Quickie post here. I want to scrub the bad taste of this out of my mouth as fast as I possibly can.
The setup: for the last eight years I've been doing freelance work for a company that shall remain anonymous. Things were great for the first several years. A while back, though, the work flow began to slow, even before Covid screwed up the world. Over the past year it's gotten less and less. There's a better-than-good chance it could stop completely. Maybe it already has. We're already a week into August and I haven't gotten any assignments yet.
The problem: I've been relying on that income. I've got Social Security, but it's not quite enough to cover my monthly bills. I had savings, but sudden tax and health issues earlier in the year all but wiped those out. If my job is truly done, I need to find replacement funds before the winter heating and insurance bills hit.
I know: I was supposed to be writing and submitting all this time. I didn't, and now the bill for my complacency is about to come due. So I went looking for replacements, something to bring in some quick extra cash. What's known in today's world as a "side hustle."
Which is how I came across the "job" of answering surveys for pay.
Yes, this is a thing. There are legitimate sites that will pay you to give them your opinion on just about anything, from your favorite foods to what car you'd love to own to who you think should be President. For 5-30 minutes of your time, you receive from 3 to 200 or more points for completing a survey (1 point = 1 cent; 100 points = a dollar, etc.) You can spend as much or as little time on it as you want, and fill out as many or as few in a day as you care to. When you're ready to cash out, you redeem your points for gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or send the funds to PayPal or your bank account. The sites I'm referring to are places like Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, Inbox Dollars and Opinion Outpost, all verified by the Better Business Bureau and certified legit. Testimonials from satisfied survey-takers abound, with stories of cashing in for hundreds of dollars a week for work you do in your spare moments.
These are, of course the exceptions. The sites themselves warn this isn't supposed to take the place of a job. However, modest amounts like $1-$5 a day is easily doable. In a month's time, that mounts up. If you're in the habit of squandering four to six hours a day or more playing video games--as I did all too often while battling my gaming addiction--why not fill out surveys instead and at least make money for your wasted time? There are even sites (like Swagbucks) that will pay you to play games and watch videos, which I was doing for free. They don't pay much, but it still beats nothing.
But it doesn't beat it by much. Here's what none of the sites tell you: these surveys are put out by companies, ad agencies and marketing firms. Their ultimate goal is to sell a lot of crap to as many people as possible for as much as they can charge. They'll happily pay to get the opinions of--and personal info on--people with jobs, people with kids, young adults active on social media, rich and active retirees, and diversity consumers because diversity is hot right now and those markets have barely been tapped. If you're in one or more of these demographics then yes, it's possible you could earn yourself a hefty bit of side change for telling others what you like and don't like about a product.
If you're a single, straight white woman over 60 with no kids or grandkids to indulge and very little in the way of disposable income, not so much.
Here was my experience. Thursday I took the plunge and signed up for Survey Junkie. I got 50 points right off the bat just for signing on. So far, so good. I took my first surveys and within an hour or so had earned my first dollar. Yay, me!
That's about as good as it got. It was all downhill from there.
Yeah, there were surveys with big payouts. A lot of 200 pointers, some for 300 or more. Maybe if I'd qualified for more of those I'd have stuck it out. In order to get those points you have to fill out the survey, and in order to do that, you have to qualify. I'd spend 5-10 minutes answering the same background questions over and over--What is your zip code? What is your age? Are you male or female?--and then get confronted with "The rest of the questions on this 180-point survey aren't relative to you, so we'll stop you here. But here's 3 points as a consolation prize." Thanks a heap. Y'know how long it takes to earn a dollar when you have to do it three points at a time? I don't, because I knew doing the math would depress me. At least the "this survey is filled" message came up right away, before I'd wasted too much time. I got a bunch of those, too.
But I hung in there, stopping back sporadically through Friday and Saturday. I got lucky and scored a couple of decent ones. By Sunday I'd gotten my total up to $8.70. That's for, what, about ten hours of work spread out over three days? Not to mention they were offering me fewer and fewer surveys, and even those were cutting me off before the maximum payout.
Then the site offered me a chance to sign up directly with the marketing outfits. That's how I ended up on Opinion Outpost. I figured that would suit me better. I've got opinions on all sorts of things. Except the same thing happened on this new site, at an even lower payout rate. They'd take my personal info and then tell me I didn't qualify. Guess I'm not the droid they're looking for.
I was signed up with Opinion Outpost for roughly two hours. Then I got frustrated and quit. They can keep the dime I earned. Then I went back to Survey Junkie and redeemed my 870 points for a cash transfer to my bank. Once that went through I quit them too. The tension and frustration just wasn't worth it. I actually feel less stressed now. The good part is that it's motivated me to start writing again, now that I know how hideous some of the alternatives are. After that, sitting at a keyboard and pounding out words with no guarantee anyone will pay me for them doesn't feel all that bad.
Your mileage may vary, of course. You could be one of those fortunate $100-or-more-a-week people. And I could win the lottery. That's all writing's ever been, when you think about it. And now it's back to fiction for me. Caveat emptor, y'all.
