Migrated to another economic means

[schludermann]

I only participate in a couple of online surveys anymore, YouGov, and a few more that actualize some reward for participation. Most of my activity is mysterious and secretive shops. The rewards are better and pay out after completion with in a month. No more payout thresholds. This is contract/1099 work. Anyone else doing this? Message me if you're interested in this. 

[NFriday]

Is this the same as secret shopping?  One website claims that you can make $700 a week doing this, which seems too good.  I looked into it a few years ago, and I was told by somebody here that you don't make lots of money.

[schludermann]

Yes, it's also called secret shopping, The claim of $700 a week is dubious, it can happen, but not regularly. I can actualize about $200-$300, without a car, it supplements Social Security. If you drive, there are more opportunities. However, having a car adds at least several thousand dollars a year to the personal expense budget and STRESS, the exposure to the vagaries of traffic (Insurance, background checks, accidents, police stops, parking, fuel, maintenance, etc.)  I prefer to keep it low stress and simple, stress for small $ is a Faustian bargain, and can consume one's health over the long run and deplete all the financial gains in one health incident. Avarice is not worth it.  I may start using autonomous vehicles for some shops, Cruise is launching in Austin this fall. 

[cricket]

I did "mystery shopper" stuff years ago. You have to fill out long reports afterwards. I just did a few and quit but I know some people who love it. It just got too annoying to me, to have to buy things and return them, too much of a hassle.

 

[Sandy21]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:29 PM, cricket said:

I did "mystery shopper" stuff years ago. You have to fill out long reports afterwards. I just did a few and quit but I know some people who love it. It just got too annoying to me, to have to buy things and return them, too much of a hassle.

 

I was a mystery shopper years ago as well. The surveys were long and tedious and I quit as well.

I did a lot of restaurants also. But this type of mystery shopper disappeared totally about 9 or 10 years ago,, at least for me. THAT I really enjoyed, to get a partially free meal, never totally paid but it was fun all the same.