Merchandiser Jobs

I know some have made money off of mystery shops and think that is great, but mystery shopping is not for me. I’m not a good actor and tend to feel guilty when I am told to make up a scenario to complete a shop. Again, it’s just me, others feel differently and I understand that.

The one thing the mystery shopping sites have introduced me to is the field of merchandising. I have always seen these people working in stores and wondered how they got these jobs. Well, now I know and I am one of them.

The most important thing to me during this slow market has been to keep my business afloat and to be accessible to my hard earned, long term clients while trying to keep up with my bills. I had to make a hard decision, like many of you have, and I decided against getting a “real” job to keep my business afloat. I am working hard to find ways to keep my business running and find real earning opportunities so I can afford to keep my clients.

I have been doing field inspections and they have increased, but at an average of $20 per job for me and gas prices on the rise, it’s just not enough to replace the closing business I lost because of the market downturn. Keep in mind; I need a flexible schedule so I can accommodate my long term clients so my opportunities are very limited as I will not give up my business.

I started applying for merchandising positions found on craigslist and through shadow shopper (a mystery shopper and merchandising job site that offers a free membership and paid memberships) and I now have two gigs with another supposedly opening up by the end of the month. One job I work the 1st and 3rd Friday each month for 6 hours per month. The job is easy, but not flexible because I have a set appointment schedule. It pays $15 per hour and is a 1099 position.

My newest position is restocking book departments in Kmart and BestBuy stores. I can complete the restock any time between 6am and 4pm, but this job must be done on Tuesdays because that is when all new releases come out. For this position I am paid $10 per hour including travel time and I am actually a W2 employee.

Again, I’m not getting rich here and I’m not promising you will either, but I wanted to let everyone know that there are real money making opportunities out there. I spent this past weekend compiling a list of companies that hire merchandisers and the list is much like the field inspection list that I offer. You can visit http://floridasnotary.com/MerchandisingCompanyList.aspx for more information.

Hang in there and good luck!

Thank You for sharing your new experiences with those of us also struggling. I appreciate that and will look into this. I live in California. Things here are slowly picking up due to bank owned homes being purchased. But… like you said it sure isn’t like it used to be. Maureen Lazar