I recently heard about an interesting program called Nielsen Home Scan and decided to sign up. The program is intended to gather information about consumers’ spending habits and opinions in order to help companies determine which products they should develop or improve. Participants are given a small scanning device to record the bar codes of the items they purchase. Then, once a week, they send the information electronically back to Nielsen.
I’m so dorky that I get excited about just using self-checkout, so the idea of having my own little scanner really appealed to me. But if the thrill of scanning bar codes isn’t enough for you, how about the fact that you also get rewarded with points to be traded in for gifts? You can also enter into sweepstakes for bigger prizes. I signed up about a week ago and was placed on the waiting list. I’ll be getting my own scanner once a spot opens up. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this program, and I can’t wait to try it out!
EDIT: My referral link has expired, but you can still sign up for free at the National Consumer Panel website. Thank you so much to my readers who did sign up through my referral link!
DISCLOSURE (what’s this?): In the past I received referral fees when readers signed up for this program through my website. This post no longer profits me in any way. The decision to write this post and all opinions are my own–I was not paid to write this.
Further Reading
You find the greatest things! How do you come across such gems? I’m totally going to check this out.
Thanks Heather
I found out about this through Facebook, but I also get a lot of great information on Twitter. It amazes me how many other moms have websites, and I learn all sorts of things I didn’t know before.
Since I posted this I’ve read some mixed reviews about HomeScan. Some people thought it was a waste of time…but if you do sign up and don’t like it they will pay for postage to send the scanner back, so there’s no obligation. I’m still excited about trying it. Hope it’s as fun as it seems!
so I signed up a while back and they called me the other night to say my scanner is coming. I’ll let ya know how it goes. I’m thinking my reporting will be quite a bit random, as much of what we buy comes from a wholesale produce place and a discount grocery store, or our dairy right next door. So only about 1/3 of what we buy will really be scan-able. But I’ll see how it goes. I hope it’s not too time consuming for the benefits.
I’m still on the waiting list here, but I know they work regionally so that’s probably why. If you feel like writing a quick review (either good or bad) once you’ve been at it a little while I would be happy to post it here. Thanks for the update! I hope it doesn’t end up being a pain in the neck for you