Questions about being a Personal Grocery Shopper

[melshops]

Help! I have been couponing for a year now and have about 10 women (family and church friends) begging me to do their grocery shopping for them. It would be a great way for me to make some extra money and I have the time I just can't figure out the specifics! Like you can't do deal with interent Qs right, since you can only print out a limited number? What do you charge for this service? Do you email out a list of weekly deals or just have people give you a list of what they need? So much to figure out!!!

[CSchunk]

It seems like it could be a great use of your skills, BUT it seems so complicated to work out. If you can figure out good deals and order lots of coupons for those specific deals before they happen, and get people to give you a specific number of each item they want that seems like it would be the easiest... but then you still risk out of stock and stuff like that.

[HarleyTink]

i thought about doing something like this too! but then i decided to just stick with telling them to come to my yard sale and rep the benefits that way ;), less for me to worry about too

[ssfkat3]

Help! I have been couponing for a year now and have about 10 women (family and church friends) begging me to do their grocery shopping for them. It would be a great way for me to make some extra money and I have the time I just can't figure out the specifics! Like you can't do deal with interent Qs right, since you can only print out a limited number? What do you charge for this service? Do you email out a list of weekly deals or just have people give you a list of what they need? So much to figure out!!!

I've been thinking about this ever since I read it the day you posted.

This is just ME, but honestly, here's what I'd do. This may sound selfish of me, but first and foremost, saving money with coupons is WORK. It takes a lot of time to hunt down deals, let alone go to the store and get them. And second, if they weren't friends and family, they wouldn't expect you to do the work and gain nothing, personal shoppers are expensive, if they weren't, we'd all have one. And that's exactly what you would be.

Get detailed lists weekly, go shopping for them. For pay...they pay full price BEFORE COUPONS AND STORE CARD SAVINGS. anything you save with coupons and store cards is your pay.

are they saving money? No, they are not. They are however saving the time it takes to shop, AND if they are prone to adding things to the cart that aren't on the list, then yes, they would be saving money.

Like I said, I've given this careful thought for a while now (ok, its been nagging at me lol). I only have my own family and friends to think about when considering this, and especially my family, they would think nothing of using me to save them money with no thoughts to the work and effort and time involved. Friends don't always mean to, but they can get bad too, its hard to say no to either group. This to me is a prime way to set yourself up to being used, and can easily get out of hand. (but Mrs Smith got her cereal last week for only .25 cents a box, why are you charging me 4.00?)

Now for the deals, lets say they have their usual list...mind you, they need to be detailed! what brand and kind of cereal, not just 'cereal'. Size however, gets tricky there.

Say you have an order for Rice Krispies. They want the big box. You got the little boxes on sale for super dooper cheap or free, last week and bought a hundred of them. Substitute however many little boxes equal the big box or over, and then write down the cost of the big box when you are at the store. THEN GIVE THEM that big box at what the store's highest sale price is on that size. If they never go lower than 2/6.00 you charge them 3.00 for that box (even if they are in fact getting 3 little boxes) If they put it on sale sometimes for 2/6.00, 2/4.00 or whatever, its still 3.00 to them. Not sure that makes sense. If you don't have a hundred little boxes (why buy what you don't know will sell, you are nothing but a grocery store then lol), then just charge them again, whatever the going price is that week. BEFORE store cards and coupons lol.

Two things will happen.

1. They will not like the deal and say no (saving you the headache and just gives proof you were only asked because they didn't want to do the work but still reap the rewards)

2. they will say great (they wanted to save the time more than the money) and you have the starts to a very lucrative career, with a lot of work involved. Up to you then to find the best deals on what they need to make the most of your pay.

Either way, just keep in mind, you are a personal shopper the moment you say yes. And personal shoppers make darn good money.

[Macaela25]

I agree with the above poster...personal shopping sounds like a quick way to a bad headache, esp with family/friends. I'd send out a weekly email stating the excess items you have for sale, the price, and the time you'll be accepting "shoppers" (9-12AM on Saturdays or whatever). That way you can see after a few weeks what sells, what doesn't, and you can adjust accordingly. People are still going to have get off their keisters and shop, but at least they'll save some and you'll make some.

[nannabownanna]

I have to agree with the previous two posters.
I have had many people ask me about doing the deals FOR them and they will just pay me.
Pay me....what I pay for the items...not pay me for my time researching sales, finding coupons, driving to the stores and doing the deals.
Not to mention, they want me to find the coupons for them too!!
NO WAY!!
I am more than willing to teach anyone that wants to learn HOW to save with coupons, but I think asking someone to shop for you and use coupons is just completely obsurd!

[ssfkat3]

You know, the more I think about this, the more I like it.

Not BEING a personal shopper, but hiring one lol. especially as I set forth....

Ok, here's the deal.

I'll write up my grocery list, pay full price on everything, GIVE YOU THE COUPONS too, AND pay for your gas to and back from the store, just keep me out of there.

this for me would solve a few problems.

1. walking around the store kills me. by the time i'm done, i'm toast and fall into my car. I could use a cart and ride around, but the non stop up and down hurts me worse. grocery shopping on average takes me 3 hours in the main store I go to. I can literally spend all day to do what would take you an hour or two. besides, the carts don't hold as much as I need to buy lol (I shop mainly once a month, fillers I have to call ex for)

2. I would not be buying stuff not on my list, that alone would pay for you lol.

3. less stuff to put away when you get back here. (plus I'm not gonna be the one carting it all in the door too)

4. could get less at a time, cause i'd have you here every week. (hence not having to call dimwit to bring me milk, bread or eggs...)

yes, this is starting to sound better every minute.

On the downside - and it's one doozy...

going shopping is my only time away from here, its hard to count walking to the mailbox.

In truth, I have been trying to sort coupons, type mails, lists, etc all the while hunting down stuff I cant' find, and I have to say, the idea of someone to come here and organize this apartment is sounding pretty darn nice too.

at least a stranger won't tell me "but you can't throw that away, you might need it one day" like my kids do. (and you all thought I was the packrat....)


yes, sounding better every minute....

[Colinsgrandma]

Shopping for other people is much harder than it sounds. I have done it a couple of times when people have had surgery or were ill. It's hard to find the sizes they want and what I like in produce ripeness isn't always what they like. Trying to do more than one persons shopping at a time is really difficult.

[cma2a17]

I will add my two cents in here. I do the bulk of the shopping for my parents. I try to help them out fincially so it's less money out of my pocket by building their stockpile in addition to mine. Occasionally she will grab something that she is out of and needs then. But for the most though, I keep her stockpile stocked. I will be the first to say that it is time consuming. I have to keep in mind her wants/needs in addition to mine when I'm shopping. Thankfully she tends not to be brand loyal to anything other than Pepsi for my dad. But it does have me on my toes to keep an eye out on items that I would not normally purchase. I definitely would not do it for anyone else on a normal basis no matter how much I made extra! Just my opinion though.