Are you familiar with a new marketing tactic which everybody calls “mystery shopping”? Yes, it’s a marketing stratagem that was developed by someone who is into business and would like to know whether his products or his services are sufficient enough for his customers and to determine whether or not his employees are giving 100% satisfaction to his customers. So, what are the benefits that, say, a store owner, can get if he hires somebody to be his mystery shopper? How does mystery shopping go? Most importantly, what would be the benefits that you, dear reader, can get if you can learn how to be a mystery shopper and be hired by this store owner to go shopping in his establishment? There are many things that you can get from becoming a mystery shopper. Why not read this personal experience of mine and see how enjoyable it is to be shop ”secretly”?

It all started two years ago. I was minding my own business in a lazy Wednesday afternoon sitting at a log lying just at the back of my sedan. There were still 5 hours left just before the dismissal of my children’s classes in their school. A woman came near me and told me if I can give her some of my time for a survey. Well, I’m not sure what it is but because I have nothing to do and besides, I’m getting drowsy and I needed someone to talk to. So, I agreed and she started to sit down beside me and took some papers from her bag. She introduced herself to me and told me she’s working as a sort of “surveyor” for an international company doing surveys for many different companies like shopping centers, restaurants, oil companies, automobile companies and cafes and hotels. At that point in time, she asked me if I wanted to know how to become a secret shopper and I just stared at her. She then proceeded to give me some papers which I will answer to the best of my ability truthfully. Questions like a rough estimate of me and my wife’s combined income for a year, how long have I owned that sedan parked right in front of us, what brand of fuel I’m buying and how many liters or gallons a day my vehicle can consume. To cut the long story short, she was actually trying to see what kind of fuel that I prefer to buy and we went back to the subject about mystery shopping.

She invited me to become one and here was the deal: She will hire me to use my vehicle to buy fuel at several branches of gas stations of the oil company she is now representing and of course, she will provide the money and then, I would proceed to buy some items from the that gas station’s convenience store with $10 worth of fuel. Well, not bad, right? I get free gasoline everyday, then, I buy some food and drinks from that station’s convenience store for free. And to top all that, here’s the juiciest part of them all: I get paid for what I did ($10 in one day) and in turn, all I need to do is to write a report on how the transaction went, whether or not the employees of that establishment had served with utmost courtesy and with a smile, whether or not they proceeded to offer me some other “goodies” and some other extra services like checking the air of the tires, checking the radiator for water and checking the engine for oil and other stuff like that. So, in conclusion, when I learned how to be a secret shopper, I earned money from it, bought lots of things for free (or get reimbursed) and keep those items for myself. So, on that afternoon, after a few hours of driving around, buying fuel for free, my kids were surprised that I’ve brought with me some afternoon snacks for them to enjoy and those things came from mystery shopping. Now, what about the oil company who hired that woman to hire me to become a secret shopper? Well, their services improved and their profits went up fast, high and mighty. Now, you know why mystery shopping is a marketing strategy for them and now, you know why becoming a mystery buyer yourself can be lucrative for. How about you, would you like to become a secret shopper? You can apply online, you know. Next week, I’ll be eating at an expensive restaurant…for free and then…you guessed it right, will be getting paid for doing so. One more thing, there are even other mystery shoppers who get paid $100 in one day just for this. Lucky souls.

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Yes, I do know that brewing coffee is something that is personal and while I amm highlighting the zojirushi coffee maker as a good brewer, I do not expect positive response from everyone. What I am highlighting is a variable which I thought is a common need by many coffee drinkers, so some might agreed with me while otheres might disagreed.

So, what is the greatest value add of a zojirushi coffee maker that I would think it is a thing that most coffee drinkers would like? Well, let’s just say that if you like hot coffee, you should consider this brand of coffee machine.

Now, anyone of us that has brewed coffee, know that the most daunting part of enjoying the coffee, is the fight with the environment. No matter how good your coffee is, the freshness cannot last more than 10 minutes.

It is worse in temperate countries, where coffee might turn cold in matters of minutes. And that is where zojirushi coffee maker would add value. Imagine, topping up cup after cup of hot coffee.

Zojirushi enables you to keep coffee fresh and hot for more than 4 hours. Sure, there are many features that one should look out for when purchasing coffee brewers. For example, if you are looking for something sturdy then perhaps you should consider a cuisinart machine.

Sometime back, I wrote something on how to avoid buying cuisinart coffee maker parts and this is dues to the seemingly flimsy but actually sturdy internal parts of cuisinart. But, that is the selling point of cuisinart, it would strongly market that value, for zojirushi, it would be the thermal function.

However, no matter what they say in their promotional and advertising material, no carafe can keep beverage in the exact temperature longer than zojirushi container. The fact is, many companies know that fresh and hot coffee is one key attributes that consumers look for when buying coffee machines.

And they too, started to introduce their own version of thermal carafe and thermal mugs to ensure that your coffee can be kept longer. Well, most of them are able to keep it for a period of time, but the question is how long.

Thermal carafe is very common nowadays, in fact, most of the 12 v coffee maker comes with thermal carafe to ensure that after your coffee is brewed, it can last you for a couple of hours on the road. This additional variable I believe was introduce to counter some negative feedback about the 12 v coffee maker, however, the reality remains that no thermal container can out perform a zojirushi.

The reason why zojirushi is so good with this thermal function is because this is exactly how the company started. It did not start out as a coffee machine company, the company begins by producing thermal containers.

Do not get me wrong that this is the only value add of zorjirushi coffee maker, it is not. In fact, this coffee brewer comes with as much, if not more features than your average drip filter coffee maker.

And the brew which comes out of this machine is comparable to any machines out in the market. But, here within this article, my thought is, if there is only one reason why you want to purchase a zojirushi coffee maker, freshness is definitely one of them.