Back to School Means Back to Mystery Shopping
San Jose CA (PRWEB) October 24, 2014 -- In the fall of 2014, nearly 55 million kids in the United States started school, are home schooled or returned to school according to the National Center for Education Statistics. For parents and caregivers who are not employed outside of the home, this may mean a substantial number of free hours in the day for the next 9 months. While parents find a variety of ways to fill those hours, from volunteer work to engaging in hobbies, many at-home moms and dads seek creative ways to fill the extra hours and their wallets.
States Vicki Dempsey, Vice President of Jancyn Evaluation Shops, “Mystery shopping is a perfect fit for parents with school age children. They have errands that must be done anyway, so why not make some extra money or get a free meal at the same time? Detailed instruction is given online and reports are entered on our user friendly website. They can be filled out after the children’s bedtime or early morning when the house is quite. Shoppers find it to be a fun experience and like the idea of providing useful feedback to our clients.”
Mystery shopping programs are used by nearly every industry of US commerce with customer facing employees, especially restaurant and retail. Jancyn clients include a wide span of companies from property management shops to financial services to hair salons. For mystery shoppers who take on a variety of assignments, no two days are the same. Joining the Mystery Shop Providers Association, http://www.mysteryshop.org is a perfect way to get started, providing a rich resource of member Mystery Shop companies. Further, mystery shoppers can make their own schedule. Dempsey goes on the say, “Days can be very unpredictable for these parents who often lack the ability to take on a part-time job. One day they may have a sick child and the next they may need to take their aging parent to the grocery store (another shop perhaps?). Mystery shopping allows them the flexibility they need. Because they are independent contractors they can take on as many or as few assignments as fits their schedule.”
For parents who have the added expense of a private school, mystery shopping can be an easy way to assist in subsidizing those expenses. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average cost of private schooling is $28,569. The revenue generated by a parent who mystery shops even a few times per week can put a dent in such expenditures.
Additionally, about 3% of children are home-schooled in the United States, per the US Department of Education. For these families, mystery shopping can be an educational family activity that can be worked into any home-schooling curriculum. Mystery shopping assignments are very dependent on keen observations and the ability to remember a series of assignment details. Parents can give each child a task during the course of a mystery shopping assignment. For example, child A can note the time the family entered the restaurant, child B can determine if the restroom meets cleanliness standards, and child C can keep track of whether the server mentioned the weekly special.
Jancyn Evaluation Shops works closely with this demographic who have learned to incorporate mystery shopping into their weekly schedule of activities. Leaving the home to make money rather than to spend money is an ideal fit for most at-home parents of school-age children.
Vicki Dempsey, Jancyn, http://www.Jancyn.com, +1 408 267-2600 Ext: 300, [email protected]
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