The Neilsen Homescan Panel has reopened applications in many areas!
What is the Neilsen Homescan Panel? Those that are accepted are sent a small hand-held scanner and they scan the bar codes of all of their purchases. Once a week you transmit your purchases to Neilsen. In return, you earn points that you can use to buy items from the Neilsen Gift Catalog.
The information is used to help manufacturers and retailers decide what products are popular in what areas. Basically, it’s the same thing as the TV Neilsen ratings, only for purchases.
I actually spent a few months as a Neilsen Homescan family about a year ago. While it wasn’t something that I wanted to continue doing, I know that many people have been scanning for years and love it. The longer you remain in the program, the more perks you get!
I did it for a little while too – it just got too tedious for me. Half the time stuff wouldn’t scan and I’d have to manually input it – just got to be too much of a hassle. I can’t even recall now what if anything I got out of it, before I quit!