I did 2 of these and they do require a ton of pictures and the debrief took a long time. I had over 90 minutes invested once I totaled everything up. In my opinion it's not worth the $11

I have done a lot of shops for Maritz and they are good to work with. I would love it if the shops paid more, but that's not a realistic expectation. All these shops get booked. Why should they pay more when it's not necessary? My biggest problem is the amount of time I spend on site at each shop. I'm trying to be more efficient on these shops so I can do them more quickly and not sacrifice quality. I think the key to these shops is being highly organized and moving with a purpose to get a fast, high quality, shop. More Better Faster. That's my plan.

Guess I am about as organized as I can get! When you have to go across a fourlane highway to take the overall pic and sometimes the canopy, it takes more time for me.

I dont cell phones for a MSC and they want a pic of the building. I told I would get the but since alot of them are on busy major highways I will not in danger my life for a pic. So I take one on the side of the street that the shop is located on. I will refuse to cross the street with cars whizing by. So far they have like all of my pics

I usually drive across the street. For one of the clients it has to be across the street.

I am sad that I was apparently "dropped."

My family took a trip over the weekend and stayed in a hotel just outside of Des Moines. Po-dunk little town, chosen because I could shop the hotel and get reimbursed eventually. I signed up for a green sign shop that was in the same little town.

My books arrived on Thursday. I opened up the manual and the client requirements and all the addendums. I have a one-year-old and a three-year-old at home with me, so nothing is simple. I chipped away at the test and failed it. (heck, I could not even SEE half the photos.) Failed twice more and was locked out of the project.

So, on Friday, I tried to call someone at the green-sign project. I was on hold for 20 minutes, then called back a while later. Held another 5 minutes. Called back and spoke to an operator who said that people would be around until 9. I called at 5:45 and got the outgoing message that will not allow you to punch in an extension.

Saturday was the day of the shop. I called in to Maritz and left another message for the green sign shop team, explaining that I I had been trying to contact them, asking if they would like me to go ahead and shop it without passing the test or just cancel. No one called back. When I got home I emailed Maritz and explained what was going on with the shop. No reply.

Now, when I open up my current shop list, the green sign shops- the one from last weekend and the future visits I had planned for this weekend- are gone. When I search for shops in my area, nothing appears because the green sign shops were all there were. Going 99 miles out, other shops are there but no green sign ones. I guess I have been kicked off that project.

heartlandcanuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am sad that I was apparently "dropped."
>
> My family took a trip over the weekend and stayed
> in a hotel just outside of Des Moines. Po-dunk
> little town, chosen because I could shop the hotel
> and get reimbursed eventually. I signed up for a
> green sign shop that was in the same little town.
>
> My books arrived on Thursday. I opened up the
> manual and the client requirements and all the
> addendums. I have a one-year-old and a
> three-year-old at home with me, so nothing is
> simple. I chipped away at the test and failed it.
> (heck, I could not even SEE half the photos.)
> Failed twice more and was locked out of the
> project.
>
> So, on Friday, I tried to call someone at the
> green-sign project. I was on hold for 20 minutes,
> then called back a while later. Held another 5
> minutes. Called back and spoke to an operator who
> said that people would be around until 9. I called
> at 5:45 and got the outgoing message that will not
> allow you to punch in an extension.
>
> Saturday was the day of the shop. I called in to
> Maritz and left another message for the green sign
> shop team, explaining that I I had been trying to
> contact them, asking if they would like me to go
> ahead and shop it without passing the test or just
> cancel. No one called back. When I got home I
> emailed Maritz and explained what was going on
> with the shop. No reply.
>
> Now, when I open up my current shop list, the
> green sign shops- the one from last weekend and
> the future visits I had planned for this weekend-
> are gone. When I search for shops in my area,
> nothing appears because the green sign shops were
> all there were. Going 99 miles out, other shops
> are there but no green sign ones. I guess I have
> been kicked off that project.

I couldn't see the pictures well either, so after getting 3 wrong the first time through, I called a scheduler and she walked me through it. The ones I got wrong were because I couldn't see the picture clearly.

I love doing gas shops if the price is right. I usually start at 6 am and go until 2-3 pm in order to get reports in. I would rather do gas shops than narrative shops.

I had to have help with that test, too. The scheduler said to always print it out.

I finally did get a hold of someone at Maritz... on Tuesday I left a pen-n-paper message. After an hour I called back, and left another pen-n-paper message. Someone finally called me back. (That's over 8 phone calls and an email, if anyone is counting.) Apparently no one bothered to read email or listen to voice mails, because it was noted in my file that I blew the shop off. I explained what happened, and how I had spent five hours of my life on the test and trying to contact them about it... Oh, well. I'm still off the green sign shops.

I'm color blind and couldn't pass the test. I have plenty to without the green shops. I do the yellow ones and Marathons so that's plenty.

Heartlandcanuck, I am sorry that happened to you. I haven't had any problems with anyone there. They have always been nice to me, but things can get in a mess sometimes. I wish they used email more, too. Also, direct deposit.

Iblessya, good thing I am not color blind.lol They have more of those around here than any others.

This was truly odd... I suspect they are understaffed in that dept because the phone sometimes bounces to another project. I sent a letter today attn: supervisor of that team in case the info was buried. Maritz has always been one of my favorite companies.

jhofer,

Interesting advice. I would say "it depends". I have an iPhone 4s with an 8 megapixel camera, which exceeds your recommendation.

However, for Cori shops I use my older camera because they WANT a low-rez pic (480x640 I believe).

jhofer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been working the Maritz gas shops in Canada
> for 2 1/2 years. They pay in a timely manner and I
> found they require indepth info. in some
> situations. It's their right. For those of you
> using your cell phones for pics. if you're serious
> about this business, get a propper camera with at
> minimum 6 pixels.

Y'all can have all the audits - I'll stay on the ms'ing end of the gas stations. I was told that if you do the audits, you cannot ms them.

I am guessing that it is the same as with another gas audit I do for another MSC. The first couple of times I did it, it didn't seem worth it. Now that I could do them practically in my sleep, I can usually knock the audit out in just over half an hour and the report (including pics) in about 15. I have my first Maritz audit in a couple of weeks. They mailed the particulars. Looks EXACTLY the same as what I've been doing with the other one.

Can someone give me an unhint as to the company that does subway....would love to do thier shops...

Huh? Maritz certainly doesn't shop them. The answer to your question depends on your location. They are shopped by multiple MSCs.