Taste Test - and Bonus!

I am a panelist for Food Perspectives, a company that administers taste tests for a variety of companies.

The nice thing with FPI is that they make fund-raising easy. If there are 30 or more panelists from an organization, then they donate money to the organization every time a panelist completes a taste test - and panelists get paid (I think it's somewhere around $25-28 for the panelist and $7-10 for the organization). If you don't have an organization, or choose not to, you get the whole $35.

I don't do the fund-raising method, because my husband and I donate a set percentage of our income to charity already. If you participate and do the charity, kudos to you!

My recent experience, while not normal, does show that it pays to be flexible. I was scheduled for a 5:45 session. I got there at the tail end of the line (I was there about 5:43) and they filled up all the categories before I finished the re-screener (to make sure I matched what I'd said on the phone). There were four of us "left over" because they over-recruit (in case of no shows) - and since I got there before they closed the study room door, I counted as "left over" and not late. Two of the ladies got paid their $35 and were sent home. The other lady and I were offered either $35 and going home, or an extra $35 for coming back to another session (we were in a high demand category). By now it was almost 6:00, and they had another session at 6:45, so I decided to do the next session and take a walk while I waited.

It was about a 15 minute drive to the study site. If I hadn't gotten the extra session, I would have gotten paid $35 for about 1.5 hours of my time (after allowing for gas, this would've worked out to about $10/hr). However, I was instead there for about 2.5 hours, which was really 2 hours since I got a 1/2 hour workout walking around the area, which worked out to $27.50/hr after gas. (I count about $0.50/mile for gas cost, since that's the IRS number for reimbursement.)

Feel free to sign up if you're in the Twin Cities metro area! (My apologies to readers outside the area.)