As if rehearsing for a play, “Donald” sometimes practices his lines before he goes to the bank.

A few times a year, the Auburn resident prepares questions about closing an account or he pretends that he’s leaving town and his address is about to change.

Donald, who doesn’t give his full name so as not to blow his cover, is a “mystery shopper.” After a “mystery shop,” as they all call it, he sits in his car outside the bank and scribbles down the conversations he’s just had with the tellers. Later, he’ll send a report of his experience to a company hired by the bank to evaluate customer service and other functions of the business. Donald gets between $15 and $30 for the work.

There are hundreds of “mystery shopping” or “secret shopping” companies throughout the United States and thousands of businesses — from restaurants to banks — that use the services to get an objective look at how their operations are perceived by the public.

The shopping agencies are usually based in small offices with often no more than a few employees, but they have databases jammed with thousands of “independent contractors” like Donald, who shop anonymously and report their findings.

Although some secret shoppers earn more than $30,000 a year for the undercover work, many, say those in the industry, are in it for the perks. Shoppers at grocery stores, for example, are typically reimbursed for the food they buy. A restaurant job usually means a free meal. Mystery shopping at a movie theater usually means a free flick and perhaps a box of popcorn. Some mystery shopping companies pay their shoppers about $20 in addition to the freebies.

“It’s not as easy as some people think, though,” says Chuck Roam president of Quest for the Best Mystery Shoppers Service, based in Nashville, Tenn.

“Shop and get paid,” reads a red banner running atop a page on Roam’s Web site, which advertised a few shopping opportunities last week in the Lewiston area.

Roam says mystery shoppers often travel long distances to get to a job and they have to be willing to produce thorough written reports and work on strict deadlines. Some companies won’t pay their shoppers if a report is filed late or includes inaccurate information.

Soon, some agencies may only hire “professional” shoppers.

Secret shopping companies affiliated with the Mystery Shopping Providers Association are currently working to establish a system that would require shoppers to pass a basic test and sign a code of ethics.

“It’s often a lot of hassle for the money involved,” says Donald.

A long-time marketing researcher, he says he started secret shopping simply to learn more about the service. A mystery shopping company contacted him to do the work nearly two years after he responded to a query on his bank statement asking for shoppers.

Most of the time, the mystery agency asks Donald to act as if he wants to close his account at his bank.

If the teller does a good job, he says, they’ll persuade him to consider other options. One time, when he told a banker he was moving to the West Coast, the employee showed him a map of the area where he planned to move and marked where the company had branches in that city, convincing him to simply transfer his account.

He thanked the teller for the information and told them he would get in touch when he moved.

Another time, a teller actually started to close his account, so Donald had to think of an excuse to stop the bank from liquidating his funds.

Donald’s mystery shopping trips to various branches of his bank are sporadic and infrequent, but he has considered the possibility that some day he’ll go in as an actual customer and be pegged as the guy who was supposed to have moved.

Most mystery shopping companies advise their contractors to blend with other shoppers and instruct them not to take notes in the store to avoid being caught, which may end a shoppers relationship with a “secret” firm.

“It’s important to realize that what we’re doing is not spying though,” says Judi Hess, president of Customer Perspectives based in Hooksett, N.H. “That’s not the spirit of it. This is really a tool for companies.”

She says mystery shopping reports aren’t usually used to scold employees. Rather they’re often a way to catch the things a business does well, she says. Some businesses offer rewards to employees who earn high marks on a mystery shopper’s report.

The shoppers are also an important resource for businesses reconsidering how to train new workers, says Hess.

“It’s been fantastic for us,” says Jim Corey, owner of Day’s Jewelers, which started using mystery shoppers last year.

Corey says he uses the service three times a month at each of his five stores to evaluate customer service, the presentation of his product and how shoppers are treated when they return an item. Unlike some mystery shopping trips where the shopper is reimbursed for his or her purchase, at Day’s secret shoppers usually return the piece of jewelry the next day and are paid for their work.

“It’s important for us to know these kinds of things,” Corey says, “because a customer’s experience in stores effects sales.”

“Judy,” a mystery shopper in Maine and Florida for the past 10 years, says her favorite shops are at supermarkets.

“I got my Christmas candy for free this year,” she says about being reimbursed for the work.

These days, Judy, who is semi-retired, says she averages about 30 shops a month, which brings in around $300, not including the free stuff.

In addition to grocery stores, she’s reported on hardware stores, restaurants, cell phone outlets, banks and several other retailers.

She found her first mystery shopping job in Maine in the classified section of a newspaper, which directed her to a Web site for a secret shopping company. Nowadays, Judy goes online at least three times a day searching the Internet for mystery shopping opportunities in midcoast and central Maine.

A shopper by nature, she says mystery shopping is a great time, but acknowledges that she’s in it for the money, too.

Over the years she’s picked up a few secret shopping tricks to make her reporting easier. Sometimes, she sneaks to the bathroom to jot down an employee’s name or note the cleanliness of an establishment.

Judy doesn’t worry that she’ll ever be noticed.

“I don’t give it much of a thought. I’m too average looking.”

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