How often do you hit the convenience store for a quick soda or a snack? Can you spend hours looking down the aisles at your grocery store, or do you travel for work or pleasure often?
Over 40 million Americans average about 40 minutes in a grocery store weekly, so why not get paid to be there?
Route shopping finds ways to make you money on trips you do on a regular basis.
Initially make a list of all the places you frequent in a month’s time. Be flexible with the time or day and odds are you can make money by developing a route for mystery shopping the stores you frequent.
Typical mystery shop routes to consider:
- Scheduling for a day of shopping and dining
- Out of town visits including hotel and gas shops
- Vacation planning around parks or scenic venues (Disney World, Busch Gardens, etc.)
Mystery shop companies such as The Source have grocery store shops and office supply shops frequently, and Alta360 Research will let you get gas and a donut at many convenience chains.
For added benefits I use points or loyalty cards. Businesses such as 7 Eleven, Kroger, Food Lion, Office Depot, Staples and many other loyalty programs can be adopted (not always) simultaneously with mystery shops.
TNS usually has mystery hotel visits throughout the year. Amusement Advantage has numerous vacation friendly mystery shops depending on where you live.
Besides some of the companies highlighted above to find work, let me mention some other useful tools to help create route mystery shopping for you.
Google Maps can be employed for mapping your destinations via walking, driving or taking the bus. You can also look at the landscape of the area and potential nearby businesses. Honestly I have found no better source for that kind of information.
As far as other sources for mystery shops the largest sources on line are Sassie built websites, Prophet built websites, Independent websites, and Independent schedulers.
I can highly recommend shopper websites that combine many agencies on one page like Job Slinger, and MS Job Board.
I do not pay for services to help find mystery jobs. I have nothing against companies who do this; however, for me I found that to be counter-productive to making money or getting items for “free”.
Keep in mind if you travel for work or vacation away from home these websites will help you find mystery shops there as well. So you can potentially eat, stay in a hotel and get gas for free while on a trip to somewhere new and exciting.
Finally allow plenty of time between mystery shops in case unexpected elements happen. The business may be closed or moved, which is a common occurrence. In my experience it is best to attempt a “first time” or “first of its type” mystery shop locally before traveling somewhere you are unfamiliar with the area.
Happy Shopping Everyone.
James Edward Montgomery is a professional mystery shopper and company brand ambassador. With over 30 years experience in both fields he writes from practical experience and hails from the SW Virginia area.
I am interested
I am too interested
I am very interested I’m sure I can do a good job. I am now retired but I was a manager for convenient stores for 40 years
Great ideas. I do some route shops by finding a reasonably well paid job that is not too far from where I live. Then I form a route of shops around it. This works really well for day long routes.
HOPE TO HEAR FROM U SOON…….HAROLD
Interested. Sign me up!!!
im interested