Nielsen Consumer Panel

Now if your even vaguely familiar with T.V ratings you will have heard of A.C Nielsen Company. What you may not know is that do more than just TV ratings they also have a Home Scan program where buyers record all their purchases into a scanner and upload it once a week. They also have the participants answers surveys about their buying habits and why they buy what they buy. I applied to join their National Consumer Panel (which is what the renamed the HomeScan program to) to be one of their panelists and I was chosen to receive a scanner and become a panelist.

I've always had a love of making my opinion know and I love to answer surveys. I actually was a radio ratings participate when I was a teen in New Zealand where they gave you a cute little notebook to write down what radio stations you listened to, at what time and for how long. Everyone in the house had their own and were to record their listening for 2 weeks. I was overjoyed. Of course I didn't really listen to that much radio but pencilled in what I though were cool teen appropriate choices. Alas my mother started recording her stations into my notebook so the ratings people probably thought I was a very dorky 13yo that listened to Cool FM which you KNOW is anything but.

So fast forward to about 10 days ago when my scanner finally arrive. It's a very cool retro looking thing and it took a bit of learning to get the scanning down right as it has this little pointy protrusion that you run over the barcode to scan. Though once you got that down it's fun and easy to use.

Transmitting was a bit of a challenge though it was eventually pinpointed down to the fact that the mouthpiece of my retro Pottery Barn phone could not make a tight seal with the speaker on my scanner. Plugged in a old phone with a regular mouthpiece. Works like a charm. I had assumed when I joined the panel that the scanner would sync via the internet but it actually transmits over the phone like a fax machine. A little weird but I guess they want a cross section of opinions not just those with the internet. Fair enough.

Now I would have done this just for the smugness that comes from know my opinion counts just a little bit more than yours. However they do allow you to earn points to earn gifts so thats a plus. But the BEST part about it? The scanner has a coupon button on it. I am going wear that thing out!