Hi everyone, after a 11 year "vacation" from the fast paced world of merchandising/ mystery shopping I find myself back again. I worked in the medical field as a courier/med tech for the last 11 years and due to the changes in that field I found I couldn't make enough to survive any more. So, I have been applying all over the place. I have found this forum to be great to know who to avoid like the plague. I am surprised at how the field has changed. I worked for the long gone Huffy Service 1st in the gravy years. Drive time, mileage, overnight motels, flat rate stops that you could knock out in half the time and still do a great job for the company. It was wonderful. Then they went under-(I'm sure it was because they were sooo generous!) I have accepted some work in grocery merchandising and the company seems to be pretty nice, great communication.Also a mystery shopping gig. I am noticing that there are an amazing amount of tech requirements for so many of the mystery shopping jobs.-iPhone 5, tablet, windows 8, skype, fax, scanner,be a member of certain online groups, social media, certain software-which are quite expensive to purchase. I have most of these things anyway as I am somewhat of a tech junkie, but this has got to hurt people who are just getting into the field. The job that wants you to have an iPhone 5 pays $4.00 a stop. Yes, I have turned down a few things, have accepted others. There dosen't seem to be a booming economy up here in the southern part of WI. I love audits. Hit and run. The merchandising side is good to get my plangram skills up to speed, but, I am hoping to branch out to other things. Thank you for this forum, it has really let me know who is and who isn't a good place to work for.