Instead of dragging my sorry butt to my two extra jobs as a market research interviewer, I now experience those surveys from the other side. I am one of those many people who answer online PAID surveys. Not a lot of money, but enough so I can keep myself in books, DVDs and computer games (and puppy toys!) – which is pretty much my life outside of my day job, anyway.
This morning, I received an offer to participate in a survey about “luxury goods.” I did not qualify for that survey [gasp of surprise!].
Come on, panderers to the rich, famous and wannabes – do you really think that people who are in the habit of buying “luxury goods” are likely to be online doing PAID surveys? For all of $1.00 or so? And for which $1.00 the respondent has to wait probably six months to cash in? I don’t think so.
And while I’m on the subject of paid surveys, let me voice a few other complaints:
- Is it really necessary to run the same survey over three or four different websites, so that I wind up answering the same questions over and over, only to find out at the end that I already took that survey and therefore don’t qualify for this one?
- How many surveys about cell phone use can I really answer? I have a basic, old-style “flip” phone, so I don’t think you’re getting a lot of quality responses from me. But, of course, if you’re paying, I will still answer, to the very best of my ability.
Don’t even bother sending me offers for surveys about “personal” products and activities (i.e., sex). I won’t answer them, even if I could remember having sex in my younger days.
- If you don’t want to hear how happy I am with my basic economy car, drop me from your respondent pool. I’m not going to run out and buy a BMW, Lexus, Jaguar or Porsche just so I can answer your questions better.
- I’ve already told you over and over again, that I only have free over-the-air TV, and that I never watch even that. Sending me requests for surveys about my cable TV preferences is simply a waste of both of our time.
- While I truly love getting free products that I can test and then answer questions about, don’t bother sending me make-up samples (haven’t worn make-up in years), doggie treats (both dogs died – how cruel are you, didn’t you know that?), or “personal products” (see above – although I suppose I could pass those on to any number of my younger relatives, who would probably line up at my front door to receive them).
[NOTE – this post was written and scheduled prior to the adoption of my new puppy. I’m more than happy to accept doggie treat samples at this time.]
Not to be ungrateful, however, I did enjoy the free food products and shampoo (even though the last shampoo sample nearly killed the little bit of hair I have left). And walking around with the IPod so I could track my beverage consumption was pretty cool (even though I told you in the screening comments that I only drink water most of the time).
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So, now that I’ve wasted the last half hour or so, it’s time to get back online and earn those big bucks. I’m coming, survey people – keep those respondent pools open!
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook page, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by: Matthew Donovan/MDonovan287, and Matthew Donovan/MDonovan287 [nope, that’s not a typo – he’s very talented!], and drew_dsir, respectively
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
So, the survey, at times, is beneficial or a waste of time? 🙂
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Makes no difference to me either way, so long as I get paid.
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Would you mind sharing with me how you do that?
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Send an email to my yahoo address (cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com) and I’ll respond with a list of the survey sites I use. You can also sign up with http://www.swagbucks.com and do surveys through them. In any case, you mostly get points which you can then eventually use for things like Amazon gift cards. I don’t want to get your hopes up – it can take months to accumulate points, but it’s fun and the Amazon gift cards do allow you to get something extra once in awhile.
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You mean they won’t give me a Mercedes if I promise to say nice things in my review? Darn! I could just keep it for a month or so, to make sure I could write enough good things about it. And I promise i wouldn’t let all the little pandas make nose prints on the windshield (or let them drive)
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I would pay them to let me have pandas in a Mercedes.
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LOL!!!!!!!!! Me too, actually.
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I did the “paid surveys” thing for a while, too – when they reduced the value of the surveys AND increased the cost-in-points of the goodies, I said “enough of this! I have way more worth-while ways to spend my time and energy than *this*!!” and quit them all!
Great post, as usual, CoolieCakes! 😉
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I actually find them to be fun most days. I just bought Cody about $80 worth of doggie supplies which I bought using the survey credits, so I really can’t complain.
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Oh, Fix that please!!! ^^^ fat fingers typo! I meant to type a *k* there!
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Maybe it doesn’t need fixing – “CoolieCakes” sounds even better than “CookieCakes” (apologies to Jessica).
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Cool! If you like it – that’s great! (It does sound okay, come to think of it – and it’s all part of “the folk process” – find something you mostly like, tweak it to fit *you* better, and make it your own! AllGood! 🙂
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Very funny CM! I enjoy yoiur posts. Glad that Cody is benefiting from your hobby.
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Thank you. And thanks for reading!
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Reblogged this on Cordelia's Mom, Still and commented:
Awaiting my most recent order of books ($100 value, which I got for free by using survey credits), I thought this an appropriate time to re-blog this post from nearly two years ago (*gasp* I’ve been blogging that long?!)
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The worst surveys are the ones I agree to and then, after they get my demographics, tell me they don’t need my opinion.
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Hopefully, they do the demographics at the beginning of the survey, at least. When I was an interviewer, one of the surveys was almost an hour long and had the demographics at the end. Can you imagine spending an hour and then getting booted out because you don’t fit into a certain age or income category? People were not happy at times.
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I was very upset with Adobe after they did that.
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I try taking the surveys and as soon as I click the box with my age, it goes to the “thank you for your time” screen. I am too old. No one cares what I use or buy.
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They’re sending you the wrong surveys. When I was an interviewer, we found that one of the toughest demographic categories to fill was the over-60 age ranking. Now I find I get a lot of surveys that younger people don’t get because certain companies are trying to cater to the ever-growing senior population.
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(I do get a lot of surveys for adult diapers, for instance.)
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Ewwww!
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