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Ipsos Hyping Crustaceans

December 28, 2023 02:14PM
Starting to sniff out suspects for next month's roadtrip to SoCal and back.

There are a couple of crustacean locations for $11 that are being billed as without the mystery shop component, making them "much easier" according to the job offering.

However, from the job description, they look rather involved, and still require pictures of all pumps. The first location I googled had 12 of them suckers, making for a poor value, best I can tell.

Anyone have experience with these?

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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December 28, 2023 02:30PM
When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was going to be about the sea roach restaurants. [Imagining pumps dispensing hot butter.]

Do you mean bivalves/mollusks rather than crustaceans?
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December 28, 2023 02:49PM
Mmmmmmmmm... pumps of hot butter. Sign me up!

Yeah, "mollusks" is more accurate, but then I wouldn't be able to say "crustacean location".

That might just be my next song title, if I ever write it.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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December 28, 2023 09:09PM
You guys had me going with the Crimson Crustacean, too. I even Googled to find that crustaceans and mollusks are different so it wasn't making much sense to me. Until one day when I was bored and expanded my radius about 500 miles, just for kicks, and Bam! The light bulb went off in my head, there it was - the Crimson Crustacean! I just don't have any of those anywhere near me so I had forgotten about it.
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December 28, 2023 09:17PM
Cool, no, the $11 ones are NOT easier. They are quite involved but, after doing few, like anything else, you'd develop your rhythm. But you don't even get the benefits of reimbursement buys so, in essence, they pay half of the regular fee with just as much work. I don't touch them till they're highly bonused. And it takes months to get to that point.
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December 29, 2023 12:10AM
I've done them before.
Ugh
I would advise to only do one in the middle of a route of much, much better paying shops. Why? The fee for the shop does not pay for the time to perform a shop, if doing one for the first time.
However, the learning experience of doing one should help you in the future.
Like Sees above, I wouldn't touch one until they get bonused enough to make your time and trouble worth it.
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December 29, 2023 07:35AM
There are two hard and fast rules of mystery shopping in this house.. we do NOT do POP audits, and we do NOT work for Cirrus (are they still in business? lol).
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December 29, 2023 04:08PM
@sestrahelena wrote:

Cool, no, the $11 ones are NOT easier.

Kinda what I figured. There's a handful out there on a prospective route later next month... maybe they'll be bonused enough to be worthwhile.

Have synthesizers, will travel...
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December 30, 2023 02:21AM
They are definitely *not* easier. I will only pick them up if they are *very* heavily bonused. I would not consider them at $11.
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December 30, 2023 04:57AM
Cool,

I don't usually see bonuses on POP audits. They do sit on the boards for a LONG time.. but they don't get bonused quickly or at all sometimes. They are NOT easy shops, just passing the certification test requires smarts that I don't possess. You're going to need a tape measure and you're going to have to memorize ALL of the different types and styles of pumps that they use. They could offer $100 or more for them, I do NOT do POP audits.
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December 30, 2023 03:46PM
@Morledzep wrote:

Cool,

I don't usually see bonuses on POP audits. They do sit on the boards for a LONG time.. but they don't get bonused quickly or at all sometimes. They are NOT easy shops, just passing the certification test requires smarts that I don't possess. You're going to need a tape measure and you're going to have to memorize ALL of the different types and styles of pumps that they use. They could offer $100 or more for them, I do NOT do POP audits.

Here is my "helpful hint": When I Have done these shops, for the most part, I knew that at some point, or at least checked that I had done these shops previously as part of their other program. Therefore, for me, who keeps all photos filed away until the next go round, I still had all of the photos on file when I did the mystery/reveal shop. Meaning, of course, I could view what their pumps looked like and at least, had a clue as to the type of pump they were.
Still, the basic fee is not worth the time or trouble.
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December 30, 2023 06:05PM
And I too thought this thread was about the Crimson Crustacean shop. For some reason they just cannot seem to get those filled in Los Angeles...I do not eat that so I never took one but as most shops of this type are taken before the email comes out here I do not know why month after month these seem to linger. Any clues?
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December 30, 2023 09:35PM
Do they have lousy Yelp or other reviews? The Sea Roach shops in my area get snapped up quickly.
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December 30, 2023 10:13PM
Slower than a speeding bullet,
Less powerful than a coconut crab,
Unable to molt its shell in a single day.
Look down in the ocean
It’s a fish?
It’s a decapod!
It’s…
Crimson Crustacean!
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December 31, 2023 01:43AM
@BusyBeeBuzzBuzzBuzz wrote:

Slower than a speeding bullet,
Less powerful than a coconut crab,
Unable to molt its shell in a single day.
Look down in the ocean
It’s a fish?
It’s a decapod!
It’s…
Crimson Crustacean![/quote

It's crimson so look down in the ocean , its not a fish, not a decapod, not Superman but Superman's cousin Super Lobster fighting crime across the seven seas.
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December 31, 2023 01:27PM
Oh, yeah. Identifying the pump types is difficult because you're given a slew of little tiny pictures to compare with that you can't see the details on. Then if you enlarge the sample pages, they're too fuzzy to see details. You just have to make your best guess and hope you're right.
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December 31, 2023 06:07PM
I need to stop reading this thread. It's making me want cheddar biscuits.

If your path dictates you walk through hell, do it as though you own the place. -unknown
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January 09, 2024 09:57PM
$11 in So Cal? Can't be that good! Grew up there, been back alot, nothings THAT CHEAP
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