terms of being a Spectos Mailagent state that as long as you’re registered as a panel member you’ll receive 12x 1st class & 4x large letter stamps per month & a souvenir pack every 6 months. It does say you have to be on the live panel to get the stamps. The points awarded are the rewards for activities performed, i.e. conducting the UA survey, or mailing items.

If that turns out to be what they meant, it would certainly be a lot more generous than Kantar!

With the stamps they sent the following message:

"Since you were also not planned for the week 21 May, we send you hereby 2 sets of stamps, which cover April and May"

Make of that what you will!

Maybe you are registered on the live panel, you just haven’t been chosen to receive & send post yet.
Something similar happened to me. I registered in December & got December’s stamps. I didn’t receive or send any items until mid January.

I was originally with Kantar then signed via them to Spectos in December 2022. I have never been informed I was ever on the live panel.

On checking I have have received two test letters from them to send back and one was in Feb and one in March. If I am on the live panel should I have not received some Presentation stamps at the start. 

I am certainly not complaining but it seems unfair on those panelists who have to work their socks off for their stamps and I do little work and basically gets the same minus the Presentation stamps and some points.

With Spectos we get paid for every single item we send and receive, even our posting packs and returning RFIDs.  This is in addition to getting our stamps every month.  Those who are busier are therefore getting paid more, we can cash out for a £25 voucher every time we hit 2500 points and there are plenty to choose from.  I have already had two vouchers and am well on the way to a third, and I would say I am one of the quieter panellists - usually getting just one bundle to post most weeks plus the occasional mail sack for the post office.  So it definitely pays better than Kantar in that respect - the only thing they don't have is the prize draws but frankly I hardly ever won one so I'd rather have the definite payment. 

Thank you for your very informative post. So I assume I am not on the live panel and I get the stamps each month as a retainer.

NBLondon

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Thank you for your very informative post. So I assume I am not on the live panel and I get the stamps each month as a retainer.

Here's a guess...   You signed up but they didn't need people in your area straightaway so they are paying the monthly stamps as a retainer so that when they do need someone; they can come straight to you and say "please start next week".  

I don't think anybody has yet completed a cycle with Spectos - so we don't know if they will continue to send the stamps while resting.  I'd suspect not - that would be far more than Kantar ever did and the idea is supposed to be that you do UA and CD while resting.

Saetana said:

 I would say I am one of the quieter panellists - usually getting just one bundle to post most weeks plus the occasional mail sack for the post office.  

I guess it depends on the demand in your area - how many addresses, volume of post, mix of business and personal mail.  Or maybe if there are specific routes that RM wants to investigate.  (It was commented above about seeing Channel Islands addresses - I've had more of those in 8 months of Spectos than in 8 years of Kantar).

I'm sending out one mailbag a month and one or two bundles a week.  I get more incoming - especially with the packages of books.  Looking it at the return addresses, half of those packages are definitely being sent by business panellists and half have a Spectos address.  Which suggests that RM may be more concerned with tracking performance of that sort of package than they are letters.

themadvix

Spectos informed me back in April that I was on a rest period until October, yet I received both April and May’s stamps last week 🤷🏼‍♀️ I have no idea whether that’s right or not, but have made sure to tell them about my holiday in July, just in case! (I was live with Kantar until the very end, so would expect to be resting now). I really hope they’ve got their act together by the time I am live (whenever that may be!).

Graceglow

Hurray 🎉 I’ve finally received April/May stamps. The accompanying memo slip says there was a glitch in the system, that’s why Aprils never arrived! 

NBLondon

Here we go again.....   Postie has just delivered the bundle for 9th June and when I log it the app asks me if I have received 2 bundles.  Nope.   I don't have the bundle for 5th June so what's the betting that will have the same A number and be a mailbag?

Also today's books - a Dan Brown which I will read as a guilty pleasure and a romance novel which goes on the "straight back" pile to be dropped off at the same time as that next mailbag.

MikeyPGT

I've been running with the unaddressed mail survey since 8 May and have not received any thing at all.  I notice that they have all now moved into the overdue section.  Do I record them as not having been delivered or do I hang on for another 2 weeks to do that?  

HonestJohn

MikeyPGT said:

I've been running with the unaddressed mail survey since 8 May and have not received any thing at all.  I notice that they have all now moved into the overdue section.  Do I record them as not having been delivered or do I hang on for another 2 weeks to do that?  

Mine disappeared. I did not know you could report them as not delivered.