The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

We have all heard of “re-gifting”: giving a gift we received to someone else on a gift-giving occasion. Opinions of whether or not this is appropriate vary, but what about using something you got on a mystery shop as a gift? Is it unbearably cheap, or just smart?

I have done shops where I bought greeting cards and small gifts as some of my purchase allowance, but it hasn’t happened often. Not because I have something against using mystery shop purchases as gifts, but just because many of my shops have not presented the opportunity to do so.

I will admit that some of the dinners my husband and I use to celebrate special occasions have been mystery shops, including at least one of my husband’s birthday dinners and an anniversary dinner at one of our favorite steak houses.

Some people think it is cheap to give a gift you got for “free” on a mystery shop. I have a different perspective. Let’s say my husband takes me out to dinner for my birthday. How will he pay for the meal? With money he earned at his job. In other words, he worked for it.

Now imagine that I take him out for his birthday and the dinner is a mystery shop. How do I pay for dinner? You got it: I work for it. Instead of sitting in an office designing tools as he does, I earn the dinner by sitting at the computer in my home office filling out a report. If anyone thinks that is not work, they have never done a fine dining restaurant mystery shop report.

Do not feel guilty about using something you earned by mystery shopping as a gift. It is the same as taking a fee you received for mystery shopping and using the cash to buy a gift.

We secret shoppers work hard for the “free” stuff we get, just as others work for the cash they use to make purchases. We make an honest living, even if we sometimes get paid in Chateaubriand instead of cash.

So what do you say? Have you ever used a mystery shop perk (e.g., a purchase or free meal) as a gift? Would you?

Related articles:

1. May I Use Gift Cards on Mystery Shopper Jobs?
2. Last-Minute Tax Deductions for Secret Shoppers