specialist

field representative

agent

surveyor

associate

RetailData LLC

A typical day of work involves hours of driving from store to store. Assignments differ from client to client, but in the most basic terms you will be collecting pricing data.

What I have learned from this position is that hard work, tenure, dedication and reliability mean absolutely nothing; at the end of the day, you are a just cog and that is exactly what this company will treat you like.

Management is fine; it's really about what you'd expect anywhere else. There are good managers and bad ones. In my personal experience I have had two District Managers, and they've both only been as good as Retail Data allows them to be. Not for lack of trying; both of them have gone above and beyond, and have treated me well, but this company is a disaster so management can only do so much.

The company is awful, so naturally the workplace culture is awful; don't expect quality training. In fact, you can barely expect any training period. When I first started I was basically dropped into a store and told to figure it out. Apparently training people in person is too expensive now, so from what I've heard it's all done online. This has done nothing to ease turnover, and seems to be producing new hires who have no idea what they're doing once they get into the field. Most of them quit almost immediately anyway, though.

Say goodbye to time off. You are expected to read and reply to emails every day, including days off. The same goes for text messages and phone calls. You will also have to do recollects; a recollect is when you have to redo some (or all) of an assignment. A recollect can come anywhere from seconds after uploading an assignment to days later, and you have 24 hours to do a recollect. Retail Data does not care what you have going on outside of work; you will have to do the recollect.

There is no paid time off; they took that away years ago. There used to be a quarterly performance bonus, but that was replaced with a point system where you could earn points each quarter and use them to buy gift cards, but as we no longer have access to our performance metrics and haven't gotten any points since the mid 2023, I assume they've now removed that program as well. I have to assume it because despite demanding constant, instant communication from you, Retail Data communicates nothing to its employees and is more than happy to leave you in the dark and let you learn these things for yourself.

Work life balance is all over the place; either you're going to get barely enough work to support yourself, or you'll be given so much that you have no hope of completing all of it on time while still having a life away from work. This is because clients and their contracts come and go seemingly at random, making it impossible to really get into a consistent routine; when you combine this with the turnover and having to cover jobs because people quit, you're just not going to have a stable schedule. It also makes budgeting hard since the size of work fluctuates week to week and you can just lose assignments with zero warning.

Turnover is another huge problem. It always has been. Retail Data has zero interest in listening to their Research Associates, which means old problems have simply persisted or grown while new problems emerge, but it's still somehow a mystery to corporate why almost no one sticks around. I haven't even scratched the surface of how awful the culture here is, but the fact that I'm five paragraphs in and could probably go for another twenty ought to be enough to deter you.

The hardest part of the job is the company as a whole. The job, on its own, is fine. It's monotonous, but if you're someone who likes to just zero in on what you're doing and work efficiently, that's not such a bad thing. So that's one bright spot. But dealing with everything around the job itself is incredibly taxing.

There isn't really anything enjoyable about the job anymore, which is sad because it used to be incredible and I was ready and willing to be a lifetime employee. That's no longer the case. This company is to be avoided at all costs.

Pros:

Ability to set your own schedule within a broader schedule. For example, you have two weeks to get this shop done, but it can be done anytime during that window.

Learning brands and pricing trends

I enjoyed visiting different stores (mostly grocery) and learning their layouts, and meeting the employees.

Cons:

Piece Rate! 

During training, I had good pay at a flat rate, because of course, my scanning skills were not up to par with the company average. At the end of my probationary period, I had improved greatly, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get past 60% or 70% (compared to averages from other scanners) scanning speed. Knowing that my pay would convert to piece rate, I asked my manager for help, but did not receive any constructive feedback as to how to improve my speed. 

So basically, it's a great job while you're training, but once you go to piece rate, you are working twice as hard for half the pay, no matter what algebraic formulas they try to use to explain it. 

I will say that corporate was quick to respond to any equipment/program questions I had, and the people I spoke with were always friendly and helpful. And my manager was nice, just very busy and probably overworked. 

I think if there was a way for all of the data collectors to 'meet' (via forum perhaps?) and compare notes/share tips, etc., that there would be more of a feeling of camaraderie and loyalty, and newer data collectors could learn how the more established ones are able to get such high scan percentages. Also, perhaps District Managers should be given assistants to help field emails/phone calls, etc.

It was an interesting job, and I'm glad I had the chance to do it. Learning so many brands and pricing trends has really improved my couponing/grocery shopping skills, lol!

A typical work day at Retaldata would consist of checking emails cdaily, check what jobs/work are due. Arrive to destination, check in with the store manager letting them know who and what exactly you'll be scanning in their store. We sign into a log book and then we can start collecting our data for our clients. We collect prices and descriptions of products. As retaildata compares all the info we collect with other competitors. We employees can work up to 5-6 stores a day depending how fast one scans. the more items scanned the more money and the better stores (that pays more money). We constantly interact with customers shopping, help with questions if knowledgeable about them. The hardest part about the job would be the driving. Driving gets tiring and especially when driving to multiple stores in a day, you just wish the day was over or that the stores were across the street from each other. Also, the other hardest part is dealing with managers who don't allow data collectors to scan items in their stores, Some can be very rude and will kick you out, because some times retaildata doesn't provide authorization letters which considers us to be "undercover" collectors. There is allot of good and bad techniques about  being a data collector. However I love going into work every day knowing I can get the job done and along the way maybe help someone who is looking for some thing in the store and I can happily show them the way. I love learning new things and at this job I can say it  kept me on my toes. I like a challenge and looking to try something new as I've been with this job four years I'm looking to gain more experience and expand my knowledge.

