Shoppers spy on those who serve

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp., for example, has mystery shoppers use tiny digital cameras to detect how clean stores' restrooms are, or how evenly jelly is inserted into its doughnuts.

The images are downloaded onto a laptop and sent to the company along with a Web-based evaluation form.

The result: telling, full-color accounts that land on the store managers' desk in 48 hours.

"Now we're able to spend less time debating over whether the mystery shopper was accurate or even showed up, and more time on how we can improve," says Steve Anderson, director of Krispy Kreme's "customer experience" department.

But such methods have drawn the ire of privacy-rights advocates and labor unions.

"There has to be some reason for this kind of surveillance to take place, but most often the process is put in place just in case something is going wrong," says Sarah Andrews, research director at the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. "That doesn't foster a healthy working environment."

Similar concerns have been made by people within the mystery-shopping industry itself.

"I wouldn't want to feel like Big Brother was watching me through a small camera in my next customer's hat," says Mark Csordos, former founder of C&S Mystery Shoppers, based in New Jersey. C&S does its sleuthing by low-tech means.

How would you like to shop till you drop – and get paid for doing so? Mystery shoppers, who pose as customers to audit product and service quality, are in demand.

The undercover employees are hired by one of the estimated 500 mystery-shopping firms in the United States. These firms are contracted by a range of retail companies.

Restaurants and retailers are the heaviest users of such sleuths, but a growing number of hotels, airlines, real-estate agencies – even daycare centers and doctors' offices – are signing up.

In the case of apartments or clothing, the mystery shopper typically feigns interest to see how a real customer might be treated. But the job comes with real perks: Shoppers are reimbursed for the food or hotel stays they purchase.

One of the hardest parts of the job, says "Tonya," a part-time secret shopper in Boston, is keeping her cover – especially from friends. When asked what she does, "I just tell people about my other part-time job at [a nonprofit cultural center in Boston]," she says.

Some of her other covert characteristics: "I jot notes for myself on crossword puzzles and Palm Pilots so as not to arouse suspicion from employees," she says. She might write that it took 5 minutes and 38 seconds to receive her mesclun salad, or that her waiter knew the menu well.

One of her hardest assignments, she says, was crashing a wedding reception for a hotel to snoop on its servers.

"I couldn't say a word to anyone – or even make eye contact – because if a conversation were struck up, they would quickly know I didn't know the bride or groom – let alone their names," she laughs.

Tonya says she also loves the flexibility provided by the profession – which is mostly made up of students, part-time professionals, and mothers with kids in tow. "But it's also hard work to keep track of so many details, and be on constant alert," she says.

It helps to have an ironclad memory, a background in retail or customer service, and a knowledge of the firm for which one is snooping.

Judith Rappold can vouch for that last one. She says she once had to mystery-shop for a mattress company – "and learn dozens of different types of foam, quilting, springs ... you could really go crazy learning it all."

In comparison with other jobs, the overhead needed to get started as a mystery shopper is minimal. A pen and pad about covers it.

"This is a great business because the investment is so low," says Ms. Rappold, who started Business Resources in 1984 from a home office in Austin, Texas.

Tonya earns about $15 per shopping trip from the Boston firm Data Quest Investigations Ltd. If she worked 40 hours a week, that would translate to about $30,000 a year – not counting the free meals or weekend resort stays.

For a list of mystery-shopping firms, contact the Mystery Shoppers Providers Association: (972) 406-1104; www.mysteryshop.org.

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