The first contact with this company after interviews and acceptance are Emails that require you to spend hours reading manuals, training yourself, electronically signing forms. All of this time is not reimbursed. They send company EMAILs constantly with changes to policy or manual, things to make note of...

I quit before I actually started. At my first training, I was told my job was to inventory everything in the target store, every week W-Sat.
The manager was doing it that week(well experienced) and it took her 20 hours. Then I found out I wasn't an employee of that store, but the client was a competitor.

The store I was supposed to work at was closer to my home, but the manager there told them to leave the store and not return. So, all I can imagine is that if I was a manager of a store where someone spent 20+ hours a week scanning items, I would kick them out. Then they'd assign me to different store, would I lose my income that week? They can't answer these questions because they're hypothetical.

$10/hour is what they pay during training and after that period it is piece rate -- the explanation of this rate in the manual is pretty inscrutable and the rate varies by product type. 

I'm not a good liar. If I'm going to spend 20 hours in a single store every week, people are going to recognize me and get to know me. I can't just say 'I work for Retail Data and this is my assignment.' It's creepy. I could not see working that many hours in a store as an outsider. Can you imagine a lunch break with store employees, your peers,  where you lie about what you are doing?

When I first heard about this job, I thought it was a scam. But after going through the interview process and researching the company, I realized this was a REAL job, it pays very well and you really can have a great home/work balance. And the people are genuinely sincere, pleasant, and fun to work with. There is also an opportunity for more hours and advancement. All they ask is you show up and get your collection jobs done on time. 

In most stores, I can wear my RetailData badge and the employees (and customers!) in that store see me as a vendor. Some stores don't like competitive price shoppers, so I simply don't wear my badge, act like a normal shopper, and no one minds. 

The hardest part about the job is getting started and learning where all the different items are located in the stores assigned to you. But once you learn the store's layout, your collection time gets faster.

The only con (if you can call it that) is a few of my stores are a bit of a commute since many of the stores near me have already been assigned to other people, but they pay time and mileage once you drive more than 30 minutes and/or 30 miles.

The "training" received is non-existent - You are given a hand-held and told "You use Z, R, or V buttons to input pricing" and are not sure what is for what. The first 90 days you are paid per hour and that's good. Then you go to "per piece" pay and that sucks. Mileage is reimbursed after the usual "normal" commute. The schedule changes often and at the last minute you are given jobs that are due that day, leaving you scrambling to complete them or else they are reported as late, If you can't reach your manager and have an issue heaven help you go to the next in line for assistance. You are working on your own schedule to complete the jobs within the time frame which works great for those needing to work around family schedules or full-time jobs. That is unless you are surprised with last minute jobs that have hours to be completed. Then you are expected to drop everything in your life and complete them. 

This job is great for someone needing a part-time position or a hold-over until something permanent comes along or someone who is retired and just looking for something to do. I would not recommend it for anything else. One of the perks is getting to meet new people in the places you are working in. 

There are no benefits and some long hours some days to complete jobs but its overall not a bad part-time job while working on hourly rate but not on piece pricing.

This is a great side gig, but a difficult main job. Work is calculated by piece rate, not hourly, so as you get faster and more efficient you’ll be speedier and spending less hours working overall. There’s actually a lot of opportunity to gain more jobs if willing to travel, but that can be frustrating without savings as meals are paid upfront and reimbursed later. It’s a great experience to have if looking for something adventurous or exciting! 

You get assigned a store or several to collect from on a weekly basis, and others on a bi weekly or monthly basis. You’ll have a Droid device with a list more than likely very similar week to week, or usually some sort of pattern to it. The better you pay attention to the layout of a store, the better you’ll do. Great job if you enjoy scavenger hunts. Lists aren’t always clear, and I find at times embarrassing that it even got to me looking the way it does. There does appear to be some lack of organization, but no worse than the average large company. I just do my assignments, get a nice little chunk of change, and stay out of the dynamics of the business. It’s not much, but it’s something and again… way worse out there.

At RetailData, you determine the level of pay you earn by the hours and travel time you are willing to work. This means you are the one that determines your paycheck. Work is always available, but you may need to travel. And the good thing is, if you do travel, you get compensated pretty good... everything from mileage to hotel and meals. Also airfare when applicable.
The work life balance is set by you.  You are the one that gives the number of hours you can work for each day of the week. There are deadlines you must meet, so don't think it's easy work. 
Training is provided and any questions you have after training are just a phone call away. There are so many people you can reach out to. I had to learn how to reach out by phone, because there is no one to run to. And for me, this is one of the downsides. 
The downside is that you are almost always working alone. Even though you work in a retail setting, you are not fellow employees with anyone there. Sometimes I kinda miss having the interaction with fellow employees, but the flexible schedule makes up for that.

Retail Data has not offered a pay rate increase for its Data Collectors in over 10 years.  Part time or full time, it is difficult to exceed the $16 hr benchmark on a consistent basis. There is no organized, detailed building-block training. You get dumped on a job, given a ten minute phone call then expected to have +95% accuracy and a speed level of an experienced worker or lose money. Paid training is a joke as it takes 3-6 months of solid work to fully understand the job; they give you 50 hours of "training pay" with no training...so your pay is wasted on time not really learning the job. Then you get bumped to piece rate, based on speed and accuracy....which is not possible with poor, scattershot training. 

District Manager's receive no training that in any way gives proper guidance on how to run a district, manage and  train people who work from home and who generally themselves are poor performing data collectors.  Turnover is very high which is never a good sign for any organization. 


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